What is PhpStorm and what are its top alternatives?
Top Alternatives to PhpStorm
- Visual Studio Code
Build and debug modern web and cloud applications. Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. ...
- WebStorm
WebStorm is a lightweight and intelligent IDE for front-end development and server-side JavaScript. ...
- Sublime Text
Sublime Text is available for OS X, Windows and Linux. One license is all you need to use Sublime Text on every computer you own, no matter what operating system it uses. Sublime Text uses a custom UI toolkit, optimized for speed and beauty, while taking advantage of native functionality on each platform. ...
- DataGrip
A cross-platform IDE that is aimed at DBAs and developers working with SQL databases. ...
- NetBeans IDE
NetBeans IDE is FREE, open source, and has a worldwide community of users and developers. ...
- Eclipse
Standard Eclipse package suited for Java and plug-in development plus adding new plugins; already includes Git, Marketplace Client, source code and developer documentation. Click here to file a bug against Eclipse Platform. ...
- Atom
At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also use productively on the first day without ever touching a config file. Atom is modern, approachable, and hackable to the core. We can't wait to see what you build with it. ...
- Visual Studio
Visual Studio is a suite of component-based software development tools and other technologies for building powerful, high-performance applications. ...
PhpStorm alternatives & related posts
Visual Studio Code
- Powerful multilanguage IDE337
- Fast307
- Front-end develop out of the box193
- Support TypeScript IntelliSense158
- Very basic but free142
- Git integration126
- Intellisense106
- Faster than Atom78
- Better ui, easy plugins, and nice git integration53
- Great Refactoring Tools45
- Good Plugins44
- Terminal42
- Superb markdown support38
- Open Source36
- Extensions34
- Awesome UI26
- Large & up-to-date extension community26
- Powerful and fast24
- Portable22
- Best editor18
- Best code editor18
- Easy to get started with17
- Lots of extensions15
- Built on Electron15
- Crossplatform15
- Good for begginers15
- Extensions for everything14
- Open, cross-platform, fast, monthly updates14
- All Languages Support14
- Easy to use and learn13
- Extensible12
- "fast, stable & easy to use"12
- Totally customizable11
- Git out of the box11
- Faster edit for slow computer11
- Ui design is great11
- Useful for begginer11
- Great community10
- SSH support10
- Fast Startup10
- It has terminal and there are lots of shortcuts in it9
- Powerful Debugger9
- Great language support9
- Works With Almost EveryThing You Need9
- Python extension is fast8
- Can compile and run .py files8
- Great document formater7
- Features rich7
- He is not Michael6
- Awesome multi cursor support6
- Extension Echosystem6
- She is not Rachel6
- Language server client5
- Easy azure5
- SFTP Workspace5
- VSCode.pro Course makes it easy to learn5
- Very proffesional5
- Supports lots of operating systems4
- Has better support and more extentions for debugging4
- Excellent as git difftool and mergetool4
- Virtualenv integration4
- Has more than enough languages for any developer3
- Better autocompletes than Atom3
- Emmet preinstalled3
- 'batteries included'3
- More tools to integrate with vs3
- VS Code Server: Browser version of VS Code2
- Big extension marketplace2
- Customizable2
- Microsoft2
- Light2
- Fast and ruby is built right in2
- CMake support with autocomplete2
- Slow startup46
- Resource hog at times29
- Poor refactoring20
- Microsoft16
- Poor UI Designer13
- Weak Ui design tools11
- Poor autocomplete10
- Super Slow8
- Microsoft sends telemetry data8
- Poor in PHP7
- Huge cpu usage with few installed extension7
- It's MicroSoft6
- No built in live Preview3
- No Built in Browser Preview3
- Poor in Python3
- Electron3
- No color Intergrator3
- Very basic for java development and buggy at times3
- Powered by Electron2
- Bad Plugin Architecture2
- Terminal does not identify path vars sometimes1
- Slow C++ Language Server1
related Visual Studio Code posts
Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:
- GitHub (incl. GitHub Pages/Markdown for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
- Respectively Git as revision control system
- SourceTree as Git GUI
- Visual Studio Code as IDE
- CircleCI for continuous integration (automatize development process)
- Prettier / TSLint / ESLint as code linter
- SonarQube as quality gate
- Docker as container management (incl. Docker Compose for multi-container application management)
- VirtualBox for operating system simulation tests
- Kubernetes as cluster management for docker containers
- Heroku for deploying in test environments
- nginx as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
- SSLMate (using OpenSSL) for certificate management
- Amazon EC2 (incl. Amazon S3) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
- PostgreSQL as preferred database system
- Redis as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)
The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:
- Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
- Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
- Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
- Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
- Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
- Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.
