ionCube has a php encoding product. It's used by commercial php developers similar to the ZendGuard suite in that they use it to encode their php scripts so that they can distribute them without the source code. Since Zend has a long history of being a terrible product, and their current set of products does not support the latest and only secure version of php 5, I'm forced to migrate to another platform to run the one commercial script I use. Fortunately, the vendor recognized from the get go that Zend is problematic, so they actually have been producing ionCube encoded files as an option from the very beginning.
As it turns out, installing ionCube is very simple. In fact, all you have to do is drop a few files on your web server in order to enable dynamic loading.
In order to run an ionCube encoded script, you need to have installed the ionCube loader. You can download a loader directly from ionCube. Brief instructions are available in the readme file that comes with the download. You can also reference their installation instructions, or you can reference the ionCube Loader Installation how-to that I put together while installing it myself.
I had previously reported that ionCube was unlicensed. This was a mistake. The accelerator product is unlicensed, but the actual loader does have a very simple and fairly open license.
I prefer the structure of ionCube to Zend because you have the administrative ability to disable the ionCube loader very easily for specific virtual hosts or even directories. This capability is not available within Zend Optimizer. You might not think this is a problem, but when Zend Optimizer is actually causing problems with other standard php scripts, the capability is invaluable. ionCube also supported php 5.2 extremely quickly post-release, whereas Zend decided to wait a month before releasing buggy 5.2 support with no public timelines or even rough estimates for a stable release.
Migrating from Zend to ionCube Feedback
