What are the best IDEs or editors for PHP?

Extension language:JVM

Bracket Matching:Yes

Supports Symfony2 (including Twig and Doctrine), Yii frameworks, and Laravel. See More

Top Pro

Supports various PHP frameworks

Top Con

Proprietary

It is not free software (free as in freedom). See More

Andreas Braun (Andreas Braun)'s Experience

Most intuitive, sophisticated, beautiful and customizable. Sounds more like a webapp. But no. It has it all. With so much under the hood you should be well prepared for medium to large size projects. On the downside this feature load can sometimes be hinderly if you just want to quickly throw down some html, js and css for a testing site. But Jetbrains got you covered there as well. Webstorm for small to medium sizes with no php See More

Top Pro

PHPDoc support

PHPDoc is a documentation generator. It allows automatically generating documentation from specifically formatted comments. See More

Top Con

Costly or you need github education pack

If you are ready to pay for it for phpstorm then it is better otherwise you need github education pack or if you have'nt either github education pack or you are not ready to pay it then visual studio code insiders is best option. See More

AwesomestFrigg's Experience

Can Set folder as resource directory. path intelli to auto complete html src attribute and laravel view path. See More

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. See More

Top Con

Slow performance

A very slow indexing, many memory leaks, large projects after some time will be very slow, opening large files like 10mb can even break IDE. See More

Zhekaus's Experience

Use for 3 years. Tried lots of alternatives before and after. Always return to PhpStorm. See More

Top Pro

Built-in debugger

Has built in support for Xdebug including remote debugging. See More

Top Con

FTP Extremely Slow

FTP File transfer is extremely slow compared to filezilla or other ftp programs See More

Vaibhav Jain's Experience

Phpstorm is best suited for those people who have money or you have github education pack & also you have great resources(like greater ram). Visual studio code insiders is best suited for those people who have'nt purchased phpstorm license or you does not have a github education pack & you have less resources. See More

Top Pro

Phar package recognition

Phar support allows running complete applications out of .phar files. See More

Top Con

Sometimes buggy

Index gets corrupt which results in errors in syntax presentation, code validation and auto-completion. Version-control system sometimes stops working, occasionally freezes in big files See More

ReflectiveBunjil's Experience

Saved by phpstorm See More

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). See More

Top Con

Interface is cluttered

piR's Experience

Best IDE for PHP ! See More

Top Pro

External command support

Ability to setup custom external commands, which is something inherited from eclipse and found lacking on netbeans. See More

Top Con

Bloated

OrganizedHineNuiTePo's Experience

lll See More

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. See More

Top Con

Only one project can be opened at a time (

OptimisticYmir's Experience

Been using for years on various small to large scale PHP projects. See More

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. See More

cronar's Experience

Not worth the price. See More

Top Pro

Code Refactoring

Quickly rename classes, methods, and variables used across multiple files in the project. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Integrated Vagrant support

It recognizes Vagrantfile and allows full control from the IDE. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Responsive core developers

Top Pro

Emmet integrated

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.). See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Excellent search tools

Especially the "find in path" feature that displays both results and file preview! See More

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. See More

score 120 · Answer 2

NetBeans

Top Pro

Free, open source, and cross-platform

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. See More

NobleLodurr's Experience

Considering its free and works on Linux/Win/Mac , NetBeans is the best IDE for PHP out there, so far. See More

Specs

Bracket Matching:Yes

Has built-in support for the most popular revision control systems See More

Top Pro

Multiple revision control system integration

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. See More

SmartNinsusinak's Experience

NetBeans is an excellent IDE for EVERTHING! Java, Java EE, C++, PHP, Python, etc. See More

Top Pro

FTP/SFTP synchronization

Supports synchronization with projects stored remotely through FTP or SFTP. See More

Top Con

Default website code format is too strict

Sometimes you need to write allowed code that IDE hasn't spected, and it will annoy you filling all your code with suggestions. See More

CreativeApheleia's Experience

Hour by hour it gets slower and slower and consumes more resources even with very small projects. The time comes when it stops constantly. See More

Top Pro

Linux terminal inside IDE

You can run Linux terminal inside the IDE. See More

Top Con

Multilanguaje code completion fails

I example, sometimes code completion won't help you with html marks (or scripts) inside php echo (or print) sentences, and vice-versa. See More

MeticulousIstanu's Experience

I've been using netbeans for 7 years. I tried eclipse, phpStorm, even sublimeText and notepad++ but I do like netbeans. Con: too slow at startup. Best feature for me: remote synchronization while working on local files. See More

