Best PHP IDE Comparison of 2017 and 2016 for Windows, Mac and Linux

Contents

What is a PHP IDE?

Disclaimer

PHP IDE List

PHP Code Editor Features

PHP Editor Version Control Support

Other Supported Languages

PHP Framework Support

Supported JavaScript Libraries

Other Features

PHP IDE Tutorials in this site

Where to find these PHP IDE Free Downloads?

Where to find the price and buy the commercial PHP IDEs?

PHP IDE Discount Coupon Codes

Change Log

Conclusion

What is a PHP IDE?

What makes an IDE the prefect tool for one developer may not meet the needs of another. A set of features, the look and feel are all subjective to the user as to what makes the best IDE. The primary goal with these comparisons is to provide just the facts, without bias, so that you can make a decision based on your own needs.

Great effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of these charts by not only doing our own research but also inviting the developers to review them and provide their own feedback for consideration.

Due to the extensive list of features being compared, the charts are broken down into several categorized tables. Some of these tables are wide, so use the horizontal scroll to ensure you are not missing out on some of the data.

This is a live article. This means that the article will be updated once and republished here again once there are relevant updates to the features of the currently listed IDEs or others that may not yet be listed.

Disclaimer

This article was composed in collaboration with the producers of several PHP IDEs, some commercial, some free. The production of this article was not sponsored in any form by any of the IDE producers.

Producers of IDEs being actively developed but currently are not listed here, are invited to contact the site to have your PHP IDE included in a future edition of this article.

PHP IDE List

1. Codelobster

Developed by: Codelobster

2. Eclipse PDT

Developed by: Eclipse

3. Komodo IDE

Developed by: ActiveState

Licenses:

CDDL = Common Development and Distribution License

EPL = Eclipse Public License

GPL = GNU General Public License

FPL = Facebook Public License

PHP IDE for Windows

The following IDEs are available under Windows: Codelobster, Eclipse PDT, Komodo IDE, Netbeans, PHPEd, PHPStorm, PHP Tools and Zend Studio.

PHP IDE for Mac

PHP Code Editor Features

Auto Complete = Code suggestions presented and completed, relevant to the current context
Highlighting = Code colorized to simplify locating specific elements
Folding = Code blocks can be expanded and contracted (hidden)
Hinting = Similar to Auto Complete, properties are also displayed for functions and methods
Refactoring = Restructuring code for better readability and complexity
Mapping = Display of declarations used, mapped to their origin
File Compare = Comparing 2 or more files and highlighting the differences in them

PHP Editor Version Control Support

Plugin indicates that support is provided by installing external code, either directly from the developer or a third party.

Other Supported Languages

Plugin indicates that support is provided by installing external code, either directly from the developer or a third party.

PHP Framework Support

Plugin indicates that support is provided by installing external code, either directly from the developer or a third party.

Supported JavaScript Libraries

Plugin indicates that support is provided by installing external code, either directly from the developer or a third party.

Other Features

PHP IDEs have many features that are not yet listed here for side by side comparison. Eventually those features will be added later on a future edition of this article.

Therefore PHP IDE producers were invited to describe some of the most important features of their PHP IDEs that they consider important for the PHP developers.

Nusphere PHPEd

The built in DBG debugger provides:

1. Ability to debug PHP console or Web applications

2. Ability to debug in embedded browser or one in a regular browser window

3. Ability to profile code in terms of performance, memory consumption, the time SQL queries take to execute

4. Support for secure debug connections to the servers

5. Conditional breakpoints, starting the debugger on errors and exceptions, ability to change current execution line, etc..

Additional features include:

1. Embedded SSH Client

2. Built in phpUnit support

3. phpUnit support integrated with debugger for remote debugging

Komodo

1. Komodo is based on Mozilla, like Firefox, and so it is not based in a Java editor

2. Has a Regex tool, which allows you to write regular expressions easily and see how it matches as well as provides various shortcuts to make writing regular expressions easier.

3. Has built-in code collaboration, letting you work on code with your colleagues simultaneously

4. Has a code profiling tool.

5. Has a HTTP inspector which lets you inspect HTTP traffic from the IDE to the Web sites

6. You can quickly test code by selecting a code section and hitting the "Run Code in-Line" button.

7. You can easily find documentation on common PHP functions by selecting them and invoking the documentation tool.

8. The user interface was designed to be simple and straight forward. It provides a lot of useful functionality despite it does not show too many buttons on the window.

9. It provides a field called "Go to Anything" that provides quick access to any feature.

Zend Studio

1. Can debug using either Xdebug and Zend Debugger

2. It can debug Web applications, CLI applications and supports PHPUnit tests

3. Debug sessions can be triggered from Z-Ray, browser toolbars or a special URL.

4. It automatically downloads the source code being debugged from the server if not available in the IDE

5. The profiler provides detailed reports.

6. It can perform static code analysis using a rich set of rules for finding issues in your code as you type it. It has a special set of rules to help migrating your existing code to PHP 7.

7. It can be used for mobile development. It has integration with Apigility for easy developing of REST services, as well with Cordova for cross-platform mobile application development.

8. It has Zend Server integration for deployment and application monitoring.

PHP IDE Tutorials in this site

Codelobster Tutorial

PHPEd Tutorials

PHP Tools for Visual Studio Tutorials

Conclusion

The goal of this article is to let you evaluate the different PHP IDEs so you compare and find which ones are more suitable for your needs.

Since these PHP IDEs are always evolving, this article will be updated with latest developments.

Special thanks for the developers of the organizations and companies of each the the listed PHP IDEs for their collaboration.

If you have questions or find inaccuracies, post a comment here.

Meanwhile share this article with other developers that are interested about PHP IDEs.