The purpose behind creating the PHP programming language was to simplify the web development process. It is a mature programming language that is constantly in the process of evolution since its initial launch. And today, it has been one of the most widely used server-side scripting languages for website and web app development.
Developers prefer PHP over other programming languages like Ruby or Python because using PHP can avail many benefits including but not limited to several ready-to-use scripts, strong community support, detailed documentation, and more. Similarly, hiring dedicated PHP experts can also avail you of a wide range of benefits that you can leverage to increase your business growth by many folds.
Another great reason for using PHP for web development is because of the wide range of tools it offers. Developers use these PHP tools to further simplify their work and reduce the burden off their shoulders. A plethora of PHP tools are available in the market but not all of them can help you get through the PHP development process smoothly. So you need to choose your tools wisely.
Here is a short list of 7 battle-tested PHP tools that you can consider using for your next PHP project.
Top 7 Tools for PHP Development
PhpStorm
PHPStorm is one of the most trusted and widely used IDE in the PHP developers community. And there are many reasons for it. PHPStorm is equipped with all the basic IDE features such as live error solving, code refactoring and formatting, and code completion.
It is easy to use and it can simplify almost all the mundane and time-consuming tasks like static code analysis, generating functions, and debugging. PHPStorm is incredibly efficient and hence it can also increase your efficiency and productivity as a PHP developer.
PHPStorm can keep an eye on your code using intentional actions to detect potential errors and provide suggestions for optimization. It also has inherent capabilities to automatically complete your code using basic and type-matching completion.
Additionally, PHPStorm can inspect your database to ensure that it stays in sync with your PHP code. Being built on top of IntelliJ IDEA, PHPStorm can support every version of PHP as well as all the top PHP frameworks.
Moreover, you can integrate this PHP tool with other web development tools, version control systems, databases, deployment tools, and content management systems seamlessly. Being a PHP tool doesn’t mean that PHPStorm is limited to working with just PHP programming language. You can also use it with other languages like CSS and HTML and web development frameworks like NodeJS for front-end development.
NetBeans
Many PHP tools are great but they come with a price tag. Not every business has a budget to fit in the extra charges for PHP development tools. That’s where Apache NetBeans comes in. It is considered one of the best free PHP development environments.
NetBeans can offer most of the functionalities that PHPStorm can offer for free. And it is open-source. Intelligent coding suggestions, code folding, code completion, syntax highlighting, automatically inserting matching pairs for braces and brackets, code inspection, and code refactoring, all these functionalities are available in the NetBeans to provide you with a good developer experience.
NetBeans supports multiple programming languages like HTML5, C++, JavaScript, and so on. In addition to supporting many popular PHP web development frameworks, NetBeans can also support multiple platforms like Solaris, macOS, Linux, and Windows. You can create a multi-platform application using this lightweight and performative PHP IDE in no time.
And if you want to support multiple languages like Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or Portuguese on your website then also, NetBeans works best for you.
Cloud9
Some developers prefer using premium tools, some prefer free tools, some prefer offline tools whereas others prefer online tools for those who think downloading and installing an integrated environment is a hassle and time-consuming process then you could use an online PHP IDE, i.e. Cloud9 IDE.
Using Cloud9 IDE, you can write, run, debug, and test your code online without the need of installing any tool on your local device. And you don’t have to install or configure all the files, plugins, and SDKs either. This allows you to start your PHP development project immediately.
Cloud 9 IDE has a PHP debugger which is a robust online code editor. You can use it through web browsers like Google Chrome or Firefox. It also comes with a terminal that gives you pre-authorized access to AWS services.
This online PHP IDE can provide tools for more than 40 programming languages including Ruby, Python, and PHP. Cloud9 IDE also comes with a lot of extensions so unless you need something out-of-the-box, you can get started with PHP development within just a few minutes.
Since it’s an online tool, Cloud9 IDE offers a unique feature called collaborative coding. It allows you to share your development environment with your teammates. In that collaborative development environment, multiple developers can work together simultaneously on the same project. You can see them typing the code in real-time, on which you can leave comments or even chat with them.
Sublime Text
Not every project is about developing a complex application. Therefore not every project needs an IDE. Some simple websites and small projects just need a simple code editor. For that, we have Sublime Text on our list. It is fast as well as a lightweight code editor.
This code editor is also packed with essential features like code formatting, code completion, code navigation, and more. If you want to deliver high performance then you can use complex functionalities that are offered as a plugin for this tool.
Some other features of Sublime Text include:
- New Sublime Text supports TypeScript for front-end development. It also supports TSX and JSX.
- The latest version of the code editor is improved with auto-completion mode, goto definition, goto anything, multi-tab selection, and better code navigation.
- GPU Rendering for a seamless UI experience
CodeLobster
Codelobster company has developed an IDE called CodeLobster which is claimed to be one of the most liked PHP dev tools in the community. It supports most PHP frameworks like Drupal, Joomla, Magento, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Laravel, and Symfony. Developers can leverage CodeLobster to streamline their development process and make it simple.
If you are using programming languages like JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and CSS then this IDE can provide autocomplete tools for your code. This frees you from the burden of memorizing the names of tags, attributes, functions, and arguments. You can also locally validate the code using its integrated PHP debugger.
Moreover, CodeLobster can configure all the necessary files. This allows you to use a free debugger that automatically detects the configuration of active servers. This IDE can support all the major content management systems.
Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is an open-source PHP tool that is mainly used to integrate client-side and server-side web development technologies like Ruby, Ruby on Rails, CSS3, Python, PHP, and HTML.
It helps developers simplify the app development process by providing debuggers and a command line interface. Aptana Studio has built-in SFTP, FTP, and IDE customization. Moreover, you have to create different environments for building and testing applications. Both tasks can be accomplished under the same environment using this IDE.
This is a cross-platform, high-performance PHP IDE that comes with many appealing features that can help boost productivity. It can also support multiple languages such as Ruby On Rails, HTML, Ajax, JavaScript, and PHP.
Eclipse
Eclipse appears in the majority of Google search results for top PHP development tools. The reason behind it is that it is just a development tool. This gives you the freedom to choose plugins from a wide range of options that can help you write sophisticated PHP code and make your development process easier.
Moreover, it helps you adapt and extend the functionalities of an IDE to meet the requirements of your PHP project. With or without GUI, Eclipse supports all PHP applications. This PHP tool can be ideal for your project if you are working on developing a complex web application.
Being a cross-platform tool, Eclipse also supports a variety of programming languages like Erlang, Clojure, Scheme, Groovy, Scala, Rust, Lasso, R, Python, Ruby, Prolog, PHP, NATURAL, Lua, Peri, Julia, Java, Fortran, JavaScript, D, COBOL, Haskell, C, C++, Ada, and ABAP.
Conclusion
Every PHP tool we discussed in this blog is equipped with powerful features that allow you to create PHP websites and applications easily and quickly. However, these aren’t the only PHP tools available in the market. But surely they are among the ones which are used widely. Every PHP tool has its strengths and limitations. First, identify your requirements clearly and then look for the tool that is most suitable to fulfill those needs.