Top Pro

Best for PHP, HTML5 Apps Developemt

Top Con

Tries to do everything for you and gets it wrong too many times

Milan Lesichkov's Experience

Using it for 10+ years in professiona capacity. See More

Top Pro

Frameworks support

Supports Symfony1, Symfony2,Yii2 & Zend frameworks. See More

Top Con

Linux version lacks HDPI support

LoveableMaui's Experience

Is good for me. Is very pro and for free. See More

Top Pro

You can access source code history

There's a built-in local history that lets you compare code changes and revert to a specific revision. Helpful when source code file accidentally overwritten. See More

survan's Experience

Netbeans 10 has everything I need to get the job done! See More

Top Pro

PHPUnit support

PHPUnit is a testing framework. You can create test classes, run and see the code coverage directly from IDE interface. See More

cronar's Experience

Netbeans offers everything the expensive ide does and it's free/open source. See More

Top Pro

Git commits/local diff comparison is best

Git commits/local diff comparison is best See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Accelerated HTML5 development support

Top Pro

Less and Sass Compiler support

Top Pro

Composer commands inside IDE

The most used composer commands can be done directly from IDE. See More

Top Pro

Bower support

Top Pro

Powerful debugging and performance optimization

Netbeans not only debugs your code, and points out errors but also gives you hints on which sections of your code could be further optimized. See More

Top Pro

Supports Smarty

Supports Smarty Template Engine right out of the box. See More

Top Pro

Refactoring is easy and very productive

Top Pro

JMeter benchmarking tool support

Top Pro

Grunt and Gulp Task Runner support

Top Pro

Supports Twig templates

NetBeans provides code completion and documentation for all Twig elements. See More

Top Pro

ApiGen and PHPDoc support

Supports documentation generation through ApiGen and PHPDoc. See More

Top Pro

PHPstan support

Supports static code analysis with phpstan See More

Top Pro

ApiGen support

ApiGen allows automatically generating documentation from specifically formatted comments. It's easy to use, supports traits, allows fuzzy searching for classes and highlighting docblocks using Markdown. See More

Eclipse has a huge community developing plugins that can then be found on the marketplace. See More

score 34 · Answer 3

Eclipse PHP Development Tools

Top Pro

Access to a wide variety of Eclipse plugins

Top Con

Doesn't support blade files

CheerfulErebus's Experience

Had to recently test a few PHP editors See More

Top Pro

Free, cross-platform

PDT is available for free on Windows, OSX and Linux. See More

Top Con

You need big memory of RAM

You need at least 4GB Ram for get the fastest PDT if you plan to use it as your PHP tools. See More

Top Pro

Modular architecture offers flexibility in setup

Since Eclipse is highly modular by design, relying heavily on plugins for functionality it can be set up so that it includes only the necessary functionality and nothing else. See More

Top Con

Configuring Eclipse is time-consuming

Setting up Eclipse can be difficult. Each section and each plugin of Eclipse has its own preferences that together add up to lots of tweaking. See More

Top Pro

A plethora of configuration options

Each component of Eclipse can be configured separately offering fine grained control. See More

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting

Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT) has such good syntax highlighting for PHP, CSS, HTML. See More

Top Pro

Syntax validation

You would not be regret for having PDT as you IDE choices for PHP Development. It will help you validate your PHP code without you worry it will be wrong. See More

Top Pro

Remote Xdebug possible

If you are running your PHP in an Docker-Container you can easily connect Xdebug remotly with Eclipse. See More

Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows See More

score 56 · Answer 4

Visual Studio Code

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Top Con

Its not an IDE, it is a text editor

AffablePtocheia's Experience

Great with proper extensions installed ! vscode icons is a must along with others for formatting your code automatically See More

Specs

Extension language:JavaScript

Released under the MIT License. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Con

Extensions make it more complex

Although the extensions can be great, they are not always helping in making things better. There are quite a few extensions that lack in documentation and are quite inconsistent in how they can be used. See More

PerfectTriptolemus's Experience

Instable. Messy. But hey, it's from the makers of Windows Vista! See More

Top Pro

Debug support for PHP with XDebug

PHP Debug adapter for Visual Studio Code See More

Top Con

Embedded Git isn't powerful enough

You can do nothing but to track changes, stage them and commit. No history, visualization, rebasing or cherry-picking – these things are left to git console or external git client. See More

