Coding in PHP is pretty simple when you know what you’re doing, but there are so many different editors and tools out there.
You can easily lose track of them if your just getting started. I’ve compiled a list of free PHP development tools and useful extensions that helped me build and run my sites and applications. It’s growing every day since we’re in the early stages of building our new website framework, Panther.
Apache NetBeans
Apache NetBeans
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD
- License: Apache License vs 2.0
- Source code: https://github.com/apache/netbeans
- Supported languages: HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS, JavaScript, PHP, Java, C, C++, and more
Apache NetBeans is a free and open source IDE maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (so you need to have the Java Runtime Environment installed on your computer), but it comes with extensions for multiple programming languages. Its PHP runtime provides you with a full-featured PHP IDE that allows you to run, refactor, debug, and profile PHP applications — in addition to the typical features of a PHP editor such as syntax highlighting, customizable themes and views, goto definitions, and more.
When installing NetBeans, you can select which parts of the IDE you want to add. Currently, there are five options: Base IDE, Java SE, Java EE, HTML5/JavaScript, and PHP. You can install all of these if you want, but to use NetBeans as a PHP IDE, you’ll need the Base IDE and PHP runtimes by any means, plus you need to add the HTML5/JavaScript pack, too, if you want support for frontend languages (CSS, Sass, and LESS are also included).
NetBeans is an incredibly user-friendly tool. It has a helpful onboarding process that includes demos and sample projects of working PHP apps: a calculator and a to-do application. Plus, if you haven’t used an IDE for PHP development yet, Netbeans has a great PHP and HTML5 Learning Trail that can help you get started.
Best features:
- code formatting, code folding, smart code completion, error highlighting, smart suggestions, and other advanced editing features
- semantic code analysis
- debugging with Xdebug
- unit testing with PHPUnit and Selenium
- integration with version control systems (Git, Subversion, Mercurial)
- 1000+ plugins are available on the NetBeans Plugin Portal (130+ for PHP plus many generic ones such as themes)
- support for PHP frameworks such as WordPress, Symfony, Zend, and Yii (find them as plugins)
CodeLite
CodeLite
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD
- License: GNU GPL vs 2
- Source code: https://github.com/eranif/codelite
- Supported languages: HTML, JavaScript, Node.js, PHP, C, C++
CodeLite is a free and open source IDE primarily for the C++ programming language, but it also comes with support for PHP and Node.js (as pre-installed plugins). It’s not the most advanced IDE you’ll find out there, but it’s free and comes with all the important IDE features for PHP, such as project and workspace management, built-in debugger (Xdebug), panes for different views, task management, code completion, project execution, and more.
When you first launch CodeLite, it starts with a setup wizard that helps you configure the IDE to fit your coding style (you can opt out if you want). There’s an option that allows you to customize it as a PHP editor used for web development. Note that you might have to install a C++ compiler manually (if you don’t have any on your machine yet). The other thing to keep in mind is that even though CodeLite has an okay wiki page, it doesn’t come with as many tutorials/starter projects as most of the other PHP IDEs on this list.
However, if you want a free PHP IDE that doesn’t run on Java, has many configuration options, and doesn’t require you to sign up for an account, CodeLite can be the best choice for you.
Best features:
- customizable design with many themes to choose from
- powerful find and replace and go-to functionality
- PHP linting, refactoring, and debugging
- PHP class wizard
- SFTP support with an SSH account manager
- Git-integration
- diff tool for both files and folders
JetBrains PhpStorm
JetBrains PhpStorm
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS
- Price: $89 for first year, $71 for second year, $53 for third year onwards for individual use with annual billing ($199 – $159 – $119 for commercial use); free license programs for FOSS; 30-day free trial
- License: see EULAs
- Supported languages: HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS, Markdown, JavaScript, Node.js, React, Vue, Angular, TypeScript, PHP, MySQL, XML, XSLT, and more
JetBrains PHPStorm is featured as “the lightning-smart PHP IDE”, and it offers a different user experience from most other PHP IDEs indeed. It has a clean and minimalistic user interface and a fast startup time — it launches just as fast as a simple PHP editor without any IDE features.
In PHPStorm, you see everything only when you need it. At first launch, you’ll see a very simple view with the configuration settings and three options to start a new project. The top menu bar only becomes visible once you start a new project. Then, you can add extra windows for many things (favorites, structure, todos, problems, terminal, event log, database, debug, and more), but all are optional and easy to toggle back and forth.
