best php framework?

If you are specific to MVC model then sorry i don't know any. But i think symfony is a great framework with MVC architecture of development. I have heard that learning curve is bit steep for symfony and even I too have felt that while learning it. It got many great features as a framework. Even their documentation is great and always up to date. CakePHP is also a good framework but documentation is not that good. This too I haven't used. But heard so from other sites. I am currently working using qcodo. It is a great framework but not as popular as symfony or cakePHP. It is also not based on MVC pattern, but still it is really cool framework with AJAX support. I would recommend this framework. Actually I too had started a similar discussion but didn't get any response. I hope you would get more =)