Top Pro

IntelliSense code completion

JavaScript IntelliSense allows Visual Studio Code to provide you with useful hints and auto-completion features while you code. It has awesome autocomplete capabilities, symbol search, go to, references with this. See More

Top Con

The autocomplete and code check is not as powerful as the one on WebStorm

Sometimes it doesn't tell you if you made a typo in a method name or if a method is not used and several other important features. See More

Top Pro

Modern user interface

With various themes you can tune the UI to your preference. And it looks modern. See More

Top Con

Does not support multiple git repository

https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/12564 See More

Top Pro

Great performance

For a 'wrapped' web-based application, Visual Studio Code performs very well. See More

Top Pro

Hundreds of extensions

Top Pro

Fast and powerful

VS-Code has the speed of Sublime and the power of WebStorm. Perhaps this is the best software that Microsoft has ever created. See More

Top Pro

Integrated terminal

There's no need to press alt+tab to go to a terminal: it is directly integrated into the editor. See More

Top Pro

Updated frequently

There's a new release of Visual Studio Code every month. If you are one of the insiders then releases are daily. See More

Top Pro

Custom snippets support

Snippets are templates that will insert text for you and adapt it to their context, and in VSC they are highly customizable. See More

Top Pro

Active development

It's really nice to see how the code editor evolves. Every month there is a new version with great communication of new features and changes. See More

Top Pro

Extendable through plugins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plugins available to extend its functionality. See More

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Visual Studio Code has integrated Git control, guaranteeing speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows. See More

Top Pro

Huge community behind it

The ease of getting assistance and finding tutorials is increasing as the community grows. See More

Top Pro

JS typechecking

It leverages TypeScript compiler functionality to statically type check JS (type inference, JSDoc types) with "javascript.implicitProjectConfig.checkJs": true option. See More

Top Pro

ESLint integration

ESLint integrates great. You can define your rules trough .eslintrc.* as usual and vs code will autofix your code on save. So your code is always in style. See More

Top Pro

Extensions (aka plugins) are written in JavaScript

Extensions are written in either Typescript or JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

Integrated debugging

VSC includes debugging tools for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

Extendable through plug-ins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plug-ins available to extend its functionality. See More

Top Pro

TypeScript integration

There is very solid TypeScript integration in Visual Studio Code. Both are developed by Microsoft and VSC itself is written in TypeScript. See More

Top Pro

High fidelity C# plugin

The Omnisharp plugin is very powerful providing full sln, csproj, and project.json support. See More

Top Pro

Good support for new Emmet syntax

Top Pro

Ready to use out of the box

You don't need to configure and add plugins before being productive. However, you can add plugins if needed but for the basics you're well covered. See More

Top Pro

It has gotten really good

All it takes is one stop for all the features many people need. See More

Top Pro

Python support

Excellent Python plugin, originally created by Don Jayamanne, now hired by Microsoft to extend and maintain the extension. See More

Top Pro

Inline definition picking and usages finding

These features allow you to have a glance at code without opening it as a whole in a separate tab. Moreover, editing is allowed. See More

By default it is very lightweight. With Package Control customization happens on the fly. See More

score 41 · Answer 5

Sublime Text

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Needs some customization before it can be called an IDE

In order to have the same feature set as an IDE, some prior customization is needed. See More

TactfulNapir's Experience

I'm working with it for years with no trouble. Strongly recommended. See More

Specs

Extension language:Python

Sublime is quick to start and never slows down. The UI is always responsive and you know what is happening in the background. See More

Top Pro

Very fast

Top Con

Proprietary

Unlike the Atom editor, Sublime Text protects and copyrights its code and is thus not the freedom-ware some would like it to be. See More

Joseph LoPresti's Experience

Very easy to use and easy to extend. See More

Top Pro

Has tons of plugins available

Top Con

Shareware

Many users tend to forget it, but it is a shareware, with a nag prompt reminding the user should pay for this software. It is not a problem (the company must have a source of income), but it is something to consider when most of the alternatives are free. See More

ConscientiousWadjWer's Experience

My prefered code editor See More

Top Pro

Comfortable to work with

Sublime Text has a minimap on the side that provides a top-down view of the file and keyboard shortcuts for most actions. It's also supports a large number of languages and general text editing features out of the box. See More

