PHP editors make it easy to write clean PHP code. PHP IDE, in turn, serves as an advanced editor in PHP with ad­di­tion­al func­tion­al­i­ty. We present the best free and paid PHP software and compare all features, pros and cons.

What are the dif­fer­ences between the PHP Editor vs. PHP IDEs?

PHP editors and PHP IDEs have one thing in common as PHP software solutions, which is that they are both used for editing PHP files and for pro­duc­tive PHP pro­gram­ming. However, while PHP editors are also aimed at users without in-depth pro­gram­ming know-how, PHP IDEs with their ad­di­tion­al functions are primarily suitable for ex­pe­ri­enced PHP pro­gram­mers. The acronym IDE stands for In­te­grat­ed De­vel­op­ment En­vi­ron­ment.

PHP editors impress with compact PHP editing functions, a clear user interface and easy setup — every­thing you need for less complex PHP programs. For complex ap­pli­ca­tions, on the other hand, IDEs offer the most flex­i­bil­i­ty and freedom. Although PHP editors inherit functions such as terminals and debuggers from PHP IDEs, using IDEs is usually best with expert knowledge.

Here are the most important features of PHP editors and PHP IDEs at a glance:

PHP Editor PHP IDE
Offers syntax high­light­ing for better read­abil­i­ty of code Offers usually sig­nif­i­cant­ly more functions
Line breaks and in­den­ta­tions Offers option of ready-made code templates
Auto-com­ple­tion and auto-cor­rec­tion of code elements Offers project and clas­si­fi­ca­tion wizard
Various search, edit and view modes Various cus­tomiz­able views and panels
Debugging and refac­tor­ing to “clean up” a code In­te­grat­ed pro­gram­ming and de­vel­op­ment tools (e.g., terminal, browser or web server)
Parallel pro­cess­ing of code In­te­gra­tion of third-party tools such as debuggers or container and virtual machine platforms
Version or source code control to track changes Also available as cloud PHP IDEs for de­vel­op­ment in web browsers and cloud servers
Shortcuts for code creation Setup, con­fig­u­ra­tion and use is usually more complex and demanding than PHP editors

What to look for in PHP editors

When selecting PHP editors, you can choose from a range of free code editors. Most free editors offer the standard features a PHP editor should offer. Similar to HTML editors, a dis­tinc­tion can be made between different types. These include classical PHP editors as in­stal­lable software and online editors for code creation in a browser. In addition, editors based on the WYSIWYG principle are available. These tend not to require any pro­gram­ming knowledge. This overview focuses on editors that are stand-alone software.

A good PHP editor – whether free or premium – should offer the following features for full func­tion­al­i­ty:

  • Syntax high­light­ing
  • Auto-com­ple­tion
  • Au­to­cor­rect
  • Search/Replace
  • In­den­ta­tion and line breaks
  • Version control or source code control
  • Parallel code editing
  • Live error control
  • Functions for code review such as debugging, refac­tor­ing or linting
  • Automated storage
  • PHP tutorial

The best PHP editors at a glance

Free PHP editors often come equipped with all the essential features required for pro­gram­ming, catering to both simple and intricate tasks. On the other hand, premium paid editors provide added benefits such as advanced PHP func­tion­al­i­ties, technical support, extensive plugin libraries, regular updates, and support for multiple pro­gram­ming languages and frame­works.

We have taken a closer look at the following free and paid PHP editors:

Free PHP Editors Paid PHP Editors
Visual Studio Code Sublime Text 3
Notepad++ UltraEdit
Atom Rapid PHP Editor
Bluefish Smultron
Brackets
Vim

