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4.7 star rating
0
Development
Productivity
Programming
IDE
What are the best IDE for PHP?
6
Options
Considered
25
User
Recs.
Mar 7, 2023
Last
Updated
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6
Options
Considered
Best IDE for PHP
Price
Multi Language Support
Auto Complete
--
PhpStorm
89
Yes
Yes
--
NetBeans
-
Yes
Yes
--
VS Code
Free
-
-
--
Eclipse PHP Development Tools
-
-
-
--
CodeLobster IDE
0
-
-
See Full List
--
PhpStorm
My Rec
ommendation
for
PhpStorm
My Recommendation for
PhpStorm
All
29
Experiences
1
Pros
23
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Intelligent code completion
PhpStorm has two types of autocompletion: structural completion and word expansion. Structural autocompletion makes predictions based on its understanding of PHP, while the latter tries to predict the word currently being typed based on previously typed words. Word expansion also works in comments and docstrings and it's similar to vim's omnicompletion. Both types of autocompletion work extremely well, have little to no problems and are quite fast even when loading suggestions on the go.
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Top
Con
•••
Pricey
Currently costs £78 but does not seem to offer much more than some free counterparts.
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Велимир Мајсторов's Experience
Really the best IDE i ever use for PHP (also for Java).
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Specs
Multi Language Support:
Yes
Auto Complete:
Yes
Bracket Matching:
Yes
Code Templates:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Integrated Git GUI support
Allows users to manage their repositories directly from the IDE with a GUI which lets you do all Git commands.
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Top
Con
•••
Resource exhaustive
It often maxes out even 4 cores, not to mention several hundred MBs of RSS with a single small project opened.
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Top
Pro
•••
Excellent search tools
Especially the "find in path" feature that displays both results and file preview!
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Top
Con
•••
Proprietary
It is not free software (free as in freedom).
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Top
Pro
•••
PHPDoc support
PHPDoc is a documentation generator. It allows automatically generating documentation from specifically formatted comments.
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Top
Con
•••
Bloated
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Top
Pro
•••
Built-in debugger
Has built in support for Xdebug including remote debugging.
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Top
Pro
•••
Code Refactoring
Quickly rename classes, methods, and variables used across multiple files in the project.
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Top
Pro
•••
Lots of plugins
Lots of plugins from JetBrains and the community are available, from useful things like support for Docker, Vagrant, Angular, Vue.js and more useless (but fun) like a nyan cat progress bar.
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Top
Pro
•••
Inspections of all kinds
Not just for PHP, HTML and JavaScript, but especially good is SQL inspection and auto-completion of tables and fields. You can see at a glance, that your DB structure is in sync with your code.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports various PHP frameworks
Supports Symfony2 (including Twig and Doctrine), Yii frameworks, and Laravel.
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Top
Pro
•••
Has built-in console and SSH clients
This allows execution of needed commands without switching to other windows. It also keeps track of what's happening right in the IDE, which is especially good with Vagrant, because you can connect to a VM in a single click.
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Top
Pro
•••
Templating support
Supports Twig and Laravel's Blade (among others). Technically the later is part of a framework which Phpstorm supports but I've seen IDEs (e.g. Netbeans) with Laravel support but no blade support so it does deserve a notable mention.
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Top
Pro
•••
Database view
The database tab, while not perfect, provides all the tools you need for daily usage. You always have your DB overview on the side (you can hide it when not needed).
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Top
Pro
•••
Auto-sync with remote folders
It allows monitoring code and sync the files that need to be changed with a remote server. This works more efficiently than libnotify and faster than vagrant auto rsync.
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Top
Pro
•••
Task/Context functionality
Similar to Eclipse Mylyn: you can create tasks or retrieve them from your ticketing system, and each task keeps its own context (opened files, modifications, etc.).
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Top
Pro
•••
Emmet integrated
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Top
Pro
•••
Regular updates for fixes and new features
PhpStorm is clearly being developed continually, which gives confidence that it will be available for some time and is not abandonware.
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Top
Pro
•••
Integrated Vagrant support
It recognizes Vagrantfile and allows full control from the IDE.
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Top
Pro
•••
Responsive core developers
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Top
Pro
•••
Plugins allow futureproofing and customization
Active development work on plugins is always a plus, as it can extend the use of the IDE.
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Top
Pro
•••
Phar package recognition
Phar support allows running complete applications out of .phar files.
