Alternatives to PhpStorm
A commercial JetBrains IDE for PHP, with built-in JavaScript, TypeScript and SQL support. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
PhpStorm
A commercial JetBrains IDE for PHP, with built-in JavaScript, TypeScript and SQL support.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as PhpStorm.
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft's code editor, free to use but shipped under a Microsoft licence rather than an open one.
Visual Studio Code is free and relies on extensions for PHP and framework support, adding remote development, but it is not open source and collects telemetry by default.
Apache NetBeans
An open-source IDE for Java, PHP, JavaScript, HTML and other languages from Apache.
Apache NetBeans is a free, open-source Apache-2.0 IDE with project wizards and templates for PHP, and it runs anywhere Java runs.
Eclipse IDE
Long-established open-source IDE with a very large plugin marketplace.
Eclipse IDE is free and open source for commercial use with a huge plugin marketplace, but plugin quality varies and its workspace model feels dated.
CodeLite
A free, open-source cross-platform IDE for C, C++, Rust, Python, PHP and Node.js.
CodeLite is a free GPL IDE supporting PHP alongside C, C++, Rust, Python and Node.js, with a smaller plugin ecosystem and no bundled PHP framework tooling.
Zed
A Rust editor from the people who built Atom, written for speed and for two people editing one file.
Zed is a fast Rust editor with language server support and AI that can use your own key or a local model, under a mostly GPL licence.
Sublime Text
A fast native editor for code and prose, paid for but with an evaluation that never stops working.
Sublime Text is a fast native editor that handles very large files, with PHP support through third-party packages, but it is paid and closed source.
VSCodium
Visual Studio Code built from the same source without Microsoft’s branding, telemetry or licence.
VSCodium is the MIT-licensed, telemetry-free build of VS Code that gets PHP support through Open VSX extensions, though some marketplace-only extensions are missing.
Also worth comparing
These listings name PhpStorm as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
WebStorm
JavaScript and TypeScript IDE with first-class framework support.
PhpStorm includes JavaScript and TypeScript tooling alongside PHP framework support, but it is paid after the trial and suits projects combining PHP with front-end code.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
RubyMine
A JetBrains IDE for Ruby and Ruby on Rails with navigation, debugging and integrated tools.
PyCharm
Python IDE with debugging, testing, scientific tools and web framework support.
REST Client for VS Code
A Visual Studio Code extension that sends HTTP requests written in .http files and shows responses.
IntelliJ IDEA
Java and Kotlin IDE with deep code analysis and refactoring.