One of the best things about PHPStorm is that it comes bundled with WebStorm, JetBrains’ JavaScript IDE. So if you do both frontend and backend development and need both a JavaScript and PHP IDE, this can be your best choice. PHPStorm also integrates with the Composer package manager so that you can manage your dependencies right from your IDE. Plus, it supports the three most popular PHP content management systems: WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
Best features:
- scratch files for experimenting without creating a project
- on-the-fly error prevention
- prioritizing coding problems
- HTML5 outline view
- easy switching between different PHP versions (good for legacy projects)
- advanced refactoring
- debugging with its zero-config Visual Debugger (also supports Xdebug and Zend Debugger)
- integration with version control systems (Git, Mercurial, Subversion)
- support for both test-driven development (PHPUnit) and behavior-driven development (Behat)
- support for all major PHP frameworks (Laravel, CakePHP, Magento, Yii, Zend Framework, WordPress, and more)
2. Zend Studio
Zend Studio
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, IBM i
- Price: $89 for personal use and $189 for professional use (both are perpetual licenses with 1 year of free upgrades); 30-day free trial
- License: Zend Studio License (pdf)
- Supported languages: HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS, Markdown, JavaScript, PHP
Zend Studio is a commercial PHP IDE developed by “Zend by Perforce”, a company specialized in enterprise-level PHP solutions. It’s based on the Eclipse PDT IDE (see above); you can install it either individually or as an Eclipse plugin via the Eclipse Marketplace. Zend Studio adds many enterprise-level features to the free Eclipse PHP Developer Tools.
It seamlessly integrates with Zend’s other products, namely Zend Server, Zend Debugger, Zend Guard, the Laminas Framework (formerly known as Zend Framework), and Laminas API Tools (formerly known as Apigility). However, you are not bound to the Zend ecosystem, as Zend Studio supports many other frameworks, debuggers, web servers, and tools as well.
Even though Eclipse PDT already has an advanced PHP editor interface, Zend Studio extends it with further PHP-specific functionality such as an enhanced code assist, database views for different relational database management systems (MySQL, MSSQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, and others), built-in cloud deployment (both to public and private clouds), and more.
Best features:
- intelligent code assist for PHP
- automated module creation
- advanced debugging options with Zend Debugger (default), Xdebug, or Z-Ray
- Docker support for containerized PHP apps
- integration with version control systems (SVN, CVS, Git) and Composer
- support for 4K and HiDPi displays
- support for the main cloud platforms (Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Cloud, etc)
- several tutorials, videos, and PHP templates
3. Codeanywhere (cloud IDE)
Codeanywhere
- Supported operating systems: any web browser, iOS, Android
- Price: from $2.50/month; 7-day free trial
- License: see TOS
- Supported languages: HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS, Markdown, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Python, Go, Ruby, Java, and more
Codeanywhere is a platform-agnostic cloud IDE that you can use either in the web browser or as a mobile application. The project started as a web-based PHP editor and FTP client called PHPanywhere, but now it supports more than 100 programming languages. It’s based on CodeMirror, an open source, browser-native source code editor that can also work with large documents (with more than 200,000 lines).
With Codeanywhere, you either run your coding environment in an OpenVZ container (called DevBoxes), or connect to your own server or a third-party service, such as GitHub, Bitbucket, Amazon S3, Google Drive, DigitalOcean, and more. The Codeanywhere IDE launches in a couple of seconds in the web browser, however, you’ll have to wait about half a minute for your container to be created.
Codeanywhere welcomes you with a connection wizard where you can choose between different stacks, including two LAMP stacks (Ubuntu and CentOS) — both come with phpMyAdmin and Composer added. You can also opt for launching these PHP stacks with WordPress and WordPress CLI pre-installed. Alternatively, you can use your own custom stack too. With Codeanywhere, you can live test your PHP application over both HTTP and HTTPS protocols, from any web browser.
Best features:
- pre-configured PHP and WordPress stacks
- built-in Linux terminal with sudo (root) access
- intelligent code editing features such as code refactoring, auto-complete, go-to definitions, minimap, and more
- support for FTP, SFTP, FTPS, SSH protocols
- live pair programming on shared files
- Git integration (via terminal)
- distraction-free mode
- multiple layout options (single, grid, column, row, split vertical, and split horizontal views)
- integrated debugger
- one-click code beautifier
- browser preview
Conclusion
Free PHP Development Tools is a great reference for tools that can help improve the efficiency of your coding process. There’s been a lot said about what makes a good development environment and how to set one up. I thought I would contribute by creating a collection of free development tools that should make life easier for any PHP developer.