PhpStorm

JetBrains' PHP IDE with built-in Laravel, Symfony and WordPress support.

Verified facts: 4 of 4
Alternatives ranked: 5
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About PhpStorm

PhpStorm is JetBrains' IDE for PHP. It understands modern PHP deeply and ships with support for Laravel, Symfony and WordPress, plus Xdebug debugging, PHPUnit and Pest test runners, Composer, Docker and database tools, all preconfigured. Because PHP projects come with a front end, it also includes WebStorm's JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue and Tailwind CSS support. PhpStorm is sold as a subscription after a 30-day free trial, with discounts in later years and free licences for students, teachers and qualifying open-source projects. Subscribers who stay subscribed for a year get a perpetual fallback licence, so they keep the version they paid for if they stop. AI features and coding agents can be connected. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. It is the default choice for many professional PHP shops; budget-minded developers often use VS Code with the Intelephense extension instead, accepting weaker refactoring.

Best for: Professional PHP developers working with Laravel, Symfony or WordPress.

What works

Laravel, Symfony, Xdebug and PHPUnit work out of the box
Includes WebStorm's front-end tooling
Perpetual fallback licence after a year

Why people leave

No free tier for most users after the trial
Heavy for small scripts
Subscription per developer

Top PhpStorm alternatives

See all 5

1
Sublime Text
Fast and light for quick PHP edits, with no subscription.
74.4
2
Visual Studio Code
Free, and with PHP extensions it covers most daily Laravel and WordPress work.
68.8
3
Apache NetBeans
Free and open source, with solid PHP support built in.
62.6
4
Cursor
AI-first editor on a VS Code base for PHP teams leaning on agents.
62.0
5
Nova
A native Mac editor for web developers, sold as a one-time purchase.
59.6

Why people left PhpStorm

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

No switching stories yet. If you moved away from PhpStorm, review the app you switched to and tell us why.

Reviews

No approved reviews yet. How we verify reviewers

Write a review of PhpStorm

Your rating of PhpStorm

Name

Never shown publicly. A work email helps us verify you.

Title

Your review

What did you use it for, and what was good or bad? At least 40 characters.

Did you switch from another app?

Why did you leave it?

How can we verify you use it? (optional)

A GitHub username, your company domain, or say you can send a screenshot. Verified reviews count more.

I received money, credit or a gift for writing this review. (Incentivized reviews are shown but don't count toward rankings.)

By submitting, you confirm you're at least 16 and agree to our terms. Your name, rating, review and the date are published; your email isn't. See our privacy policy.

PhpStorm: common questions

Is PhpStorm free?

No, PhpStorm is a paid product.

Is PhpStorm open source?

No, PhpStorm is not open source. Open-source alternatives include Visual Studio Code and Apache NetBeans.

What platforms does PhpStorm run on?

PhpStorm is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

What are the best alternatives to PhpStorm?

The highest-ranked PhpStorm alternatives right now are Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code and Apache NetBeans. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 5 PhpStorm alternatives

PhpStorm facts

4 of 4 verified

Licensing: Subscription; Checked Oct 25, 2026jetbrains.com(opens source in a new tab); “PhpStorm is distributed via a subscription-based model .”
Free trial: 30 days; Checked Oct 25, 2026jetbrains.com(opens source in a new tab); “You can use the PhpStorm trial version for 30 days for free, without purchasing a subscription.”
Fallback licence: Yes, after 12 months; Checked Oct 25, 2026jetbrains.com(opens source in a new tab); “A perpetual fallback license is available for uninterrupted subscriptions lasting for a minimum of 365 consecutive days.”
Frameworks: Laravel, Symfony, WordPress; Checked Oct 25, 2026jetbrains.com(opens source in a new tab); “All you need for PHP, right from the start Support for Laravel, Symfony, the latest PHP versions, databases, Docker, Xdebug, PHPUnit, and Pest is built in and preconfigured.”