Best 9 PHP Development Tools For Efficient PHP Developers in 2023  

PHP Development Tools
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PHP has been popular with developers since its emergence in the mid-1990s. Despite being blurred by the hype of Python and other developing languages, the demand for PHP remained strong. This has directly enhanced the demand for PHP developers and increased competition among them. Hence hire PHP developers are required to have an excellent handle on PHP language and operations to stay on top.  

Being well-informed about the technology and tools can help the developers fit the criteria of a strong PHP developer. So, we have enlisted some of the latest PHP tools that are popularly utilized across the developing arena. 

PHPStorm 

PHPStorm is among the latest PHP tools used by developers. It offers the latest set of features to carry out a swift and smooth web development process. The integrated development environment (IDE) is generated and promoted by JetBrains, a reputed PHP coding tools providing company.  

The tool works finely with other major PHP frameworks, including Zend Studio, Symfony, Laravel Yii, and CakePHP. Furthermore, PHPStorm also keeps up with key content management systems such as Magento, Drupal, and WordPress. 

PHPStorm is very well known for front-end technologies; it enables real-time editing of front-end technologies such as CSS, HTML, Sass, JavaScript, and others. It also enables unit testing, code refactoring, and debugging. 

Eclipse 

Eclipse PDT is one of the most preferred open-source PHP development tools. It offers a massive community of developers who work on a variety of plugins and equips Eclipse with features provided by any other PHP development tools. Despite being a little tricky, Eclipse is highly used for PHP and is believed to be worth it because it saves costs on licensing- the biggest gain.  

Some of its major features include code assist, syntax highlighting, code templates, code formatting, code navigation, PHP debugging, syntax validation, and the Eclipse ecosystem. 

NetBeans 

NetBeans is a feature-rich, free, and multiple language-based tool including English, Brazilian, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, and basic Chinese. Moreover, NetBeans was free when it was under its original manufacturer Sun Microsystems; later, however, Oracle took over it. Unlike the older version, the current version is lightweight, faster, and supportive of all PHP frameworks, including Zend, Symfony2, and Smarty Doctrine. Its key features include code templates, getter-setter generation, hints, refactoring, and quick fixes. 

Sublime Text 3 

A competing tool for PHP text editors, Sublime Text 3 is a lightweight, feature-rich tool that supports OSX, Linux, and Windows. This tool has acquired all its potential from different packages and plugins. 

An array of PHP packages is accessible in the market that assists in transforming this smart code editor into an elegant sublime PHP IDE. Some of the most useful and significant packages include sublime PHP companion, package control, xDebug client – CodeBug, PHPDoc, and PHPCS.  

NuSphere 

This is another best PHP tools providing companies with an aim to improve the web development experience along with making use of PhpED IDE. The company supports the latest versions of PHP editor that work with PHP 7 and several other old and new PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Yii, and Symfony.  

Zend Studio 

It is one of the top commercial PHP IDEs developed by Zend. It provides every article that envelops PHP functionalities. It has a huge consumer base that uses its products for easy and supreme PHP development. Zend Studio supports Linex, Windows, and OS X and works with the current versions of the language, including PHP 7. Moreover, its support for mobile application development is one of its most powerful features.  

Atom 

Developed by GitHub, Atom is the latest text editor that is accessible for free under an MIT license. Atoms, furthermore, has various plugins and packages to enlarge its functionality. Atom, moreover, is a flexible, customizable, and scalable tool as it allows you to turn it into an online PHP editor. It is an alternate and precise cross-platform that offers support for Fedora 22+, OS X, Hat Linux, and Windows. 

Komodo 

Developed by ActiveState in 2000, Komodo IDE is among the finest PHP MySQL development and functional tools. Various functionalities of Komodo are taken from the Python interpreter. As its foundation, it uses Mozilla and Scintilla since they share much of the functionality, support, and features. Furthermore, Komodo offers various extensions and pipes, which made it a huge success. 

Cloud 9 

Cloud 9 comes prepared and wrapped with the necessary tools for a variety of programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, and PHP. This eliminates the need to install files for beginning brand-new projects. Moreover, since this IDE is cloud-based, it empowers the users to work from anywhere and anytime with an internet-connected device. 

Cloud 9 offers a seamless experience for developing serverless applications. This IDE, moreover, allows you to easily share your development environment with your team and offer easy monitoring of everyone’s input in real-time. 

Conclusion 

PHP is the preferred and all-inclusive programming language used for web development. There is an array of PHP IDEs accessible with modern features and new versions. PHP tools, mentioned earlier, possess different and unique features, however, with a common objective to enhance the speed of web development with scalable and robust code.

Author Bio:- 

Shimla Shukla works at  Nova Techset Limited as a digital marketing enthusiast. Her areas of competence include content marketing, PPC, email marketing, and social media marketing. She has been researching digital marketing in order to share his pearls of wisdom with the rest of the world. She enjoys working on various areas and providing useful articles for readers.