No, you don’t need an IDE to code in PHP language, you can code in Notepad and be all good. But trust me, you wouldn’t want to go that route as you have to put in a lot of extra and unnecessary work to run that code. Also, since the text editor doesn’t have any syntax highlighter, reading codes can be a bit frustrating. Therefore, in this article, we are going to see some of the best free PHP IDE for Windows 11/10.

Free PHP IDE for Windows 11/10

These are some of the best free PHP IDE for Windows 11/10:

Visual Studio Code
Atom
GNU Emacs
Vim
Bluefish

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] Visual Studio Code

One of the best PHP Integrated Development Environment is Visual Studio Code from Microsoft. It is one of the simplest ones and has enough exclusive features to make it one of the best.

A thing that I personally like about this software is its wide range of themes. It has tons of themes, especially the dark ones, perfect for both day and night.

You can write, compile and run PHP codes easily here. So, if you are interested download the application from code.visualstudio.com.

2] Atom

Just like Visual Studio Code, Atom is a famous PHP IDE. It is open-source and its main feature is customization. At first, it was an internal project of GitHub, but after a while, the developers decided to make it open-source without purloining GitHub’s control over the project.

It has a simple UI and along with PHP, it supports HTML, C, Python, Javascript, etc. You can download the application from atom.io

3] GNU Emacs

Next up, we have a cross-platform, open-source IDE for you to write and compile PHP codes on. GNU Emacs was first designed for GNU-based OS but now it supports Windows 10.

Talking about the UI, one word would be “complex“. However, if you are an expert then you must use GNU Emacs. It is one of the most feature-rich IDEs.

Having said that, if you are a beginner or learner trying to understand coding then using GNU Emacs can be a bit of flex.

You can download GNU Emacs from gnu.org

4] Vim

Vim may not be as famous as some other IDEs on our list but it is powerful enough to make it to our list. It is based on Vi code editor which was first introduced for Unix Based OS but then was adopted by Windows.

Vim is customizable and intuitive. You can add more features to the software with the help of plugins. One of the things you must know, Vim is not easy for beginners. You may find it difficult to find plugins. However, it is powerful and has supported multiple languages, so, learning to code using this IDE won’t be easy but fun.

You can download Vim from vim.org

5] Bluefish

Bluefish is one of the most advanced IDE for PHP. However, it is not introduced for PHP, at first, it was used for web development, and it has any features to prove this such as Emmet support, dialogs for HTML, and more.

It also supports remote file access type via HTTP, HTTP, FTP, etc. So, if you want to download Bluefish, do that from bluefish.openoffice.nl

Hopefully, you are able to pick a good PHP IDE from this list.