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HHVM VS Xdebug

Compare HHVM VS Xdebug and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

HHVM logo HHVM

HHVM is an open-source virtual machine designed for executing programs written in Hack and PHP.

Xdebug logo Xdebug

Xdebug - Debugger and Profiler Tool for PHP
  • HHVM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-13
  • Xdebug Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-04

HHVM features and specs

  • Performance
    HHVM uses Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation to convert PHP code into machine code, which can significantly improve execution speed compared to traditional PHP interpreters.
  • Hack Language Support
    HHVM supports the Hack programming language, which offers additional features like static type checking, generics, and asynchronous code execution, allowing developers to write safer and more efficient code.
  • Scalability
    HHVM is designed to handle high-traffic environments, making it suitable for large-scale applications and websites with high concurrency demands.
  • Open Source
    HHVM is open-source software, allowing developers to contribute to its development and benefit from community-driven improvements and support.

Possible disadvantages of HHVM

  • Compatibility
    HHVM is not fully compatible with all PHP extensions and libraries. This can create issues when migrating existing PHP applications to HHVM, requiring additional refactoring.
  • Resource Intensive
    HHVM can consume more memory and CPU resources than traditional PHP interpreters, which might be a concern for applications running on limited hardware.
  • Linux Focused
    HHVM primarily supports Linux-based systems. While there is some support for other operating systems, it may not be as robust, limiting its use in heterogeneous environments.
  • Evolving Technology
    HHVM and the Hack language are continuously evolving, which can lead to breaking changes and the need to keep development teams updated with the latest features and fixes.

Xdebug features and specs

  • Comprehensive Debugging
    Xdebug offers extensive debugging capabilities, allowing developers to step through their code line by line, set breakpoints, and inspect stack traces, making it easier to diagnose and fix issues.
  • Profiling Support
    It includes profiling functionality, helping developers to identify bottlenecks in their code by generating profiling information and visualization tools like KCacheGrind or Webgrind.
  • Enhanced Error Reporting
    Xdebug improves PHP's error reporting by providing stack traces for Notices, Warnings, Errors, and Exceptions, making it easier to locate the source of problems.
  • Code Coverage Analysis
    The tool can perform code coverage analysis which is crucial for unit testing, ensuring that tests are indeed covering all parts of the code.
  • Integration with IDEs
    Xdebug seamlessly integrates with popular IDEs like PhpStorm, Visual Studio Code, and NetBeans, facilitating a powerful and interactive development environment.

Possible disadvantages of Xdebug

  • Performance Overhead
    While active, Xdebug can significantly slow down PHP execution because of the additional debugging and profiling it performs, which can impact development speed.
  • Complex Configuration
    Configuring Xdebug to work with various IDEs and tools can be complex, especially for developers new to its setup process, requiring careful configuration of settings.
  • Resource Intensive
    Xdebug can be resource-intensive, consuming substantial CPU and memory resources during its operation, which might be a concern on systems with limited resources.
  • Production Environment Unsuitability
    It is generally not recommended to use Xdebug in a production environment due to the aforementioned performance impacts, limiting its use to development environments.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    The tool has a steeper learning curve for beginners who may not yet be familiar with debugging concepts or Xdebug's extensive range of features.

Analysis of HHVM

Overall verdict

  • In recent years, HHVM has shifted focus more towards supporting Hack rather than full PHP compatibility. While it was once a popular option for running PHP applications efficiently, many projects now recommend sticking to PHP 7.x or later, which has seen significant performance improvements. Therefore, HHVM is considered good if you're specifically using Hack, but might not be the best choice for standard PHP applications.

Why this product is good

  • HHVM (HipHop Virtual Machine) was originally developed by Facebook to provide improved performance for PHP applications. It offers features like a just-in-time (JIT) compiler and compatibility with Hack, Facebook's PHP dialect. It has been praised for enhancing the speed of PHP execution, particularly for large-scale applications.

Recommended for

    HHVM is recommended for organizations or projects that primarily use Hack or have legacy systems built around it. It can also be beneficial for enterprises looking to leverage its performance benefits in a Hack environment. However, for new projects or those focused solely on PHP, sticking with the latest PHP versions is advisable.