I've been in the #frontend game for about 7 years now. I started coding in Sublime Text because all of the tutorials I was doing back then everyone was using it. I found the speed amazing compared to some other tools at the time. I kept using Sublime Text for about 4-5 years.
I find Sublime Text lacks some functionality, after all it is just a text editor rather than a full fledged IDE. I finally converted over to PhpStorm as I was working with Magento and Magento as you know is mainly #PHP based.
This was amazing all the features in PhpStorm I loved, the debugging features, and the control click feature when you click on a dependency or linked file it will take you to that file. It was great.
PhpStorm is kind of slow, I found that Prettier was taking a long time to format my code, and it just was lagging a lot so I was looking for alternatives. After watching some more tutorial videos I noticed that everyone was using Visual Studio Code. So I gave it a go, and its amazing.
It has support for everything I need with the plugins and the integration with Git is amazing. The speed of this IDE is blazing fast, and I wouldn't go back to using PhpStorm anymore. I highly recommend giving Visual Studio Code a try!
- Intelligent ide187
- Smart development environment128
- Easy js debugging108
- Code inspection97
- Support for the Latest Technologies95
- Created by jetbrains55
- Cross-platform ide53
- Integration36
- Spellchecker30
- Language Mixing/Injection24
- Debugger11
- Local History10
- Web developer can't live without this8
- Fast search7
- Git support7
- Angular.js support6
- Sass autocompletion6
- Better refactoring options5
- FTP5
- There is no need to setup plugins (all from the box)5
- Show color on the border next to hex string in CSS5
- Smart autocompletion5
- JSON Schema5
- Awesome5
- Built-in js debugger5
- Running and debugging Node.js apps remotely5
- Easy to use4
- A modern IDE stuck in the 90s4
- TypeScript support4
- Smart coding assistance for React4
- Node.js integration4
- 1114
- Protractor support out of the box4
- Intelligent4
- Paid but easy to crack4
- Dart support3
- Solid intelligent features3
- Great app3
- Integrated terminal3
- Vagrant and SSH Console3
- Free for students3
- Unused imports inspection3
- Docker intergration3
- Remote Files Syncronization2
- Grate debug tools for React Apps2
- Easier to keep running than eclipse2
- Auto imports1
- Vim support1
- Rename helpers1
- Auto refactoring helpers1
- Less autocompletion1
- GIT partial commits1
- Paid4
- Expensive1
related WebStorm posts
When I switched to Visual Studio Code 12 months ago from PhpStorm I was in love, it was great. However after using VS Code for a year, I see myself switching back and forth between WebStorm and VS Code. The VS Code plugins are great however I notice Prettier, auto importing of components and linking to the definitions often break, and I have to restart VS Code multiple times a week and sometimes a day.
We use Ruby here so I do like that Visual Studio Code highlights that for me out of the box, with WebStorm I'd need to probably also install RubyMine and have 2 IDE's going at the same time.
Should I stick with Visual Studio Code, or switch to something else? #help
We use Prettier because when we rebooted our front-end stack, I decided that it would be an efficient use of our time to not worry about code formatting issues and personal preferences during peer review. Prettier eliminates this concern by auto-formatting our code to a deterministic output. We use it along with ESLint and have 1st-class support in our WebStorm and Visual Studio Code editors.
- Lightweight720
- Plugins652
- Super fast641
- Great code editor468
- Cross platform442
- Nice UI280
- Unlimited trial260
- Cmd + d is the best command ever153
- Great community92
- Package control, modules46
- Mac OS X support26
- Easy to get started with23
- Monokai22
- Everything you need without the bloat21
- Built in Python21
- Easy18
- Speed14
- Session & edit resuming12
- Package Control10
- Well Designed9
- Multiple selections8
- ALT + CMD + DOWN is the best command ever7
- Nice7
- Fast, simple and lightweight7
- It's easy to use, beautiful, simple, and plugins rule5
- So futuristic and convenient5
- ALT + F3 the best command ever5
- Great5
- Find anything fast within entire project4
- Easy to use4
- Free4
- Simple and clean design4
- Hackable3
- Pretty3
- UI + plugins3
- Sublime Merge (Git Integration)3
- Totally customizable2
- Color schemes and cmd+d2
- Material theme best theme forever2
- Const0
- Steep learning curve8
- Everything6
- Flexibility to move file4
- Number of plugins doing the same thing4
- Doesn't act like a Mac app4
- Not open sourced3
- Don't have flutter integration2
- Forces you to buy license2
related Sublime Text posts
I've been in the #frontend game for about 7 years now. I started coding in Sublime Text because all of the tutorials I was doing back then everyone was using it. I found the speed amazing compared to some other tools at the time. I kept using Sublime Text for about 4-5 years.