Top Con

Not a full IDE

It does not necessarily function on a project level. See More

Top Pro

Multi-line select and editing

Multiple cursors & column selection allow versatile ways of editing. ctrl + d will select the current word and each time the command is repeated add the next occurence of the word to the selection. ctrl + click or middle-mouse click will place another cursor in the place that's clicked. Cursors can then be controlled together. This also allows selecting vertically. ctrl + shift + l will place a cursor on every highlighted line. See More

Top Con

Paid

Although paying for something good is far from a Con, having the competition this editor has and still have to pay for it is definitely a Con. See More

Top Pro

The Command Palette

The Command Palette allows fuzzy searching all available settings, snippets, etc. See More

Top Con

Weak auto-complete

Auto complete user class in PHP is not comprehensive to all classes. See More

Top Pro

Functionality can be easily extended

Sublime Text uses TextMate's syntax declaration files to support new languages, has all its menus and keybindings generated from JSON files, and can be scripted to add new features using Python. If Sublime Text doesn't support a desired language or feature, it's usually not long before someone implements it themselves - examples include the plugin package manager and the 'open in browser' command. See More

Top Pro

Consistent cross-platform

Looks consistently the same across Windows, OS X and Linux. See More

Top Pro

IDE features without the cruft

Sublime Text, while being lighter-weight than an IDE, still supports many IDE features. Text from the current file is used to provide autocomplete Project Support (folder browsing, scoped history, build-system declarations) Refactoring support is emulated through multi-select, project-wide find & replace, and regular expression search Syntax-aware selection and GoTo for quickly jumping to locations in the project Snippets & Macros A Python console for everything else See More

Top Pro

Distraction free editing mode

Distraction free editing takes over your screen and removes every UI element so you can focus on code. See More

Top Pro

Freemium

A Sublime license can be bought but it can still be used for free. However, a pop-up appears when you save multiple times. See More

Top Pro

Fully customizable

Sublime Text allows for all sorts of customization to help users change almost everything in the editor: Key Bindings, Menus, Snippets, Macros, Completions, and many more. Essentially, just about everything in Sublime Text is customizable with simple JSON files. This system gives the user flexibility as settings can be specified on a per-file type and per-project basis. See More

Top Pro

Customizable keymapping

From menus to commands, assign key maps to almost anything. See More

Top Pro

Functionalities

With lot of functionalities, where other editor even not think to provide. See More

Top Pro

Direct server upload

Provides command line shortcut for server upload. See More

Top Pro

Installable package manager

The package manager is a plugin and can be swapped with something else custom. See More

Top Pro

Permits instant file switching

Open Goto Anything by pressing Ctrl or Command + P and by using fuzzy search you can look for a file in your project. The file will load even without pressing enter, so you can make sure you've found the correct file without committing. See More

Top Pro

Regex commands

Regex commands help describe a certain amount of text. See More

Top Pro

Beginner-friendly

When you start using Sublime Text, it doesn't drown you in keyboard shortcuts or non-intuitive use-concepts. However, high-level functionality can still be easily accessed when the need for it arises. See More

Top Pro

Good for small jobs

Excellent for small jobs but no so good for big projects. See More

Since Version Control features are very frequently used these days, having them built right into your IDE seems quite the right thing to do. With Komodo, you can perform your Git push-es and pull-s right while you're coding. See More

score 15 · Answer 6

Komodo IDE

Top Pro

Built in Version Control

Top Con

Not free

Komodo IDE costs you $89 for a personal license. Even though they have a Free basic version (that's also opensource), but this lacks most of the functionality that the paid version has. See More

ReflectiveBunjil's Experience

PhpStorm is the best. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux

Integrated Debugger:Yes

If you're working with a remote dev team, you'll quickly realize the importance of code collaboration while programming. With the Komodo IDE you don't have to setup a separate teamviewer session, or even share code via dropbox with other devs. All you need is an ActiveState account (+ a partner with the KomodoIDE ofcourse) and your remote team could see LIVE and contribute to your changes in the source files of your app See More

Top Pro

Collaboration tools

Top Pro

Clean user interface

Atom is not a native application. As such performance is subpar and the lag is especially noticeable on larger projects. It also opens a surprising amount of sub-processes and leaks a considerable amount of memory. See More

score 40 · Answer 7

Atom

Top Con

Slow

Top Pro

Lots of packages

Atom has a built-in package manager and an extensive list of packages. Packages are written in CoffeeScript. See More

piR's Experience

Excellent text editor for programmers See More

Specs

Platforms:Microsoft Windows®, macOS, Linux

Auto Complete:Yes (plugin)

