Developer Tools · alternatives
Alternatives to PhpStorm
22 developer tools tools sit alongside PhpStorm in this directory. Below is what separates each from PhpStorm on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 19
- Cheaper to start
- 4
- PhpStorm starts at
- $24/month
Why people look past PhpStorm
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the PhpStorm entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for PhpStorm carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 19 of the 22 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Code editing. Redefined.
- Can be used without paying; PhpStorm cannot.
A sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose
- Starts $75 a license dearer, at $99/license.
- Sold on a one-time model rather than subscription.
Desktop AI coding assistant that runs on DeepSeek models
- Can be used without paying; PhpStorm cannot.
- Starts $19 a month cheaper, at $5/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Cloud development environments repositioned as a control plane for software engineering agents
- Can be used without paying; PhpStorm cannot.
- Starts $4 a month cheaper, at $20/month.
- Sold on a Per month by compute unit model rather than subscription.
- 3 tiers to PhpStorm's 2.
Open source internal developer portal framework created and open sourced by Spotify
- Can be used without paying; PhpStorm cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than subscription.
The Python web framework behind ERPNext, sold as managed hosting through Frappe Cloud
- Can be used without paying; PhpStorm cannot.
- Starts $19 a month cheaper, at $5/month.
- Sold on a Per month by site or server model rather than subscription.
- 3 tiers to PhpStorm's 2.
Every PhpStorm alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhpStorm (this page) | $24/month | Subscription | 2 | |
| Visual Studio CodeA free editor with PHP extensions offering similar core functionality at no cost. | Free | - | - | vs PhpStorm |
| Sublime TextA lightweight editor preferred by developers who want a faster, simpler tool than a full IDE. | $99/license | One-time | 2 | vs PhpStorm |
| Deep Code | Free, then $5/month | Freemium | 2 | vs PhpStorm |
| Ona (formerly Gitpod) | Free, then $20/month | Per month by compute unit | 3 | vs PhpStorm |
| Backstage | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs PhpStorm |
| Frappe | Free, then $5/month | Per month by site or server | 3 | vs PhpStorm |
| Dagger | Free, then $50/month | Per month per team for Dagger Cloud | 3 | vs PhpStorm |
| Avo | Free, then $250/month | Per editor seat per month | 3 | vs PhpStorm |
| Okteto | Free | Quote | 3 | vs PhpStorm |
| Restate | Free, then $300/month | Per month by durable action count | 4 | vs PhpStorm |
| Nix | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| Tilt | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| Nixpacks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| ConfigCat | Free, then $110/month | Per month by feature flag and environment count | 5 | vs PhpStorm |
| Cloud Native Buildpacks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| Hookdeck | Free, then $39/month | Per month by delivered event count | 4 | vs PhpStorm |
| Spacelift | Free | By private worker and tier, not by user | 4 | vs PhpStorm |
| Atlantis | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| Soketi | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| Jitsu | Free, then $99/month | Per month by event volume | 4 | vs PhpStorm |
| Cortex | On request | Quote | 1 | vs PhpStorm |
| OpsLevel | On request | Quote | 2 | vs PhpStorm |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the PhpStorm badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (19)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Visual Studio Code , Free
- Deep Code , Free, then $5/month
- Ona (formerly Gitpod) , Free, then $20/month
- Backstage , Free
- Frappe , Free, then $5/month
- Dagger , Free, then $50/month
- Avo , Free, then $250/month
- Okteto , Free
Cheaper than PhpStorm (4)
Entry price under PhpStorm's $24/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Deep Code , Free, then $5/month
- Ona (formerly Gitpod) , Free, then $20/month
- Frappe , Free, then $5/month
- Tilt , Free
What you would be giving up
PhpStorm is most often brought in for building php web applications with laravel or symfony, debugging php code with xdebug, working across php, html, css, and javascript in one project, managing databases alongside application code. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If PhpStorm is broadly right and the question is cost, the PhpStorm pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Developer Tools category lists everything the directory holds, and best developer tools tools ranks them.
PhpStorm runs on windows, mac, linux. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about PhpStorm alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to PhpStorm?
- 22 other developer tools tools are listed in this directory, led by Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Deep Code, Ona (formerly Gitpod). They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to PhpStorm?
- 19 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Visual Studio Code, Deep Code, Ona (formerly Gitpod), Backstage, Frappe.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to PhpStorm?
- Yes. 4 of the alternatives below start under PhpStorm's $24/month: Deep Code at Free, then $5/month, Ona (formerly Gitpod) at Free, then $20/month, Frappe at Free, then $5/month, Tilt at Free.
- Why do people look for an alternative to PhpStorm?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from PhpStorm?
- PhpStorm is most often brought in for building php web applications with laravel or symfony, debugging php code with xdebug, working across php, html, css, and javascript in one project, managing databases alongside application code. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to PhpStorm?
- None of the developer tools tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these PhpStorm alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Developer Tools, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare PhpStorm against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against PhpStorm covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every developer tools tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Developer Tools category, 22 tools beside PhpStorm. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.