I find Sublime Text lacks some functionality, after all it is just a text editor rather than a full fledged IDE. I finally converted over to PhpStorm as I was working with Magento and Magento as you know is mainly #PHP based.
This was amazing all the features in PhpStorm I loved, the debugging features, and the control click feature when you click on a dependency or linked file it will take you to that file. It was great.
PhpStorm is kind of slow, I found that Prettier was taking a long time to format my code, and it just was lagging a lot so I was looking for alternatives. After watching some more tutorial videos I noticed that everyone was using Visual Studio Code. So I gave it a go, and its amazing.
It has support for everything I need with the plugins and the integration with Git is amazing. The speed of this IDE is blazing fast, and I wouldn't go back to using PhpStorm anymore. I highly recommend giving Visual Studio Code a try!
At labinator.com, we use HTML5, CSS 3, Sass, Vanilla.JS and PHP when building our premium WordPress themes and plugins. When writing our codes, we use Sublime Text and Visual Studio Code depending on the project. We run Manjaro and Debian operating systems in our office. Manjaro is a great desktop operating system for all range of tasks while Debian is a solid choice for servers.
WordPress became a very popular choice when it comes to content management systems and building websites. It is easy to learn and has a great community behind it. The high number of plugins as well that are available for WordPress allows any user to customize it depending on his/her needs.
For development, HTML5 with Sass is our go-to choice when building our themes.
Main Advantages Of Sass:
- It's CSS syntax friendly
- It offers variables
- It uses a nested syntax
- It includes mixins
- Great community and online support.
- Great documentation that is easy to read and follow.
As for PHP, we always thrive to use PHP 7.3+. After the introduction of PHP 7, the WordPress development process became more stable and reliable than before. If you a developer considering PHP 7.3+ for your project, it would be good to note the following benefits.
The Benefits Of Using PHP:
- Open Source.
- Highly Extendible.
- Easy to learn and read.
- Platform independent.
- Compatible with APACHE.
- Low development and maintenance cost.
- Great community and support.
- Detailed documentation that has everything you need!
Why PHP 7.3+?
- Flexible Heredoc & Nowdoc Syntaxes - Two key methods for defining strings within PHP. They also became easier to read and more reliable.
- A good boost in performance speed which is extremely important when it comes to WordPress development.
- Works on Linux, Windows and MacOS4
- Diff viewer2
- Code analysis2
- Wide range of DBMS support2
- Generate ERD1
- Quick-fixes using keyboard shortcuts1
- Database introspection on 21 different dbms1
- Export data using a variety of formats using open api1
- Import data1
- Code completion1
related DataGrip posts
NetBeans IDE
- Rich features76
- Crossplatform69
- Plugins(Git, SVN)49
- Easy to use38
- Extensible38
- PHP Support35
- Java support34
- File History28
- Code analysis21
- MySQL support18
- Free14
- Open source14
- Code completion10
- Strong Maven Support9
- NodeJs support8
- Webdev king6
- Easy maven project start6
- Best6
- Jira Plugin4
- Foss4
- Out of the box integration with maven, git, svn3
- History of changes, friendly tabs3
- Mandatory3
- Intuitive ui2
- Chrome plugin to live update javascript from browser2
- Groovy support2
- Native Nette support2
- I don't like NetBeans2
- Smarty support2
- Visual GUI Builder for Swing / AWT2
- Custom html tags support2
- Powerful refactoring1
- Composer commands inside IDE1
- PHP debug doesn't support conditional breakpoints2
related NetBeans IDE posts
- Does it all131
- Integrates with most of tools76
- Easy to use64
- Java IDE63
- Best Java IDE32
- Open source9
- Hard for newbews3
- Great gdb integration2
- Professional2
- Good Git client allowing direct stage area edit2
- True open source with huge contribution2
- Great code suggestions2
- Extensible2
- Lightweight2
- Works with php0
- 2000 Design14
- Bad performance9
- Hard to use4
related Eclipse posts
UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.
I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?
Have been a Visual Studio Code user since just after launch to the general public, having used the likes of Eclipse and Atom previously. Was amazed how mature it seemed off the bat and was super intrigued by the bootstrapped nature of it having been written/based on Electron/TypeScript, and of course being an open-source app from Microsoft. The features, plugin ecosystem and release frequency are very impressive. I do dev work on both Mac and Windows and don't use anything else now as far as IDEs go.
