Benefit of using CI - an honest question

If you only need SSL, then you can just keep on keepin' on.  If you want to manage users, it sounds like you know your way around a database, but for keeping track of users I highly recommend you use CodeIgniter.  That was the main selling point for me, and especially now with CodeIgniter 3.x you can have both native and cookie drivers at your disposal.  It is easier to hack a cookie than it is your database, and CodeIgniter has cookies figured out, and I love them for it.  If you use BootPress (a shameless endorsement), then sessions, cookies, and user Authentication are all taken care of for you.  Ultimately, the only reason to use a framework is so that you don't have to code as much, and to make the code you do write more secure and less likely to break.  It is a good honest question you are asking.  I used to do everything my own way, but since using CodeIgniter I will never look back.

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