PHP/MySQL
Personal Hyptertext Processor is the number one used alternative to Active Server Pages, Microsofts web server side scripting engine. PHP is robust and powerful and scales well from very small sites to rather large ones. PHP has integrated support for MySQL a widely used relational database. The big advantage is both PHP and MySQL are free to download and use. Building a web site with Active Server Pages requires a Microsoft Server Operating System with the proper .NET configuration and the purchase of Visual Studio or similar IDE to effectively manage database connections and the large variety and types of applications you can program with it. This is suitable for a large business with an IT budget, heavy database transactions or other in house programming needs. Usually the small to medium sized business that does not require all these bells and whistles do quite well with PHP/MySQL and the extensive libraries and third party code that is contributed by user community.