Overview of free PHP editors

Visual Studio Code (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • Auto-com­ple­tion
  • Syntax high­light­ing
  • Version control
  • Code au­to­com­ple­tion thanks to In­tel­liSense
  • Code nav­i­ga­tion
  • FTP functions
  • Git and GitHub in­te­gra­tion
  • Supports almost 80 code languages besides PHP: CSS, JavaScript, JSON, Type­Script, HTML, Java, Python, GO, Pow­er­Shell and others
  • Enables inclusion of custom ex­ten­sions or PHP ex­ten­sions from the VS Code Mar­ket­place
  • Debugging, refac­tor­ing and linting
  • Has its own terminal
  • Col­lab­o­ra­tive pro­gram­ming thanks to Live Share
Pros Cons
Supports many pro­gram­ming languages and can be flexibly adapted and extended
Provides all important functions like syntax high­light­ing, auto-com­ple­tion or FTP functions for PHP pro­gram­ming
Free and open source
Active community and four-weekly updates that ensure constant de­vel­op­ment and close security gaps
Flexibly ex­pand­able and cus­tomiz­able user interface

Notepad++ (Windows)

Key features:

  • Syntax high­light­ing
  • Auto-com­ple­tion
  • Code com­ple­tion
  • Split-screen and parallel pro­gram­ming
  • Drag-and-drop and find/replace functions.
  • Supports almost 80 languages besides PHP, e.g. HTML, JavaScript, CSS, XML, SQL, Python, C, C++, Cof­fee­Script
  • User interface for working on multiple documents si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly
  • Cus­tomiz­able user interface
  • Supports plugin ex­ten­sions
  • Code folding
  • Suitable for various character sets
Pros Cons
Free and open source Windows only
Provides all the standard functions needed for pro­fes­sion­al pro­gram­ming in many different pro­gram­ming languages
Easy and cus­tomiz­able (through style con­fig­u­ra­tions and plugins)

Atom (Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBDSD)

Key features:

  • Highly cus­tomiz­able via UI, syntax theme, for­mat­ting, languages, and key bindings
  • Extensive ex­ten­si­bil­i­ty with nearly 9,000 packages for ad­di­tion­al features such as debugging, refac­tor­ing, linting, an­no­ta­tions and more
  • Standard features such as syntax high­light­ing and in­tel­li­gent auto-com­ple­tion
  • Search/replace functions
  • Real-time col­lab­o­ra­tion features
  • Git and GitHub in­te­gra­tion
  • File system browsing
Pros Cons
Highly cus­tomiz­able (over 300 Atom themes and almost 9,000 packages for ad­di­tion­al features) Only available in English
Simple and slim user interface
Large community for further de­vel­op­ment and support

Bluefish (Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Solaris, OpenBSD)

Key features:

  • Standard code editing features such as syntax high­light­ing, auto-com­ple­tion, error cor­rec­tion, or find/replace
  • Con­ve­nient quick launch menu and shortcut functions
  • Emmet support
  • Unicode character browser and HTML tag dialogs/wizards
  • Split-screen and full-screen editing
  • Remote support via FTP, SFTP, HTTPS and more
  • Support for multiple encodings and many languages
  • In­te­gra­tion of numerous plugin ex­ten­sions
Pros Cons
Offers all important standard functions, mul­ti­lin­gual use and flexible ex­ten­si­bil­i­ty User interface can appear cluttered and outdated
Suitable for different operating systems
Doesn’t require much memory or long loading times

Brackets

Key features:

  • Focuses on the de­vel­op­ment of web projects with frontend and backend pro­gram­ming
  • Supports other important languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python, Java, Ruby, C and C++ besides PHP
  • Split screen (hor­i­zon­tal and vertical)
  • Live preview in the web browser
  • Inline edition support via CSS
  • Cus­tomiz­able via themes
  • Supports Quick Edit and live highlight features
  • Reads and extract PSD design data as CSS code (via Adobe Creative Cloud Extract)
Pros Cons
Developed and main­tained by Adobe Systems A bit outdated in terms of functions and operation compared to other editors
Focus on web de­vel­op­ment via frontend and backend
Easy to use thanks to JavaScript foun­da­tion and WYSIWYG functions

Vim (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS)

Key features:

