Neovim vs PhpStorm

NeoVim was a complete rewrite of Vim, with new features added and underlying issues resolved thanks to the Vim code base. The keybindings and configuration are the same as Vim, so the switch can be pretty simple.

The core text editor is "headless", meaning it's detached from the user-interface so other programs can hook into it. This enables better integration with IDEs and browsers, where "Vim mode" has typically been a poor substitute because it was a partial rewrite or a partial port at best. One of the advantages of Vim has always been ubiquity and Neovim makes it even more ubiquitous.

Vim plugins have always been useful, but tied to specific languages. Neovim's architecture provides better separation between plugins and the core product, so that plugins are completely flexible and can be written in any language.

This avoids the user having to make any installations.

The core functionality is handled apart from the UI, meaning that Neovim can be embedded into any other GUI system, such as Atom.

Not many editors can open such a large text file so quickly.

New neovim editor instance starts instantly and you can have multiple editors open at the same time, because id does not require a lot of memory to run.

Don't believe it? Try typing vimtutor in your command line right now.

Neovim can work on terminal, on a remote server over ssh.

As a refactor over Vim, Neovim has greatly improved its code base. For example, some functionality is handled by libuv, the same code base that powers Node.js.

Some typical configurations most of VIM users make are default in Neovim.

Vim gets stronger every time command-line tools get stronger. This isn't even it's the final form.

I don't like having dotfiles or dotdirs in my homefolder unless they're needed. Configs should be in the .config dir in their respective folder.

This makes editing multiple files at once, moving code around so easy.

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.

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

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

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.

Has built in support for Xdebug including remote debugging.

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

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).

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

Allows users to manage their repositories directly from the IDE with a GUI which lets you do all Git commands.

Active development work on plugins is always a plus, as it can extend the use of the IDE.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It recognizes Vagrantfile and allows full control from the IDE.

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.

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.).

PhpStorm is clearly being developed continually, which gives confidence that it will be available for some time and is not abandonware.

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