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Top
Pro
•••
External command support
Ability to setup custom external commands, which is something inherited from eclipse and found lacking on netbeans.
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Top
Pro
•••
It comes with Testing RESTful Web Services
Save time of building your own or integrating libraries for testing RESTful Web Services. PHPStorm enables you to test endpoints without leaving your workspace or disrupting your workflow . You can code your endpoints in one window and test it immediately from another window.
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Top
Pro
•••
Zero latency typing
Type codes with pleasure. Delay of visual feedback on a computer display has an important effect on typist's behavior and satisfaction, as cited here.
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89
Recommend
11
--
NetBeans
My Rec
ommendation
for
NetBeans
My Recommendation for
NetBeans
All
15
Experiences
1
Pros
11
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free, open source, and cross-platform
NetBeans is a free, GPL-licensed IDE. It can run on any computer with a Java virtual machine. If a computer has a Java virtual machine (JVM), Netbeans can run on it. Netbeans can, therefore, run on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, *nix, and Mac OS. Being open source means that developers can contribute changes to the code to have the IDE better serve them.
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Top
Con
•••
Slows down occasionally
The Netbeans IDE is known to take a large memory as compared to other lighter IDE's available on the market. Slowdowns can decrease productivity and cause frustration.
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Richelly Italo's Experience
It's very simple.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, macOS, Linux
Multi Language Support:
Yes
Auto Complete:
Yes
Bracket Matching:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Frameworks support
Supports Symfony1, Symfony2,Yii2 & Zend frameworks.
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Top
Con
•••
Development has stalled dramatically
It went down from two releases a year with minor bug-fix releases to one release and no fixes. There seem to be fewer features added per release as well. There is no activity in the plugin community.
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Top
Pro
•••
FTP/SFTP synchronization
Supports synchronization with projects stored remotely through FTP or SFTP.
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Top
Pro
•••
Best for PHP, HTML5 apps development
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Top
Pro
•••
PHPstan support
Supports static code analysis with phpstan.
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Top
Pro
•••
Nette framework support
Built-in nette framework support.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports community plugins
NetBeans can be extended beyond the basic tool that you get out of the box through community made custom plugins.
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Top
Pro
•••
Composer commands inside IDE
The most used composer commands can be done directly from IDE.
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Top
Pro
•••
Git commits/local diff comparison is best
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports Twig templates
NetBeans provides code completion and documentation for all Twig elements.
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Top
Pro
•••
PHPUnit support
PHPUnit is a testing framework. You can create test classes, run and see the code coverage directly from IDE interface.
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Get it
here
Recommend
7
1
--
VS Code
My Rec
ommendation
for
VS Code
My Recommendation for
VS Code
All
7
Pros
4
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Cross platform
VS code is an electron app and can therefore run on windows, mac and linux alike.
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Top
Con
•••
Electron
It's an electron app. That means the usual bugs can, did and probably will happen. In its early days it was stressing the CPU because of the cursor refresh rate. No joke.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Fast
Fast to open, fast to close, easy on the CPU and RAM.
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Top
Con
•••
A bit barebones at times
Even all its addons can't hide the fact that many things are just a bit inconvenient at times. Its stylish but nested interface takes more time to get used to than some of its competitors.
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Top
Pro
•••
Lots of Addons
Probably for every usecase, there is an addon. And they are easily installed.
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Top
Pro
•••
Ease of use
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Free
Recommend
1
--
Eclipse PHP Development Tools
My Rec
ommendation
for
Eclipse PHP Development Tools
My Recommendation for
Eclipse PHP Development Tools
All
2
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Free, cross-platform
PDT is available for free on Windows, OSX and Linux.
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WonderfulArnapkapfaaluk's Experience
Eclipse PDT supports only up to PHP version 7.4.
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Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
1
--
CodeLobster IDE
My Rec
ommendation
for
CodeLobster IDE
My Recommendation for
CodeLobster IDE
All
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Best autocomplete for many popular languages
Codelobster IDE has best autocomplete for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and many other popular languages.
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Hide
0
Recommend
1
--
SpaceVim
My Rec
ommendation
for
SpaceVim
My Recommendation for
SpaceVim
All
4
Pros
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Hundreds of packages nicely organized in configuration layers
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Specs
Supported platforms:
Windows; macOS; Linux
Top
Pro
•••
Beautiful GUI
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Top
Pro
•••
Mnemonic key bindings
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Hide
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FREE
Recommend
2
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