  • Important standard features such as syntax high­light­ing, auto-com­ple­tion, search history, error cor­rec­tion, split-screen and more
  • Supports Java, Python, Ruby, Lua, JavaScript, C, C++, Perl, and more, in addition to PHP
  • Allows you to compare and merge files
  • Supports various protocols such as FTP, SSH and HTTP
  • Provides a text user interface and an optional visual user interface
  • Offers extensive ex­ten­si­bil­i­ty through over 1,000 Vim plugins or custom functions created via Vim Script
  • Six different modes for code editing (including easy mode for beginners)
  • Mul­ti­lin­gual and Unicode
  • In­te­grat­ed tutorial for usage
Pros Cons
Compact, stream­lined editor offering multiple editing modes and almost unlimited ex­ten­si­bil­i­ty Fa­mil­iar­iza­tion requires more effort from in­ex­pe­ri­enced users
Suitable for around 500 pro­gram­ming languages, mul­ti­lin­gual and free of charge
Optional operation only possible via keyboard
In­te­grat­ed guide and Vim doc­u­men­ta­tion
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Overview of paid PHP editors

Sublime Text 3 (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • Important functions such as code high­light­ing, code preview, auto-com­ple­tion, command search or search/replace of code elements.
  • In­te­grat­ed package manager and flexible ex­ten­si­bil­i­ty through plugins (e.g. for linting, code testing, com­ment­ing, for­mat­ting or op­ti­miz­ing)
  • Also WordPress-specific plugins
  • Split screen and multiple selection
  • Menus, macros, keyboard mapping and snippets can be cus­tomized
Pros Cons
Powerful, ex­ten­si­ble editor with many ad­di­tion­al PHP plugins Only available in English
Large plugin library Full func­tion­al­i­ty only in paid version
Available for free (permanent trial with pop-up reminders)

UltraEdit (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • Out-of-the-box func­tion­al­i­ty with easy on­board­ing
  • Pleasant, cus­tomiz­able user interface with themes and layouts
  • Supports cloud and remote server ca­pa­bil­i­ties and cloud syn­chro­niza­tion
  • Con­ve­nient search functions within and between files
  • Live preview of code in HTML and Markdown
  • Com­pre­hen­sive command list
  • Support for FTP/SFTP and SSH/Telnet for remote pro­gram­ming
  • Supports PHP and many other languages such as HTML, CSS, Markdown, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, MySQL and JSON
  • Supports features like multi-caret editing, cus­tomiz­able tabs, column mode and multi-selection
  • Allows working with very large files without failures or crashes
  • Includes Ul­tra­Com­pare Pro tool for comparing files of different types and version control with systems of Git, CVS or Sub­ver­sion
Pros Cons
Functions as an out-of-the-box solution with con­fig­urable, pleasant user interface and wide range of functions Due to scope of functions, a somewhat longer training period is necessary
Suitable for working via cloud or remote server
Effective for very large files
Supports many different file formats

Rapid PHP Editor (Windows)

Key features:

  • Windows-based editor for PHP files as well as many other file types
  • Live preview of PHP files (via local web server) as well as multi-browser previews
  • In­di­vid­ual con­fig­u­ra­tion through various designs, layouts and functions
  • Supports many other languages besides PHP such as LESS, CSS, SQL, JavaScript, XML and Smarty
  • HTML/CSS validator in­te­grat­ed
  • Real-time syntax val­i­da­tion for PHP
  • Support for PHP frame­works (WordPress, Symfony, Prado, Laravel and more)
  • PHP debugger and beau­ti­fi­er
  • Supports Smarty template engine
  • Files can be saved via FTP/FTPS/SFTP
  • In­te­gra­tion for Git and SVN
Pros Cons
Slim and fast editor for PHP and other file types Only suitable for Windows
Beginner-friendly with easy on­board­ing wizard
Flexible cus­tomiz­able
For frontend and backend de­vel­op­ment

Smultron (macOS)

Key features:

  • Cus­tomiz­able with themes, layouts, key bindings, and ad­di­tion­al features
  • Features like file com­par­i­son, split file view, HTML preview, code snippets and auto-com­ple­tion
  • Very good data pro­tec­tion
  • Scan function for text via iPhone/iPad
  • Support for iCloud
  • Advanced encoding possible, including UTF-8 BOM
  • View with all functions
  • Full ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty
  • Advanced search functions
  • Support for vertical text as well as right-to-left languages
Pros Cons
At­trac­tive design including pleasant user interface and quick startup Only suitable for macOS
Good data pro­tec­tion
Easy con­fig­ura­bil­i­ty and good ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty
Free test phase

