PHP development tools have given the programming language a complete image makeover. Thanks to these powerful development tools, from being considered an almost dead language, PHP powers nearly 87 million sites today.
The IDE tools, especially, ensure that a PHP developer has everything handy, which makes code development incredibly easy, be it editing, debugging, testing, or API integrators, among many other features.
And yes, there are standalone tools, which are not part of the IDE, which you can use to customize your web application according to your requirements.
No matter what, choosing the right PHP development tools helps you achieve more in less time.
Here are the 20 best PHP development tools we’ll be looking at:
1. PhpStorm
2. ScriptCase
3. Eclipse
4. PHPStan
5. Zend Studio
6. Aptana Studio
7. Codeium
8. Netbeans
9. DataGrip
10. Cloud 9
11. New Relic
12. Komodo IDE
13. Sublime Text
14. Visual Studio Code
15. Atom
16. Vim
17. Emacs
18. PHP-CS-Fixer
19. Composer
20. Xdebug
Types of PHP Development Tools for Your Tech Stack
Several PHP development tools flood the marketplace, each created to fulfill a unique objective. Some PHP dev tools offer full-fledged development environments, popularly known as IDEs, while some tools have subject matter expertise. Subject matter expertise in that some PHP web development tools specialize in testing, some in database management, some in code editing, some in offering full-stack frameworks, etc.
Here are 10 Types of PHP tools list that simplify PHP development.
1. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs): IDEs offer anything and everything a PHP developer requires for web application development. Whether it’s code editing, debugging, testing, deployment, or API integration, you name it, and an IDE is sure to help the developer with it. When developing complex PHP applications, IDEs are the key to speedy and efficient development.
Examples: PhpStorm, Eclipse, Zend Studio, Netbeans, Cloud 9, Aptana Studio
2. Testing Tools: Compared to manual testing, automated testing ensures that your application and web pages are tested speedily and, more importantly, efficiently. This helps in rolling out market-fit products quickly, and only testing tools can help with that.
Example: PHPUnit, Behat
3. Cloud-based tools: If you are interested in developing and deploying applications in the cloud, that is, without using a server, try cloud-based tools.
Example: Cloud 9
4. Database Tools: Such tools help interact with databases, enabling developers to create data-driven applications.
Example: Datagrip
5. Code editors: Code editors are meant to write and edit code - not from scratch. The tools help with auto-completion, syntax highlighting, debugging, and more to help developers finish their coding jobs without much hassle.
Example: Visual Studio Code, Brackets, Atom
6. Frameworks: Full-stack frameworks, as the name suggests, offera full set of tools and libraries to develop your web applications. In contrast, micro frameworks offer minimal tools, and the developer’s job is to add customized elements per user requirements.
Examples: Laravel, Symfony, Yii
7. Content Management Tools: WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are CMS systems leveraged by PHP developers.
8. Debugging Tools: Debugging tools help you easily fix bugs in your applications and web pagesy. Developers can either use them through their IDEs or standalone debuggers. However, remember that standalone debuggers may have advanced debugging capabilities.
Example: Xdebug, Laravel Debugbar
9. Version Control Systems: You may change your codes as many times as you want, and you won’t lose any of those codes. How come? Git, Subversion, and Mercurial are popular version control systems integrated with PHP development that help store and retrieve codes.
Example: Git, Subversion, Mercurial
10. API Development tools: API-integrated applications enable communication between different applications. You can develop and manage APIs using these tools, allowing application communication
Examples: Swagger, OpenAPI, Postman
20 Best PHP Development Tools to Streamline Your PHP Projects
The 20 tools for PHP development given here, some free and some paid, can be used by seasoned and beginner-level PHP developers.
| Tool | Price | Tool Type | Platforms Supported |
| PhpStorm | Paid | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| ScriptCase | Paid | RAD Tool | Windows, Linux |
| Eclipse | Free | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| PHPStan | Free | Static Analysis Tool | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Zend Studio | Paid | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Aptana Studio | Free | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Codeium | Free | AI-Powered Code Completion | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Netbeans | Free | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| DataGrip | Paid | Database Management Tool | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Cloud 9 | Free (with limitations) | Cloud-Based IDE | Web-based |
| New Relic | Paid | Application Performance Monitoring | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Komodo IDE | Paid | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Sublime Text | Free (with optional licensing) | Text Editor | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Visual Studio Code | Free | IDE | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Atom | Free | Text Editor | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Vim | Free | Text Editor | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Emacs | Free | Text Editor | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| PHP-CS-Fixer | Free | Code Formatter | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Composer | Free | Dependency Manager | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Xdebug | Free | Debugging and Profiling Tool | Windows, macOS, Linux |
PHP IDE Development Tools
1. PhpStorm - Paid PHP IDE for Web development
USP: PhpStorm is a full-stack PHP IDE that offers intelligent code assistance, framework support, and debugging and testing tools, making it ideal for web development.