Extension language:JavaScript

Atom is very slow to startup, which is a big disadvantage if you are accustomed to using it to make quick changes on your files. See More

Top Con

Very slow startup time

Top Pro

Extendable

Due to its modular design almost any aspect of the editor can be changed. Even seemingly core packages like the one's taking care of search and replace functionality can be forked on GitHub, changed and replaced in the editor. The Documentation for creating new plugins is also great and thus it's easier for developers ti jump in and create plugins for Atom. See More

DeliberateMafdet's Experience

this is best Ide I See More

Top Con

Slows down exponentially with plugins

Extending it needs sacrificing responsiveness. See More

Top Pro

Multiplatform

Runs on Mac, Windows, Linux. See More

OrganizedAbhartach's Experience

This one is more a text editor then a IDE. Great for Frontend (Javascript, Typescript, React, Vue), but not for PHP. See More

Top Con

High memory usage

Atom has a relatively high memory usage, especially when compared to some other text editors not based on Electron. For those who develop on the go, this also tends to mean shorter battery life. See More

Top Pro

Free & open source

Free, open source and written in C++, LESS and CoffeeScript. See More

Top Con

Resource eater

Even in standby, it uses more RAM than the other competitors. See More

Top Pro

Command Palette

The Command Palette allows fuzzy searching all available functions, settings, snippets, etc. See More

Top Con

Hard to open large files

It's almost impossible to open large files with Atom. It has a 2MB limit and even files smaller than the limit but still considerably large take forever to load. See More

Top Pro

Built in package management

Atom was built from the ground up with the community in mind, and package management is a first class feature. See More

Top Con

Hard to manage large projects

The more your projects grow, the more you will see that Atom has been written for Scripts and not for real development of projects. Atom is an editor, not an IDE. See More

Top Pro

Themes

You can theme and customize Atom to your liking. See More

Top Con

Slow go-to-definition

The go-to-definition is only available with plug-ins and it's painfully slow. See More

Top Pro

Allows for instant file switching

By pressing Ctrl or Command + T and using fuzzy search, you can look for a file in your project. See More

Top Pro

Command Palette support

The Command Palette permits fuzzy searching all available functions, settings, snippets, etc. See More

Top Pro

Multi-line select and edit

Multiple cursors and column selection allow for versatile ways of editing. ctrl + d will select the current word and each time the command is repeated, it adds the next occurrence of the word to the selection. ctrl + click or middle-mouse click will place another cursor in the place that's clicked. Cursors can then be controlled together. This also allows for selecting vertically. See More

Top Pro

Excellent Markdown support

Top Pro

Block folding

Top Pro

Supports lots of programming languages out of the box

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

One of the goals of Atom is to be a text editor for both experienced and beginner programmers. You can add keyboard shortcuts, change themes, install plugins, and change core settings by clicking through a GUI, or by manually editing config files the old-fashioned way. It has the added advantage of being built using the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so actions like opening and closing tabs feel familiar, even to new or non-programmers. See More

Top Pro

HiDPI support

Atom has built-in HiDPI support with zero scaling issues. See More

Top Pro

Vim plugin turns Atom into a modernized vim

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Will highlight folders, files and lines that have any uncommitted edits made. It also integrates really well with GitHub. See More

Top Pro

Command line integration out of the box

Installing Atom adds two command line commands - atom and apm. The first one runs the application itself and the second one is the Atom Package Manager that's used to add and remove various components from the package listing. While these features can be set up with other editors as well, Atom takes care of them out of the box. See More

Geany is not as popular as some other text editors with plugin support. As such it's understandable that it's missing lots of powerful plugins available in other editors. See More

score 10 · Answer 8

Geany

Top Pro

Light and fast

Top Con

Not many third-party plugins

Specs

Extension language:C

Similar to Notepad or Gedit. See More

Top Pro

Code completion

Top Con

Not very advanced

Top Pro

Command execution with shortcuts

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Top Pro

Options in the menu are easy to find

For example, there is an easy way to change the font and theme in the View menu. No need to search through several syntax styles like in Notepad++ just to be able to change the used font. See More

Top Pro

Actively developed Open Source

Which usually means it will remain free of charge. See More

Top Pro

Quick search on large files

In Geany you technically search once for a whole search query, unlike Gedit, where once you start typing, the file is searched for in accordance with each substring of what you're typing, all the while leading to terribly annoying lag. See More

Top Pro

Simple project management

Top Pro

Plugin manager

Can only run on Mac or Linux via Wine. See More

score 16 · Answer 9

PhpED

Top Pro

PHP, HTML, and CSS code Validator

Top Con

Not native in mac OS and Linux

Top Pro

Includes a webserver

Top Con

The current 64-Bit version is not supported via Wine

Top Pro

Powerful debugger

Top Pro

Allows debugging in localbrowser

Top Pro

simple to use

You can use it without putting much effort in learning IDE. See More

Top Pro

Remote file editing

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Pro

Simple remote debugging configuration via Wizzard.

