Alternatives
About Xdebug
Xdebug is an extension you load into PHP to improve the development experience. It lets you step through code in your IDE or editor while a script runs, and it improves error reporting with a better var_dump() and stack traces for notices, warnings, errors and exceptions.
It can also write function traces to disk, produce profiling data for performance analysis with visualisation tools, and report code coverage for PHPUnit runs. The project is active, with 3.6.0alpha1 announced in September 2026. Xdebug Cloud is a separate proxy service for networked setups.
Strengths
- Step debugging integrated with IDEs and editors
- Profiling and function tracing for finding bottlenecks
- Code coverage for PHPUnit
- Actively developed with regular releases
Limitations
- Only useful for PHP projects
- Needs configuring inside your PHP installation
- Visualising profiles requires separate tools
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to use, with source published under the Xdebug License; the separate Xdebug Cloud proxy service is not covered here.
- License
- Proprietary (Xdebug-1.03)
- Developer
- The Xdebug contributors
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- PHP developers who want step debugging and profiling
- Categories
- Developer tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Sources