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Composer VS PhpStorm

Compare Composer VS PhpStorm and see what are their differences

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Composer logo Composer

Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.

PhpStorm logo PhpStorm

Professional IDE for PHP and Web Developers
  • Composer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19
  • PhpStorm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18

Composer features and specs

  • Dependency Management
    Composer allows for easy and efficient management of PHP dependencies, ensuring that the correct versions are used and conflicts are minimized.
  • Autoloading
    Composer supports autoloading, which means you don't have to manually include or require files, reducing boilerplate code.
  • Version Control
    It allows developers to specify and install the exact versions of the libraries they need, which helps in maintaining consistency across different environments.
  • Community Support
    Composer has a vast and active community, resulting in a plethora of libraries and packages readily available for use.
  • PSR Compliance
    Composer adheres to PHP-FIG PSR standards, promoting best practices and interoperability among PHP projects.
  • Custom Repositories
    Ability to use custom repositories allows for flexibility, enabling enterprises to create their own repository for internal use.

Possible disadvantages of Composer

  • Learning Curve
    Beginners may find Composer overwhelming due to its command-line interface and the complexity of managing dependencies.
  • Performance
    Installing or updating packages can sometimes be slow, particularly for projects with many dependencies.
  • Dependency Conflicts
    While Composer aims to minimize conflicts, complex projects can still face issues with dependency resolution that require manual intervention.
  • File Size
    Projects using Composer can lead to increased file sizes due to the inclusion of multiple libraries and their dependencies.
  • Security
    Including third-party packages can expose a project to potential security vulnerabilities if those packages are not well-maintained or audited.

PhpStorm features and specs

  • Advanced Code Editor
    PhpStorm provides an intelligent code editor with features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and real-time error detection to help you write clean and maintainable code efficiently.
  • Built-in Debugging and Testing Tools
    Integrated powerful debugging and testing tools support multiple frameworks and enable step-by-step debugging, ensuring you can quickly identify and fix issues in your code.
  • Version Control Integration
    PhpStorm offers seamless integration with version control systems like Git, SVN, Mercurial, and Perforce, allowing easy management of your codebase and collaboration with your team.
  • Framework Support
    The IDE supports a wide range of PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, Yii, and Magento, providing specialized tools and features to streamline development within these frameworks.
  • Database Tools
    PhpStorm comes with built-in database tools that allow you to manage and query databases directly from the IDE, improving your development workflow involving database interactions.
  • Live Edit
    The Live Edit feature enables real-time changes to your code to be reflected in your browser immediately, streamlining the development process by reducing the need for manual refreshing.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    PhpStorm is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development environment regardless of your operating system.

Possible disadvantages of PhpStorm

  • Cost
    PhpStorm is a premium IDE with a subscription-based payment model, which can be a barrier for individual developers or small teams with limited budgets.
  • Resource Intensive
    The IDE can be heavy on system resources, which may affect the performance of your machine, especially if you are using older hardware.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive range of features and capabilities, new users might find PhpStorm difficult to master and may require a significant time investment to become proficient.
  • Overwhelming for Simple Projects
    The multitude of tools and features can be overkill for small projects or beginner developers who do not need the advanced capabilities provided by PhpStorm.
  • Periodic Updates
    While updates usually bring improvements, the frequency of updates can sometimes cause disruptions or require adjustments in workflows.

Analysis of Composer

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Composer is considered an essential tool for PHP developers due to its efficiency, ease of use, and robust features that streamline the development process.

Why this product is good

  • Composer is a dependency manager for PHP, which simplifies the process of managing and installing libraries for projects. It ensures that the right versions of packages are used and handles dependencies automatically, saving time and reducing errors. It also has a large and active community, providing extensive support and a wealth of packages to choose from.

Recommended for

  • PHP developers looking to manage project dependencies effectively
  • Teams collaborating on PHP projects who need consistent environments
  • Developers maintaining projects with multiple external libraries
  • Anyone seeking to improve the organization and scalability of PHP applications

Analysis of PhpStorm

Overall verdict

  • PhpStorm is considered an excellent choice for professional PHP developers who are looking for a comprehensive and reliable IDE that can handle complex projects efficiently. Although it is a paid software, many users find the investment worthwhile due to the productivity boost it offers.

Why this product is good

  • PhpStorm is widely regarded as a good IDE due to its robust feature set that aids in PHP development. It offers intelligent code assistance, a powerful debugging tool, seamless integration with databases and version control systems, and extensive plugin support. Its user-friendly interface and stability further enhance the development experience.

Recommended for

  • Professional PHP developers
  • Developers working with frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, or Drupal
  • Teams that require collaboration tools
  • Those who need advanced features like code refactoring and testing

Composer videos

+ Add

AI vs Human Music Composer 2019 - Orb Composer Review

More videos:

  • Review - Review Composer Cloud from EastWest / Soundsonline.com
  • Review - Behringer Composer PRO-XL MDX2600 Review (AUDIO TEST)

PhpStorm videos

+ Add

Testing PHPStorm vs Atom || Code Editor side-by-side

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to PhpStorm
  • Review - What's New in PhpStorm 2019.1

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Composer and PhpStorm)

Composer

PhpStorm

Development Tools
100 100%
Development Tools
0% 0
Text Editors
0 0%
Text Editors
100% 100
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
Javascript UI Libraries
0% 0
IDE
0 0%
IDE
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Composer seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 143 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Composer mentions (143)

  • Arguments a customer can understand not to use WordPress
    There is also no requirement to follow the PHP-FIG standards. The best thing that is build because of those standards is Composer. The most plugins I downloaded while writing use composer. The problem is that the plugins ship with their own vendor directory. While the standard is to have one vendor directory for the whole project. This results in different packages with the same or different version of it in the... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Insights from the PHP Foundation Executive Director
    “Extensions are now very close to being like packages; they basically look like Composer packages. It’s still open to discussion whether PIE will be part of Composer someday. It’s not decided yet, but I hope it will be,” Roman added. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • PHP Core Security Audit Results
    Dependencies are managed by Composer (like npm, cargo, etc) for more than 10 years now. https://getcomposer.org. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • WordPress and Components
    Composer and Packagist have become key tools for establishing the foundations of PHP-based applications. Packagist is essentially a directory containing PHP code out of which Composer, a PHP-dependency manager, retrieves packages. Their ease of use and exceptional features simplify the process of importing and managing own and third-party components into our PHP projects. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • 2025 Best PHP Micro Frameworks: Slim, Flight, Fat-Free, Lumen, and More!
    Simplicity: Getting started is a breeze—install via Composer, define some routes, and you’re off. Scaling up? Add middleware or libs like Twig or Eloquent as needed. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

PhpStorm mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PhpStorm yet. Tracking of PhpStorm recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Composer and PhpStorm, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

Eclipse - Eclipse is an open source community, whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle.

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