The best PHP IDEs at a glance

PHP IDEs are available in both free and paid versions, allowing users to choose based on their specific re­quire­ments. Free IDEs offer essential features like debugging, profiling, refac­tor­ing, and syntax checking, which are crucial for PHP de­vel­op­ment. On the other hand, premium IDEs offer a range of pro­fes­sion­al ad­di­tion­al functions designed to meet the needs of companies. These features include technical support, extensive framework support, in­te­gra­tions with various tools, and content man­age­ment system ca­pa­bil­i­ties.

We have looked at the following free and paid PHP IDEs for you:

Free PHP IDEs Paid PHP IDEs
Eclipse PDT JetBrains PhpStorm
CodeLite Code­Lob­ster
Apache NetBeans Codeany­where (Cloud IDE)
Komodo IDE Zend Studio
Eclipse Che (Cloud IDE)

Free PHP IDEs

Eclipse PDT (Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris)

Key features:

  • Ex­ten­sive­ly cus­tomiz­able user interface (UI, layouts and panels)
  • Flexibly ex­ten­si­ble with Eclipse plugins
  • Provides PHP functions such as debugging, refac­tor­ing, profiling, syntax checking and testing
  • PHP wizard for projects and classes
  • Web server in­te­gra­tion for live preview
  • Auto-com­ple­tion, code nav­i­ga­tion and content wizard
  • Provides code templates and advanced PHP code for­mat­ting
  • Git client
  • Support for in­te­grat­ing your own web server to work with PHP files
  • In­te­gra­tion with PHP tools such as Zend Debugger, Xdebug, PHPUnit and Composer possible
Pros Cons
Practical de­vel­op­ment en­vi­ron­ment for the Java Virtual Machine Only in com­bi­na­tion with Java Runtime En­vi­ron­ment (JRE) or Java De­vel­op­ment Kit (JDK)
Flexibly con­fig­urable user interface
Offers all common PHP functions including a Git client and as­sis­tance functions for classes, projects and content

CodeLite (Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD)

Key features:

  • Supports PHP as an IDE for C++ (via pre-installed plugins)
  • Includes all major IDE features for working with PHP including debugging, project and workspace man­age­ment, panes, auto-com­ple­tion and task man­age­ment
  • In­te­grat­ed setup wizard
  • Supports C, C++, Node.js, JavaScript, HTML, and more in addition to PHP
  • Can be set up specif­i­cal­ly as a PHP editor for web de­vel­op­ment
  • Good go-to and find/replace functions
  • Features like refac­tor­ing, debugging and linting
  • PHP wizard for classes
  • Supports SFTP (with SSH account manager)
  • Git in­te­gra­tion
  • Various diff tools for files and di­rec­to­ries
Pros Cons
Free and open-source de­vel­op­ment en­vi­ron­ment No com­pre­hen­sive tutorial or starter project offerings
Not based on Java (JRE and JDK not a re­quire­ment)
No account reg­is­tra­tion required
Flexibly con­fig­urable

Apache NetBeans (Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD)

Key features:

  • Works as part of the Java Virtual Machine and supports many other languages besides PHP such as CSS, Sass, JavaScript, C, C++, Java and LESS.
  • Allows execution, debugging and editing of PHP files
  • Flexibly con­fig­urable interface with themes and panes
  • Features such as syntax high­light­ing, go-to de­f­i­n­i­tions, auto-com­ple­tion, code for­mat­ting and folding, error high­light­ing, smart sug­ges­tions, and more
  • Unit testing (via Selenium and PHPUnit)
  • Supports version control systems from Git, Mercurial or Sub­ver­sion
  • Flexibly ex­tend­able with over 1,000 plugins via the NetBeans Plugin Portal
  • Supports PHP frame­works such as WordPress, Zend, Symfony and Yii
  • Offers semantic code analysis
Pros Cons
Main­tained by Apache Software Foun­da­tion Java Runtime En­vi­ron­ment is required
Very user-friendly, free and powerful de­vel­op­ment en­vi­ron­ment
Easy on­board­ing including demos and sample projects
Easy to get started with a PHP and HTML5 learning path

