AutoValue is the only solution to the value class problem in PHP having all of the following characteristics:
- API-invisible (callers cannot become dependent on your choice to use it)
- No runtime dependencies
- Negligible cost to performance
- Very few limitations on what your class can do
- Extralinguistic "magic" kept to an absolute minimum (uses only standard PHP technologies)
This slide presentation from the authors of the original AutoValue package for Java compares AutoValue to numerous alternatives and explains why they think it is better.