Top 10 PHP Development Tools for All the PHP Developers Out There!

The quickest and most popular server-side programming language for creating web pages and online applications is PHP. Many developers favor PHP over other server-side languages like Python and Ruby for a variety of valid reasons. PHP has a large community, a wealth of ready-to-use scripts, thorough documentation, and well-supported frameworks. Experts have created a few development tools that boost programming productivity and make PHP work simpler. The goal of PHP development tools is ideal IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for PHP developers to quickly create interesting, cutting-edge, and feature-rich PHP applications.

The PHP tool market is inundated with options nowadays, making it difficult to select the ideal one. The top 10 PHP development tools, according to the web development community, are listed below.

• PHPStorm

In comparison to other PHP development tools, PHPStorm is the most popular option because of its lightweight, blazing-fast, and fluid nature. This PHP IDE functions well with well-known Content Management Systems (CMS) like Drupal, Magento, and WordPress as well as PHP frameworks like Zend Framework, Symfony, Yii, Laravel, and CakePHP. Major front-end technologies like CSS, HTML5 JavaScript, etc. are supported for live editing using this IDE, along with code refactoring, unit testing, and debugging. The ability to interact with databases, version control systems, remote deployment, composer, command-line tools, rest clients, and many more tools are also provided to developers.  

Characteristics of PHPStorm

1. Code completion
2. Code re-arranger
3. Zero configuration Debugging
4. Native encoding support
5. Supports extension with plenty of useful plugins like VimEditor

PHPStorm Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, Visual Basic, C, C++, and C #
• Platforms supported: Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X

• Zend Studio

Due to its superior speed, Zend Studio is the preferred choice among web developers. The time and effort required for developers to write and debug code with Zend Studio are minimal. While supporting PHP 7, it integrates X-ray, Xdebug, and Zend Debugger to debug PHP programs. This all-inclusive PHP IDE has an intriguing range of capabilities and is equipped to deploy programs on different servers, including cloud servers. Zend Studio may be expanded by developers using Eclipse plugins.

Characteristics of Zend Studio

1. Indexing & Searching PHP Code
2. Faster Performance in the validation
3. Zend Framework & Zend_Tool Integration
4. Docker Support
5. Support for Eclipse Plugin

Zend Studio Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, Visual Basic, C, C++, and C #
• Platforms supported: Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS

• NuSphere PhpED

A proprietary integrated PHP development tool is called PhpED from NuSphere. A sophisticated PHP editor, a PHP debugger, a database client, and code insight are all included in this PHP IDE. The tools and adjustments that this application offers the developers will streamline the entire web development process. PhpED accelerates the creation of applications with the use of the for-profit PHP accelerator known as PHpRxpress. This IDE is the best choice for creating intricate websites and online apps. It provides extended PHP 7.1 support while supporting JavaScript, HTML, and CSS3. Its refactoring features provide developers the ability to enhance their code. Working with the most well-known PHP frameworks, including Laravel, Zend, and Yii is possible with PhpED.  

Characteristics of PhpED

1. Accelerate PHP apps with PhpExpress
2. Support for composite file extensions
3. Parallel Debugging
4. Full integration with PHPUnit
5. Refactoring of PHP code

PhpED Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, HTML, XML, CSS, Perl, Python, and JavaScript
• Platforms supported: Windows, Web, Mac, Linux, iPad

• Netbeans

The most popular PHP IDE doe developing PHP applications is NetBeans. This tool has a wealth of capabilities and is multilingual-friendly. The latest version of NetBeans, which was first used for Java development, is lightweight, quicker, and supportive of PHP development services. The expansion to support more programming languages like C, C++, and HTML5 is part of it. This facilitates the creation of expansive online applications and several languages, including English, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and simplified Chinese. Almost all prominent PHP frameworks, including Zend, Symfony 2, CakePHP, FuelPHP, Smarty, and WordPress CMS, are compatible with this open source PHP development tool. Numerous tools tailored to creating web applications with the most recent PHP version are available in the NetBeans PHP IDE.

Characteristics of Netbeans

1. Code Formatting & folding
2. Smart code completion
3. Getter Setter generation
4. Try/catch code completion
5. Syntax Highlighter

NetBeans Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, C, C++, and HTML5
• Platforms supported: Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris

• Cloud9

A development environment for hundreds of programming languages, including PHP, C, C++, JavaScript, and Python, is offered by Cloud9, an open-source cloud IDE. With pre-configured settings known as workspace, developers may begin writing right away and create web applications with tools like browser compatibility testing and live preview. Using collaborative coding tools, they may work together with their coworkers. You may access your PHP projects from anywhere thanks to our PHP IDE. It provides an ideal environment for developing serverless apps, allowing you to specify resources, run serverless apps, and conduct remote debugging. You can pair programme and keep track of all real-time inputs while also sharing your working environment with your friends. As Cloud9 guarantees simple serverless application development, you can just code in your browser.