Komodo IDE (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • Useful PHP features like live preview, unit tests, au­to­com­plete, minimap, multiple selection, chrome debugging and a de­pen­den­cy detector
  • Support for many other languages such as CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, Python, HTML, Perl, Ruby and Golang
  • Code refac­tor­ing and code browser
  • HTTP inspector and database explorer
  • Vagrant and Docker in­te­gra­tion
  • Enables in­te­gra­tion with version control systems from Git, Sub­ver­sion, CVS, Perfore or Mercurial
  • Real-time col­lab­o­ra­tion and share ca­pa­bil­i­ties via Slack
  • Wizard for on­board­ing and projects
Pros Cons
Cross-platform, free de­vel­op­ment en­vi­ron­ment for many pro­gram­ming languages Pro­fes­sion­al support only available with com­mer­cial sub­scrip­tion plan
All common PHP functions and IDE func­tion­al­i­ties
Also available as a pure PHP editor with Komodo Edit

Eclipse Che - Cloud IDE (all operating systems via web browser)

Key features:

  • Enables ap­pli­ca­tion de­vel­op­ment in preset, container and cloud-based work­spaces including runtimes, de­pen­den­cies, project code and IDE
  • Supports real-time col­lab­o­ra­tion of hundreds of de­vel­op­ers si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly
  • Works via online IDE in web browser
  • Container-based PHP de­vel­op­ment
  • One-click setup of a pre­con­fig­ured workspace
  • Configure PHP stacks and customize editor in­ter­faces
  • Location and device in­de­pen­dent working
  • Devfile templates
  • Pre­con­fig­ured sample projects such as plain PHP, Symfony with MySQL, Laravel with MySQL or plain PHP with Apache web server
  • Terminal access to all sample projects
  • Flexibly ex­tend­able via plugins
Pros Cons
Supports multi-user col­lab­o­ra­tion for hundreds of par­tic­i­pants si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly No “own” IDE
One-click in­stal­la­tion of the IDE
Many pre-built sample projects
Flexible cus­tomiz­able editor in­ter­faces and plugin functions

Paid PHP IDEs

JetBrains PhpStorm (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • Very min­i­mal­is­tic, intuitive user interface with ad­di­tion­al on-demand features and con­fig­u­ra­tion settings
  • Includes outline view for HTML5 and pri­or­i­ti­za­tion of code issues
  • Provides on-the-fly error pre­ven­tion
  • Advanced refac­tor­ing features and debugging (with zero-config visual debugger, Xdebug or Zend Debugger)
  • Fa­cil­i­tates switching between PHP versions
  • Supports version control systems from Git, Sub­ver­sion and Mercurial
  • Suitable for both PHPUnit (test-based de­vel­op­ment) and Behat (behavior-based de­vel­op­ment)
  • In addition to PHP, supports CSS, Markdown, JavaScript, Node.js. React, Type­Script, MySQL XML and LESS
  • Suitable for all major PHP frame­works (WordPress, Zend Framework, Yii, Magento, Laravel and CakePHP)
Pros Cons
Good, simple user interface and fast startup Rel­a­tive­ly expensive
Easy on­board­ing with flexible con­fig­u­ra­tion settings
Enables front-end and back-end de­vel­op­ment thanks WebStormm in­te­gra­tion
In­te­gra­tion with Composer package manager enables de­pen­den­cy man­age­ment via IDE

Code­Lob­ster (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Key features:

  • User interface shows all available hideable menus, panels and features
  • Can be used as a com­bi­na­tion of free PHP editor and paid, optional IDE
  • Editor provides all major PHP features such as syntax high­light­ing, auto-com­ple­tion and debugging features
  • Com­pre­hen­sive PHP support with plugins for WordPress, Drupal, Symfony, Yii, Laravel and Codel­gniter
  • Support for Twig and Smarty template engines
  • In­te­grat­ed plugin manager
  • Code inspector for HTML/CSS
  • HTML/CSS/PHP code val­i­da­tion
  • SQL manager and FTP/SFTP client
  • Supports version control systems of Git, SVN and Mercurial
  • Handy code templates and code snippets
Pros Cons
Available both as a free PHP editor and as a paid PHP IDE Rel­a­tive­ly messy user interface
Practical plugin manager for all installed and available plugins
WordPress-specific IDE func­tion­al­i­ties with WordPress plugin