600,000+ developers have benefitted from using the PhpStore code assistance tool. This powerful IDE makes Writing code easy, as you don’t have to install or configure plugins. The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) offers everything a PHP developer requires.
Moreover, it’s considered the most language-savvy code assistant, which means even JavaScript and TypeScript developers are happy using this IDE. If you want to customize your PHP applications, don’t worry; PhpStorm is rich in plugin resources.
Key Features
- Smart code completion, refactorings, error detections, and navigation by codebase
- Supports PHP frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress, as well as navigation support for your favored frameworks.
- It supports top front-end technologies such as JavaScript, TypeScript, jQuery, and more.
- Full-stack IDE that supports challenging development tasks, including debugging, refactoring, and unit testing on both client and server-side web applications.
- The visual debugger gives live debugging data, conditional breakpoints, and insights into code execution with minimal configuration.
- There is built-in support for PHP testing tools such as PHPUnit, Behat, Codeception, phpspec, and Pest. These tools help you test your code instantly from a directory, file, or editor. The test results can be reviewed in a dedicated window.
Cost
PHP Storm - For Organizations
- Per user, in the first year, US $249.00, incl. VAT US $293.82
- Second-year - US $199.00, incl. VAT US $234.82
- Third year onwards - US $149.00, incl. VAT US $175.82
PHPStorm and Laravel Idea
- Per user, in the first year, US $298.50, incl. VAT US $352.23
- Second year US $248.50 incl. VAT US $281.43
- Third year onwards, US $208.00, incl. VAT US $245.44
All Products Pack - Includes 18 tools
- Per user, in the first year, US $779.00, incl. VAT US $919.22
- Second year US $623.00, incl. VAT US $735.14
- Third year onwards, US $467.00, incl. VAT US $551.06
For Individuals
- First-year US $99.00, incl. VAT US $116.82
- Second year US $79.00, incl. VAT US $93.22
- Third year onwards, US $59.00, incl. VAT US $69.62
PhpStorm and Laravel Idea
- First-year -16%US $123.50 incl. VAT US $145.73
- Second year -12%US $103.50 incl. VAT US $116.23
- Third year onwards, US $88.00 incl. VAT US $103.84
All Products Pack - 18 tools
- First-year US $289.00, incl. VAT US $341.02
- Second year US $231.00, incl. VAT US $272.58
- Third year onwards, US $173.00, incl. VAT US $204.14
2. Eclipse - Free PHP IDE for Web development
USP: Eclipse is a versatile IDE that supports different programming languages, including PHP, integrates with various tools, and offers a broad plugin ecosystem for customization.
Eclipse is a free and open-source integrated development environment (IDE) widely used for Java and PHP applications. This general-purpose IDE simplifies the development of complex applications and boasts a vast plugin ecosystem that allows adding new features, supports different programming languages, and customizes the IDE to match individual requirements.
Key Features
- It supports multiple programming languages, including C, C ++, Python, Lua, Perl, Java, and others.
- Numerous platform plugins to ease the addition of new functionality
- The installation process is easy, unlike that of other IDEs, which makes it a much sought-after IDE by developers.
- Simplified UI, which makes coding easier, allowing rich feature application development
- Syntax highlighting, code completion, and refactoring tools
- Integrates with GIT and other version control systems to manage code changes.
- Identify and fix bugs.
- It can be configured to work with PHP servers like Apache and Nginx.
- Supported by a large community of developers around the world
Cost: Free and Open source
3. Zend Studio - Paid PHP IDE for Web development
USP: Zend Studio is a comprehensive PHP IDE with features like code editing, debugging, version control, and cloud deployment. It also supports several PHP versions and frameworks.
Developed specifically for PHP developers, Zend Studio answers all your PHP problems and, more importantly, offers Long-Term Support for PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 8.0. This means you can support legacy PHP projects with a drop of a hat. Moreover, Zend Studio IDE is popular for its speed and excellent debugging features. Applications developed on Zend Studio can be deployed to multiple servers, including the cloud.
Key features:
- Intuitive code editing features include code completion, refactoring, and real-time error validation and analysis.
- It supports the latest version of PHP 7 and older versions of PHP to ensure compatibility with legacy projects.