Characteristics of Cloud9

1. Real-time language Analysis
2. Tabbed file Management
3. Integrated Debugger
4. Built-in image editor
5. Code reformatting

Cloud9 Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, C, C++, and HTML5
• Platforms supported: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris

• Aptana Studio

Various server-side and client-side web technologies are integrated using Aptana Studio an open-source PHP programming tool. Some of these technologies include HTML5, PHP, Python, CSS3, Ruby on Rails, and Ruby. It offers the command line interface and debuggers to make PHP app development simpler. PHP programmers may create and test web applications in the same environment. It has SFTP, FTP, and IDE customization built in. This potent web development engine makes use of Eclipse’s flexibility and includes information on the breadth of each element’s support across the top web browsers. A high-performance PHP IDE with many appealing features to boost productivity is called Aptana Studio.

Characteristics of Aptana Studio

1. Set breakpoints, control execution, inspect variables
2. Supports latest HTML5 specifications
3. working together with peers using merge, pull, and push operations 
4. IDE Customization
5. Git Integration and Built-in terminal

Aptana Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, Ajax, HTML, and Ruby on Rails
• Platforms supported: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Plugin for Eclipse

• CodeLobster

The most well-liked PHP programming tool for the developer community is CodeLobster IDE from the Codelobster software company. Most PHP frameworks, including Symfony, Laravel, Codelgniter, CakePHP, Magento, Joomla, and Drupal are supported. The development process is streamlined and made simpler using the CodeLobster IDE. It contains autocomplete tools for HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and CSS, so you don’t need to memorize the names of the arguments, functions, attributes, and tags. You may locally validate your code using its integrated PHP debugger. Additionally, this PHP application configures the necessary files to enable you to utilize the free debugger by automatically detecting the configuration of the active servers. Major CMSs like Drupal, WordPress, Magento, and Joomla are also supported.

Characteristics of CodeLobster

1. Syntax highlighting
2. SQL manager
3. Code validator
4. Autocompleting of keywords, DOM elements & their properties
5. Function Parameters Display

CodeLobster Specialties:

• Languages supported: PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS
• Platforms supported: Windows, Fedora, Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Mac OS, Mint

• Sublime Text

One of the top text editors for PHP developers is Sublime Text. Although it isn’t a complete IDE, you may turn it into a useful editor for creating PHP apps by installing specific plugins or packages. Many programming and markup languages are natively supported by this cross-platform source code editor. The developer community views the test editor as the greatest IDE for PHP programming thanks to its feature-rich features and exceptional designs. With its industry-leading customized text editor and unique UI toolkit, you may navigate between the symbols, words, or lines by utilizing the relevant key shortcuts. You may alter any line of your code.

Characteristics of Sublime Text

1. Split Editing
2. Instant Project Switch
3. Better command palette
4. Distraction-free mode
5. Plugin API

Sublime Text Specialties:

• Languages supported: All popular languages
• Platforms supported: Windows, Mac OS, and Linux

• PHPDebugbar

A PHP debugger called PHPDebugbar may be used with any project and can display data from a variety of online applications. There are two components to this PHP development tool: the render and the main Debugbar object and data collectors. A built-in set of collectors is pre-configured in a StandardDebugBar.

You may find issues in JavaScript and HTML in addition to PHP. PHPDebugbar can also investigate CSS elements; keep track of your solution by providing more functionality that developers want. PHPDebugBar may be the best option for profiling data from any web application. You may easily construct your own gather or for simple integration.

Read More: Top 5 PHP Development Companies In 2022

Characteristics of PHPDebugbar

1. Monitor network traffic
2. Handles AJAX requests
3. Log & debug directly to Debugbar
4. Fast & easy to use interface
5. Preview configure & application configure

PHPDebugbar Specialties:        

• Languages supported: PHP, Ruby, .Net, and Java
• PHP versions supported: PHP 5.5 & above

• Eclipse

The Eclipse will appear in the majority of search results when you conduct a digital search for the top PHP development tools. It is listed among the best PHP tools since it is just a development tool. The freedom to choose from a wide selection of plugins makes it simpler and easier to write sophisticated PHP code. Additionally, it helps you expand and adapt the IDE to meet the project’s requirements. Applications with and without a GUI are both supported by this PHP IDE. For complex PHP applications, this cross-platform editor is perfect.   

Characteristics of Eclipse

1. Syntax highlighting
2. Content assist
3. Code templates
4. Formatting of code
5. Code navigation

Eclipse Specialties:

• Languages supported: ABAP, Ada, C, C++, Haskell, COBOL, D, JavaScript, Fortran, Java, Julia, Perl, Lua, NATURAL, PHP, Prolog, Ruby, Python, R, Lasso, Rust, Scala, Groovy, Scheme, Clojure, and Erlang
• Platforms supported: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris

Final Words

Each tool on this list is jam-packed with exceptional features and skills that make it possible to swiftly and effectively create PHP websites. There are more tools for developing PHP besides those mentioned here. Many more PHP utilities, both commercial and free, are available. However, the “greatest PHP development tools” that satisfy all of your project’s needs are those that are featured on this blog. Remember that new PHP IDEs are appearing every day, so it is always worthwhile to keep an eye on the most recent PHP trends.