Zend Studio (Windows, Linux, macOS, IBM i)

Key Features:

  • Based on Eclipse PDT IDE and can be installed as an Eclipse plugin or sep­a­rate­ly
  • Ef­fort­less in­te­gra­tion with Zend products such as Zend Debugger, Zend Server, Zend Guard as well as Lamina’s API tools and frame­works
  • Supports many other frame­works, tools, web servers and debuggers
  • PHP-specific func­tion­al­i­ty such as code wizard, cloud de­ploy­ment (public and private) and re­la­tion­al database man­age­ment systems
  • Au­toma­tion for model creation
  • In­tel­li­gent code editing for PHP and other languages such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Markdown
  • Versatile debugging ca­pa­bil­i­ties (with Zend Debugger, Xdebug or Z-Ray)
  • Container-based PHP ap­pli­ca­tions thanks to support for Docker
  • In­te­grates with various version control systems and Composer
  • Usable with popular cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, IBM Cloud or Red Hat’s OpenShift
Pros Cons
Seam­less­ly com­pat­i­ble with other Zend products and Eclipse plugins Fairly complex
Available both sep­a­rate­ly and as an Eclipse PDT IDE Not backward com­pat­i­ble with custom versions
Offers many different tutorials, sample videos and templates
Very fast at val­i­dat­ing, searching and indexing

Codeany­where – Cloud IDE (all operating systems via web browser, iOS, Android)

Key features:

  • Platform-in­de­pen­dent IDE for use in web browsers or mobile systems
  • Supports over 100 code languages including PHP, CSS, JavaScript, Type­Script, Node.js, Python, Go, Ruby, LESS, Java
  • Use in OpenVZ container, own server or via third-party providers such as GitHub, Bitbucket, Google Drive, Amazon S3 or even Dig­i­talO­cean
  • Starts with either pre­con­fig­ured or custom PHP and WordPress stacks
  • Live testing of PHP ap­pli­ca­tions over HTTP and HTTPS protocols
  • Support for ad­di­tion­al protocols such as FTP, FTPS, SFTP or SSH
  • Git can be in­te­grat­ed via terminal
  • In­tel­li­gent PHP features like refac­tor­ing, minimap, au­to­com­plete or go-to de­f­i­n­i­tions
  • Real-time pair pro­gram­ming with shared files
  • Con­fig­urable layouts as views with rows, columns, grids or as split screen
  • Live preview in web browser and one-click code beau­ti­fi­ca­tion
Pros Cons
Can be used via web browser as well as iOS and Android
All-important PHP editing functions included
Live preview and live testing of PHP ap­pli­ca­tions
Very user-friendly and easy to navigate

Con­clu­sion

The choice between a PHP editor and a PHP IDE depends on in­di­vid­ual re­quire­ments and the com­plex­i­ty of the project. Free PHP editors are ideal for users who may not have extensive pro­gram­ming knowledge and don’t regularly work on PHP files. They offer ad­van­tages such as a shallow learning curve, quick startup times, and a min­i­mal­ist and user-friendly interface. Examples of such editors include Notepad++ and Smultron.

Premium PHP editors, on the other hand, are highly rec­om­mend­ed for those seeking a com­pre­hen­sive set of features and support for a wide range of file types and pro­gram­ming languages. Premium editors often come with a vibrant community, their own mar­ket­place, and a plugin library, which are suitable for complex tasks working with PHP files.

If your de­vel­op­ment plans involve complex frontend and backend work with PHP, or if you require specific frame­works and tools, PHP IDEs are the ideal choice. These usually also offer an in­te­grat­ed web server, a stack overview or selection and options for testing ap­pli­ca­tions. A com­bi­na­tion of editor and IDE such as Zend Studio or Code­Lob­ster is also suitable.

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