NetBeans vs Microsoft Visual Studio

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.

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

Supports synchronization with projects stored remotely through FTP or SFTP.

You can run Linux terminal inside the IDE.

Supports Symfony1, Symfony2,Yii2 & Zend frameworks.

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.

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

Git commits/local diff comparison is best

NetBeans can be extended beyond the basic tool that you get out of the box through community made custom plugins.

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

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.

Supports Smarty Template Engine right out of the box.

NetBeans provides code completion and documentation for all Twig elements.

Supports documentation generation through ApiGen and PHPDoc.

Supports static code analysis with phpstan

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.

The Community Edition of Visual Studios and the Unity add-on can be downloaded and used free of charge.

IntelliSense is the general term for a number of features: List Members, Parameter Info, Quick Info, and Complete Word. These features help you to learn more about the code you are using, keep track of the parameters you are typing, and add calls to properties and methods with only a few keystrokes.

Visual Studio has a massive library of plugins to choose from.

The recently released 15.7 branch provides competitive modern language support.

In agile development teams, one really needs features such as product backlogs where you can assign features to team mates and track their progress on them. VS provides a web based interface for you to track your team's complete progress on the project.

Makes production faster especially if git is used. One can see changed files at the go and commit (with push possibility) when ever one so desires.

Visual Studio 2017 supports a much more modern and modular installer. You no longer have to install many gigabytes of stuff you don't need. Everything is broken down into much smaller pieces and it's much more apparent which pieces you need.

Your Visual Studio Online account gives you a place to store your code, backlog, and other project data with no servers to deploy, configure, or manage.