- Zend framework supports HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Run, test, and debug PHP applications in Docker containers.
- Integrates with debugging tools such as X-ray, Xdebug, and Zend Debugger to find and fix errors in PHP code.
- Integrates with popular databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle.
- In-built version control systems like Git, SVN, and CVS make making code changes easy.
- Deploy PHP applications to private and public cloud environments using built-in cloud deployment capabilities.
- If you use Eclipse IDE, the Zend Studio plugin can be installed directly from your development environment.
- Support popular PHP frameworks like Zend Framework, Symfony, and Laravel.
- Zend Studio runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and IBM i platforms — on-premises and in public clouds.
Cost
- Personal license: $89 (confirm the pricing from the Zend Studio sales team)
- Basic license: $189
- A free trial is available for download
4. Aptana Studio - Free PHP IDE for Web development
USP: Aptana Studio is a free and open-source IDE that offers complete web development and tools, as well as PHP support, code assistance, debugging, and version control through Git.
The California-based Aptana Studio is a free, open-source IDE for developing web pages and web applications. Based on Eclipse, another popular IDE, it has a neat interface that supports tools such as PHP, Python, CSS3, HTML5, Ruby on Rails, Ajax, and more. Plus, it offers impressive features, such as a command-line interface, debugging, code auto-completion, and Git integration.
Key features
- The Code Assist feature supports languages such as HTML, HTML5, JavaScript, PHP, CSS, and Ruby, making it easier for web developers to work with these languages.
- The integrated debugger helps developers debug applications and mitigate all sorts of issues.
- Improves code readability by offering visual cues to help you identify different elements of your PHP code.
- Code completion, Code restructuring, and Code folding to hide or expand sections of code
- Evaluate code line by line to find and fix errors.
- Supports Git and subversion integration, which are popular version control systems.
- A large and active community of developers offering valuable resources and assistance
- Command-line access allows you to access the project’s directory and execute commands from Aptana Studio.
Aptana Studio is a feature-rich IDE that serves PHP developers well with its code editor, version control integration, snippets, debugging, and more. It’s a valuable asset for building and maintaining applications.
Cost: Free and open-source
5. Netbeans- Free PHP IDE for Web development
USP: NetBeans is a free, cross-platform IDE that offers a whole host of features to complement web development. The IDE supports PHP development with code editing, debugging, version control integration, and plugin extensibility.
Netbeans is a popular cross-platform IDE for web, enterprise, desktop, and mobile application development. The tool supports multiple languages, including C, C++, Java, HTML5, and PHP, and is considered to be one of the best IDEs. You can add more plugins and frameworks to this IDE to support more programming languages.
If building large web apps is part of your business agenda, NetBeans should be your go-to IDE. The IDE can be customized with plugins to serve specific customer needs. Plus, the tool supports international languages such as Brazilian, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese and also gels well with PHP frameworks like Zend, Symfony 2, CakePHP, FuelPHP, Smarty, and WordPress CMS.
Key features
- Excellent code editing features include syntax highlighting, code completion, and refactoring.
- Editors, wizards, and templates to create applications in Java, PHP, and many other languages.
- Being a cross-platform tool, it can be installed on all OS that supports Java, i.e., Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and BSD
- Fitted with debugging tools to find and fix errors in your PHP code.
- Integrated with different version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial.
- Database tools include SQL editing and database management.
- Helps deploy PHP applications to different environments.
- An entire ecosystem of plugins to expand NetBeans' functionality specifically to support different PHP frameworks and technologies.
- Code folding to hide or expand sections of code to improve readability.
Cost: Free and Open Source
6. Cloud 9 - Free PHP IDE for Web development
USP: Cloud9 IDE is ideal for those who prefer cloud-based collaboration with peers and pre-configured environments. It is also a must-have for those working on remote teams of projects that depend on AWS services.
Cloud9 is not just another IDE. It is open-source and cloud-based, offering a high-performance development environment for several programming languages, including C, C++, JavaScript, Python, and not just PHP. Developers can use the tool to code away immediately and build web applications with powerful features.
The tool has collaborative coding features, meaning you code with your colleagues and take real-time inputs. Plus, the IDE allows developers to work from anywhere, which means they can work remotely and create serverless apps by coding in the browser.
Key Features
- Since cloud-based, you don’t have to install software on your PC
- Code collaboration in real-time with peers
- Fully-featured IDE with code editing, debugging, and version control tools
- Pre-configured development environment for PHP applications, including popular frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter.
- Cloud9 is integrated with AWS (Amazon Web Services), making deploying applications on the cloud easier.
