ionCube is great, but I've been on both ends of the encryption field. On one side, you want to encrypt your code so nobody steals it. But on the other side, if you purchase a software and place it on your server and it has some bugs, and the company is not responsive or has a backlog of issues to deal with.. it's really nice to be able to fix it myself. When it's encrypted, I have to then decrypt it (thus breaking their ToS in most cases) and then fix it. What a hassle! But yes if I were going to recommend one to you, I'd go with ionCube.