In order to have the same feature set as an IDE, some prior customization is needed. See More

score 14 · Answer 10

Vim

Top Con

Needs some customization before it can be called an IDE

Top Pro

Amazing extensibility

Vimscript provides a rich scripting functionality to build upon the core of vim. When combined with things like Tim Pope's Pathogen plugin management system, it becomes easy to add support for syntax, debugging, build systems, git, and more. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin

Extension language:Vim

License:Vim License

Price:0

Top Con

Very steep learning curve

You'll spend a lot of time learning all the commands and modes supported. You'll then spend more time tuning settings to your needs on each machine you use it. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard-based, mouse-free interface, support trackpad

There's no need to reach for the mouse or the ctrl/alt buttons again. Everything is 1 or 2 key presses away with almost 200 functions specifically for text editing. Vim does support the mouse, but it's designed so you don't have to for more efficient usage. Versions of vim like gVim or MacVim still allow you to use the mouse and familiar platform shortcuts. That can help ease the learning curve and you'll probably find you won't want to, or need to, use the mouse after a while. See More

Top Con

High effort to customize

A lot of time and effort is put in to make it specific to your needs. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and fast

When compared to modern graphical editors like Atom and Brackets which have underlying HTML5 engines, browsers, Node, etc. Vim uses a sliver of the system's memory, loads instantly, and delivers the same features. See More

Top Con

Doesn't play nice with the system cut/paste mechanisms

This can be worked around somewhat if you disable mouse for insert mode. You can then right-click your terminal and use paste like you would anywhere else in a terminal. But it still doesn't feel right when the rest of your system uses Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V, and you have a system clipboard manager, and so forth. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Vim is open-source GPL-compatible charityware. See More

Top Con

Poor support for external tooling

Many plugins depend on optional Python and Lua features, which may or may not be included in whatever binaries are available for your system. And without platform-specific hacks, it is difficult for plugins to operate in the background or use external tooling. See More

Top Pro

Works in terminal over SSH

Unlike other editors such as Sublime Text, Vim is a command line editor and hence can be used in remote development environments such as Chromebooks via SSH. See More

Top Con

Poor feature discoverability

Though basic features like syntax checking, autocompletion, and file management are all available out of the box or with minimal configuration, this is not obvious to new users, who might get intimidated or assume they need to install complex plugins just so they can have this functionality. Other features new users might expect to find embedded in Vim, such as debugging, instead follow a UNIX-style model where they are called as external programs, the output of which might then be parsed by Vim so it can display results. Users not familiar with this paradigm will likely fault Vim for lacking those features as well. See More

Top Pro

Productivity enhancing modal paradigm

As with all vi-like editors, Vim provides a modal paradigm for text editing and processing that provides a rich syntax and semantic model for composing succinct, powerful commands. While this requires some initial investment in learning how it works in order to take full advantage of its capabilities, it rewards the user well in the long run. This modal interface paradigm also lends itself surprisingly well to many other types of applications that can be controlled by vi-like keybindings, such as browsers, image viewers, media players, network clients (for email and other communication media), and window managers. Even shells (including zsh, tcsh, mksh, and bash, among others) come with vi-like keybinding features that can greatly enhance user comfort and efficiency when the user is familiar with the vi modal editing paradigm. See More

Top Pro

Works on Android

Top Pro

Asynchronous I/O support

Since Vim 8, Vim can exchange characters with background processes asynchronously. This avoids the problem of the text editor getting stuck when a plugin that had to communicate with a server was running. Now plugins can send and receive data from external scripts without forcing Vim to freeze. See More

Top Pro

Flexible feature-set

Vim allows users to include many features found in IDEs and competing editors, but does not force them all on the user. This not only helps keep it lighter in weight than a lot of other options, but it also helps ensure that some unused features will not get in the way. See More