Cost: Free and Open Source
Rapid Web Application Development Tool
7. ScriptCase - Paid RWAD Tool
USP: ScriptCase drag and drop interface makes web application development effortless for developers of different skill levels
ScriptCase is a drag-and-drop builder for web applications designed to simplify the development process. Its drag-and-drop features allow users to spend less time coding and more time developing different business application functionalities such as Grids, Forms, Charts, and BI reports.
Key Features
- Scriptcase is a great tool for generating business applications. You can even make reports using dashboards, charts, and pivot tables for business intelligence purposes.
- JavaScript graph creation and customization application backed by drag-and-drop interface allows for quick organization of metrics and dimensions. Scriptcase charts ensure you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
- Business dashboard applications with key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to a particular purpose or business process.
- Create all kinds of web forms using the various options available in Scriptcase.
- Two menu applications, such as Horizontal/Vertical Menu and Tree Men, will help you create a hierarchical structure for your application's navigation system.
- Calendar application for creating and updating events in the database table is integrated with Google Calendar.
- Scriptbase projects are connected to different Data Base Management Systems (DBMS) - MySQL, SQL Azure, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Interbase, Access, Amazon Aurora, Firebird, Oracle, MS SQLServer, DB2, Sybase, Informix and ODBC - which eases the application creation process and maintenance.
- Scriptcase has a Security Module that helps create secure systems to prevent unauthorized users from accessing applications.
- The tool offers a flexible environment that enables you to create your own business rules and tailor the system according to the project requirements.
- Scriptcase applications support more than 50 languages.
- Scriptcase offers a perfect development environment that boasts several features and enables remote working and collaboration.
- Community support and continuous updates
Cost
- Starter: $ 399.20
- Professional: $ 439.20
- Enterprise: $ 615.20
Code Reviewer Tool for PHP
8. PHPStan - Free Code Reviewer Tool
USP: PHPStan is a static analyzer that improves code quality by tracking errors and suggesting improvements in PHP projects.
PHPStan is a code reviewer tool for PHP. It is programmed to analyze your entire codebase to track obvious and tricky errors. The tool helps you catch issues early on, thus preventing bugs and enhancing code quality.
Key Features
- PHPStan Pro to browse errors and auto-refresh with continuous auto-refresh with continuous analysis.
- Detects all kinds of errors, including mismatches and incorrect function calls.
- Improves code quality, including old codes, by suggesting improvements in code
- PHPStan offers extensions for popular frameworks like Symfony, Laravel, or Doctrine.
- Gradual Integration means the static analyzer gradually identifies and fixes common errors in the codebase before bombarding the developer with thousands of error warnings.
- Helps you comply with coding standards and best practices
Cost: Free and Open Source
AI-Powered Code Completion Tool
9. Codeium - Free & Paid AI-Powered Code Completion Tool
USP: Codeium is an AI code assistant that offers real-time code suggestions, error detection, and code generation to accelerate PHP development and ensure code quality.
If you are looking for a highly intelligent AI code assistant, look no further than Codeium. This US-headquartered AI code completion tool has been trained on 70+ programming languages and 40+ editors to offer real-time, context-aware code suggestions, which helps accelerate your coding tasks.
The other good parts: The tool is easy to integrate into existing development environments, is error-free, and, more importantly, ensures that your code sticks to industry standards. Also, this AI code generator’s extensive code repositories ensure that code is in keeping with the current demand. The tool has increased developer productivity, making it a crucial tool for every PHP developer.
Key Features
- Autocomplete codes
- Codeium Chat can generate complete actions and applications for you.
- Explain feature will give a complete explanation of any foreign code
- Finds and fixes common coding errors and inconsistencies
- Code refactoring and translation of existing code
- Answers all your questions regarding frameworks, libraries, APIs, and overall tech stack
Cost
- Individual: 0
- Pro: $10
- Teams: $24
- Enterprise: Request the sales team for a quote
Powerful Database Tool for Developers
10. DataGrip - Paid Database Tool
USP: DataGrip is a powerful IDE for database development that connects with popular databases. It offers SQL editing features, schema management, data exploration, and integration with PHP IDEs to support developer productivity.
Like most of the IDEs mentioned here, DataGrip is not exclusively designed for PHP development. That said, PHP developers working with databases can greatly benefit from this tool, which helps them query their databases, edit SQL scripts, navigate across data sets, and so much more. The tool’s powerful features, such as code completion, refactoring, and on-the-fly analysis, make database management effortless, improving developer productivity in return.