HHVM videos

HHVM GLIMPSE MEME REVIEW||HARI HARA VEERA MALLU MEME REVIEW||POWER STAR..!

More videos:

  • Review - HHVM Performance Status - Hack Dev Day
  • Review - Scaling PHP-based Development with HHVM and Hack

Xdebug videos

Xdebug 3: Setting up Apache, PHP, VS Code, and Xdebug in 10 minutes

More videos:

  • Review - Derick Rethans " What's New in Xdebug"
  • Review - Debugging With PhpStorm And Xdebug | Christoph Rumpel | phpday 2021

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to HHVM and Xdebug)
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Text Editors
0 0%
100% 100
Continuous Integration And Delivery
IDE
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Xdebug should be more popular than HHVM. It has been mentiond 22 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.

HHVM mentions (7)

  • GraphQL vs REST: 18 Claims Fact-Checked with Primary Sources (2026)
    Facebook ran a massive PHP codebase, scaled through HipHop (a PHP-to-C++ transpiler) and later HHVM (a just-in-time compiler for PHP). Keith Adams , Facebook's Chief Architect and HHVM team lead, describes how Facebook scaled a large, unified PHP application in Software Engineering Daily interviews and InfoQ presentations . - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • THT v0.8.1 โ€“ A modern re-design of PHP
    $hayStack.contains('needle') This looks more or less like a new language ? It must be amazing amount of time and energy to rewrite PHP in to this. I don't see the benefits. I understand the Facebook's HHVM had some. (https://hhvm.com/) Or Swoole (https://openswoole.com/) has it. But I'm not clear of THT (also typical apple vs oranges benchamrkTM included). 2cents. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • I know that's the name of the language, I'm asking about the first P
    PHP is nearly as old as the web. Change the conversation and say: I use Hack on the Hip Hop Virtual Machine. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Nvidia is now worth more than Meta
    Meta has created/maintains ReactJS, Zstandard, IO_Uring, PyTorch, HHVM, is a member of Rust foundation, and that's only the things I know about. They've literally made the Web and Linux better and faster. Source: over 4 years ago
  • does a php-like Typescript exist?
    Have you looked into Hacklang / HHVM at all. Source: over 4 years ago
View more

Xdebug mentions (22)

  • Top 16 Must-Have Resources for Advanced PHP Backend Development (Laravel & Symfony)
    Xdebug: A powerful debugging and profiling tool for PHP, Xdebug allows you to step through your code line by line, inspect variables at runtime, and analyze performance bottlenecks. It's crucial for understanding how your application behaves and for efficiently troubleshooting issues. Install and Use Xdebug. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Interactive debugging with Symfony Console
    I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be clever if we could have an Xdebug-like step debugger for the evaluation engine? I know that Symfony Console has all the functionality I need for this...". - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Use XDebug for PHP Project Debugging
    XDebug is an indispensable debugging tool in PHP development, offering powerful features for breakpoint debugging, performance analysis, and code coverage. With XDebug, developers can set breakpoints in the code, inspect variable values, trace function call stacks, analyze performance bottlenecks, and greatly enhance PHP development efficiency and code quality. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • XDebug with WP-Setup
    WP Setup has been updated to version 1.1.0, introducing Xdebug support and allowing for easy generation of test coverage reports. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Maximizing Laravel's potential: Strategies for high-performance optimization
    Code profiling: Code profiling involves measuring the performance of your code by analyzing the execution time and memory usage of specific functions or methods. You can use a tool like Xdebug or Blackfire to perform code profiling on your Laravel application. To use Blackfire, ensure that your environment meets the following requirements:. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing HHVM and Xdebug, you can also consider the following products

Puppet Enterprise - Get started with Puppet Enterprise, or upgrade or expand.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Terraform - Tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.

Composer - Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.

Packer - Packer is an open-source software for creating identical machine images from a single source configuration.

bcons.dev - Easily log your PHP data values and get errors, warnings, cookies, & session data messages.