Top Pro

Can never outgrow it

The fact that very few, if any, people claim to be a "Vim Master" is a testament to the breadth and depth of Vim. There is always something new to learn - a new, perhaps more efficient, way to use it. This prevents Vim from ever feeling stale. It's always fresh. See More

Top Pro

Once learned, it's very hard to forget

Vim's somewhat steep learning curve is more than made up for once you've mastered a few basic concepts and learned the tricks that allow you to program faster with fewer cut/paste mistakes. See More

Top Pro

Great productivity

Vim's keyset is mainly restricted to the alphanumeric keys and the escape key. This is an enduring relic of its teletype heritage, but has the effect of making most of Vim's functionality accessible without frequent awkward finger reaches. See More

Top Pro

Ubiquity and portability

Vi/vim exists on almost all Unix-like platforms, it is the de-facto Unix editor, and is easily installed on Windows. All you need to make it work is a text-based connection, so it works well for remote machines with slow connections, or when you're too lazy to set up a VNC/Remote Desktop connection. See More

Kdevelop has very smart syntax and semantic syntax highlighting. See More

score 5 · Answer 11

KDevelop

Top Pro

Excellent syntax highlighting

Top Con

Works with no problems only on Linux

KDevelop is an IDE for the KDE platform. Even though it's cross-platform, it's mostly targeted at Linux systems and the versions for other operating systems are highly experimental. See More

GraciousBirdu's Experience

Support for Windows on PHP stack was quite improved and overall experience is nice See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, BSD

Aptana Studio has standalone (130.7 MB for Windows) and Eclipse-plugin versions. See More

score 11 · Answer 12

Aptana Studio

Top Pro

Available in standalone and Eclipse plugin versions

Top Con

Many dependencies

Aptana has a couple of dependencies to keep in mind. It is built with Java and and has some requirements for the JDK version. Aptana requires Git, and Eclipse 3.5+ if you are installing it as an Eclipse plugin. See More

Top Pro

HTML5-aware code assist

Aptana's code assist displays which tags are supported by which browsers. See More

Top Con

No longer updated

Language support is increasingly dated. See More

Top Pro

Support for web projects

Aptana was specifically created for web application development. It supports a variety of languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and Ruby. See More

Top Pro

Built-in terminal

Has a built-in terminal emulator from which you can run commands. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Aptana is available for free under the GPL license with source code available on GitHub. See More

Top Pro

Git integration

Aptana provides integrated support for Git to make collaboration and version control easier. See More

This editor is only for Mac and not for Windows. See More

score 3 · Answer 13

TextMate 2

Top Con

Only on macOS

Top Pro

Extendible

Top Pro

Well-tested

Top Pro

Easy to use

Notepad++ is a very light program that starts almost instantly. This makes it a great text editor for users that want something that will start the second they open it. See More

score 4 · Answer 14

Notepad++

Top Pro

Light and fast

Top Con

Outdated UI

Only the text area can be themed, and it doesn't have as many features as browser-based text areas. See More

MrSolenoid's Experience

Have used N++ for years. Small, lightweight and very powerful editor. Good for us oldschool farts that likes to be able to customize everything. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Extension language:C/C++; any language able to interface with C code

Very easy to use and personalize See More

Top Pro

Easy to use and admin

Top Con

Windows only

You can't use it cross platform. See More

Leonir Lopes's Experience

Simple and fast See More

Top Pro

User defined language syntax support

You can define your own custom syntax highlighting rules (or add support for others) . See More

Top Con

Annoying update notifications upon start-up

Annoying update notifications tend to pop up upon start-up after not having used the app or machine for a few days. At the same time, they can be easily turned off. See More

Top Pro

Multi-line editing

While it is disabled by default, when enabled, it is possible to edit more than one line at a time. This is helpful in many situations. See More

Top Con

Session backups not enabled by default

Unsaved tabs will be lost when Npp crashes, unless you first enable the session backup option. See More

Top Pro

Persistent documents, even after exiting the application

If you close Notepad++ (npp), your documents remain even if you haven't saved. See More

Top Con

Limited new syntax support for new languages

It may be hard to find good plugins for relatively new languages. See More

Top Pro

Regex replace in selection, active tab, or all tabs

In Notepad++, the user can utilise regular expressions to quickly modify text across multiple files. See More

Top Con

User defined language doesn't support triple quote strings

It also doesn't support triple hashed comments. Both styles are overridden by their single character single line version. See More

Top Pro

Split screen

The user can open and edit files in multiple screens within the editor window. See More