Key Features
- Effortlessly connects with popular databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL server, and NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Cassandra.
- Assign color to a data source to differentiate the production data source from the test data source
- Table backups are offered before any data manipulation is made.
- If you want to avoid certain objects in the database tree, hide them in the data source properties.
- When working with many data sources, you can group them.
- Copy-pasting of data sources when you want to distribute data sources among team members, share data sources between projects, duplicate data sources, and more
- SQL editing features such as syntax highlighting, code completion, and more.
- Schema management includes the creation, modification, and management of database schemas.
- Insert, update, delete, and even query data effectively.
- Visual data exploration via diagrams, charts, and tables
- DataGrip integrates with PHP IDEs and other development tools.
For Organization - Many databases, one tool
- Per user, in the first year, US $229.00 incl. VAT US $270.22
- Second year US $183.00, incl. VAT US $215.94
- Third year onwards, US $137.00, incl. VAT US $161.66
All Products Pack - Includes 18 tools
- Per user, in the first year, US $779.00, incl. VAT US $919.22
- Second year US $623.00, incl. VAT US $735.14
- Third year onwards, US $467.00, incl. VAT US $551.06
For Individuals - Many databases, One tool
- First-year US $99.00, incl. VAT US $116.82
- Second year US $79.00, incl. VAT US $93.22
- Third year onwards, US $59.00, incl. VAT US $69.62
All Products Pack - Includes 18 tools
- First-year US $289.00, incl. VAT US $341.02
- Second year US $231.00, incl. VAT US $272.58
- Third year onwards, US $173.00, incl. VAT US $204.14
Application Tracking Performance Tool
11. New Relic - Free & Paid Application Tracking Performance Tool
USP: New Relic helps you monitor your app’s performance (web, mobile, and infrastructure) and fix issues quickly.
New Relic is a cloud-based observability platform
that helps you monitor your app’s health. More importantly, it works well with top languages, such
as PHP, Ruby, Java, or .NET. It offers 360-degree visibility into your app’s performance, whether
for web or mobile apps, along with infrastructure monitoring.
Key features
Application Performance Monitoring
- Track real-time performance metrics, error rates, and other performance metrics.
- Visualize the flow of requests in your application and see where all corrections are required.
- Examine CPU and memory usage to track performance issues.
Infrastructure Monitoring
- Monitor CPU, Memory, Disc, and Network usage
- Monitor the health and performance of Docker containers
- Track cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP
Browser Monitoring
- Track load times of web pages and user interactions
Mobile Monitoring
- Track app crashes and slowdowns
- Analyze User behavior and engagement
Synthetic Monitoring
- Simulate user interactions to monitor performance
- Get alerts when performance thresholds are violated
Log Management
- Analyze logs from applications and infrastructure
- Correlate logs with varied data sources to identify issues
Analytics and Reporting
- Creation of custom dashboards to visualize important metrics
- SQL queries to extract insights from data
AI and Machine Learning
- Detect anomalies in data automatically
- Predict future performance trends
Cost
- Free
- Standard - Core Users - $49/user
Full Platform Users - $10/first user, $99/additional user (maximum of 5)
- Pro - Core Users - $49/user
Full Platform Users - $10/first user, $99/additional user (maximum of 5)
- Enterprise - $49/userContact Sales
How to Choose the Right PHP Application Development Tools
When choosing PHP development tools, here are a few things to consider:
- The tool should work in alignment with your current tech stack
- Having a user-friendly interface and complete documentation to help you get a hang of the tool quickly
- Can the tool keep pace and scale with increasing project complexity?
- Check whether it falls within your budget and determine long-term viability.
GoodFirms' Guide to Essential PHP Development Tools
For Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
- PhpStorm
- NetBeans
- Visual Studio Code
For Testing and Code Quality
- PHPStan
- PHPUnit
- PHP-CS-Fixer
For Performance and Debugging
- Xdebug
- New Relic
Additional Considerations:
Project Size and Complexity: Sublime Text or Atom are good for smaller projects. However, consider a full-featured IDE like PhpStorm or NetBeans for larger, more complex projects.
Team Collaboration: If you're working on a team, consider Git or a shared code repository.
Final Thoughts:
If you have reached this far, congratulations. Your PHP projects will be a super success, as you would have definitely tried using a couple of PHP development tools (or more) mentioned above, or I guess at least the free ones. These development tools are useful tools for PHP development and have been thoughtfully calibrated to smoothen your development workflow, increasing the efficiency and speed of PHP developers. Agreed, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as several development tools could propel your productivity. So, check them out, and let us know about them in the comments below.