- Free529
- Open source449
- Modular design343
- Hackable321
- Beautiful UI316
- Github integration170
- Backed by github147
- Built with node.js119
- Web native113
- Community107
- Packages35
- Cross platform18
- Multicursor support5
- Nice UI5
- TypeScript editor5
- Snippets3
- Simple but powerful3
- Open source, lots of packages, and so configurable3
- cli start3
- Chrome Inspector works IN EDITOR3
- Awesome2
- Smart TypeScript code completion2
- Well documented2
- It's powerful2
- Code readability2
- works with GitLab1
- User friendly1
- full support1
- vim support1
- Split-Tab Layout1
- "Free", "Hackable", "Open Source", The Awesomness1
- Apm publish minor1
- Hackable and Open Source1
- Consistent UI on all platforms1
- Publish0
- Slow with large files19
- Slow startup7
- Most of the time packages are hard to find.2
- No longer maintained1
- Cannot Run code with F51
- Can be easily Modified1
related Atom posts
I liked Sublime Text for its speed, simplicity and keyboard shortcuts which synergize well when working on scripting languages like Ruby and JavaScript. I extended the editor with custom Python scripts that improved keyboard navigability such as autofocusing the sidebar when no files are open, or changing tab closing behavior.
But customization can only get you so far, and there were little things that I still had to use the mouse for, such as scrolling, repositioning lines on the screen, selecting the line number of a failing test stack trace from a separate plugin pane, etc. After 3 years of wearily moving my arm and hand to perform the same repetitive tasks, I decided to switch to Vim for 3 reasons:
- your fingers literally don’t ever need to leave the keyboard home row (I had to remap the escape key though)
- it is a reliable tool that has been around for more than 30 years and will still be around for the next 30 years
- I wanted to "look like a hacker" by doing everything inside my terminal and by becoming a better Unix citizen
The learning curve is very steep and it took me a year to master it, but investing time to be truly comfortable with my #TextEditor was more than worth it. To me, Vim comes close to being the perfect editor and I probably won’t need to switch ever again. It feels good to ignore new editors that come out every few years, like Atom and Visual Studio Code.





We use Visual Studio Code because it allows us to easily and quickly integrate with Git, much like Sublime Merge ,but it is integrated into the IDE. Another cool part about VS Code is the ability collaborate with each other with Visual Studio Live Share which allows our whole team to get more done together. It brings the convenience of the Google Suite to programming, offering something that works more smoothly than anything found on Atom or Sublime Text
Visual Studio
- Intellisense, ui305
- Complete ide and debugger244
- Plug-ins165
- Integrated104
- Documentation93
- Fast37
- Node tools for visual studio (ntvs)35
- Free Community edition33
- Simple24
- Bug free17
- Made by Microsoft8
- Full free community version6
- JetBrains plugins (ReSharper etc.) work sufficiently OK5
- Productivity Power Tools3
- Vim mode2
- VIM integration2
- I develop UWP apps and Intellisense is super useful1
- Cross platform development1
- The Power and Easiness to Do anything in any.. language1
- Available for Mac and Windows1
- Bulky15
- Made by Microsoft14
- Sometimes you need to restart to finish an update4
- Too much size for disk3
- Only avalible on Windows3
related Visual Studio posts
.NET Core is #free, #cross-platform, and #opensource. A developer platform for building all types of apps ( #web apps #mobile #games #machinelearning #AI and #Desktop ).
Developers have chosen .NET for:
Productive: Combined with the extensive class libraries, common APIs, multi-language support, and the powerful tooling provided by the Visual Studio family ( Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code ), .NET is the most productive platform for developers.
Any app: From mobile applications running on iOS, Android and Windows, to Enterprise server applications running on Windows Server and Linux, or high-scale microservices running in the cloud, .NET provides a solution for you.
Performance: .NET is fast. Really fast! The popular TechEmpower benchmark compares web application frameworks with tasks like JSON serialization, database access, and server side template rendering - .NET performs faster than any other popular framework.
Secure Membership Web API backed by SQL Server. This is the backing API to store additional profile and complex membership metadata outside of an Azure AD B2C provider. The front-end using the Azure AD B2C to allow 3rd party trusted identity providers to authenticate. This API provides a way to add and manage more complex permission structures than can easily be maintained in Azure AD.
We have .Net developers and an Azure infrastructure environment using server-less functions, logic apps and SaaS where ever possible. For this service I opted to keep it as a classic WebAPI project and deployed to AppService.
- Trusted Authentication Provider: @AzureActiveDirectoryB2C
- Frameworks: .NET Core
- Language: C# , Microsoft SQL Server , JavaScript
- IDEs: Visual Studio Code , Visual Studio
- Libraries: jQuery @EntityFramework, @AutoMapper, @FeatureToggle , @Swashbuckle
- Database: @SqlAzure
- Source Control: Git
- Build and Release Pipelines: Azure DevOps
- Test tools: Postman , Newman
- Test framework: @nUnit, @moq
- Infrastructure: @AzureAppService, @AzureAPIManagement