Top Con

Windows-only

While it can run in Wine, it is native only to Windows. See More

Top Pro

Portable

You can get a portable version of N++ and put it on a flash drive or your dropbox account and have your editor, configured the way you like, at any computer that you are on. See More

Top Pro

Extendable via plugins

A list of hundreds of plugins is maintained. See More

Top Pro

Free under GPL

Notepad++ is licensed under GPL, which means it is free/open source software that you can use freely. See More

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting for a wide variety of languages

Notepad++ has built-in support for syntax highlighting for a wide selection of programming languages. See More

Unused variables or namespace uses. Variables only defined orasigned but never used. A lot of warning and notices that allow you to have clean code. See More

score 11 · Answer 15

Zend Studio

Top Pro

Notices about unused code

Top Con

Expensive

Top Pro

Tightly integrated with Zend Server

Top Con

Used to be quite good, but left behind by PhpStorm in terms of functionality.

Used Zend Studio for many years, forking out lots of money to do so. Since Zend stopped offering Zend Server as a free edition, I switched to PhpStorm. The difference is amazing - PhpStorm is so much nicer to use, and has many more time-saving and code-improving features. For a start, PhpStorm knows all about Drupal coding standards, and Drupal as a content management framework. It even spots when you create a project that uses Drupal: two clicks later you are configured for Drupal coding style and you have automatic code completion for Drupal hook functions! See More

Top Pro

Zend Framework integration

Top Con

Javascript is broken in version 13.6

phpDesigner checks for errors as code is written showing the actual PHP error messges. Code does not need to be run to find missing braces or semicolons. See More

score 6 · Answer 16

phpDesigner

Top Con

Not free

Not free! See More

Top Pro

Live error checking

MrSolenoid's Experience

Feels slow and bloated. See More

Top Con

SFTP support is somewhat lacking

Socket timeouts aren't handled well and sometimes result in an inability to save remote work. See More

Top Pro

Xdebug support

Xdebug is a PHP extension that adds debugging and profiling capabilities. See More

Top Con

Small development team

The development team consists of one person, Michael Pham, and further development relies solely on his continued interest in the project. See More

Top Pro

Has a free 30-day trial

Top Pro

PHP & JS frameworks support

Includes support for PHP frameworks such as Zend, CodeIgniter, Yii and Symfony and JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, ExtJS, Yui, Dojo. MooTools and Prototype. See More

Top Pro

Git and SVN integration

It's very smart and powerful IDE. It includes autocomplete for all modern PHP and JS frameworks. See More

score 8 · Answer 17

CodeLobster IDE

Top Pro

CodeLobster IDE supports xDebug integration

JovialAtum's Experience

Top Pro

CodeLobster IDE has advanced PHP autocomplete

CodeLobster IDE has advanced autocomplete for PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other popular languages. See More

ProductiveAphroditus's Experience

I works very fast See More

Top Pro

It works on Windows, Mac and Linux

Top Pro

Advanced support for many popular frameworks

Top Pro

It has many popular color schemes

Top Pro

CodeLobster IDE has internal FTP client

I also tried PHP Eclipse Mars, NetBeans and VisualStudio but I prefer PsPad because it's simple and it has integrated FTP client. See More

score 1 · Answer 18

PSPad

Top Con

No content assist

Top Pro

Integrated FTP client

Šimon Rataj's Experience

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Freeware

PSPad supports code highlighting for several languages. See More

Top Pro

Code highlighting for many languages

GloriousEnkidu's Experience

good editor, no debugging, no validating or otherwise helping with the code it self. Just a generic text editor with highlighting. See More

Top Pro

Free

PSPad is completely free to download and use. See More

Top Pro

Simple and small

PSPad is simple, small, and lightweight. It's also quite fast. See More

Top Pro

Accented words

In PSPad, the user can add accents to words. See More

Moving your cursor over an element in the preview browser highlights the CSS that is incorporated with that element, making it easy to find bugs and squish them. See More

score 3 · Answer 19

Brackets

Top Pro

IDs can be selected by clicking the live preview with your mouse

Specs

Platforms:Windows; macOS; Linux

Extension language:JavaScript

License:MIT

Supported remote file editing protocols:FTP (plug-in)

Brackets is entirely free and open source. See More

Top Pro

Free, open source and cross-platform

Top Pro

Edits can be displayed in real time for easy improvements

Whether it's CSS or HTML changes, you can view them live in a browser to see exactly how the code adjustments will look to end users. See More