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PhpStorm VS esbuild

Compare PhpStorm VS esbuild and see what are their differences

PhpStorm logo PhpStorm

Professional IDE for PHP and Web Developers

esbuild logo esbuild

An extremely fast JavaScript bundler and minifier
  • PhpStorm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18
  • esbuild Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-07

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.

esbuild features and specs

  • Speed
    esbuild is known for its blazing-fast performance because it is written in Go and optimized for efficiency. This makes it significantly faster than many other popular build tools.
  • Simplicity
    esbuild has a minimalistic and straightforward configuration, making it easy to set up and use without needing to navigate through complex configuration files.
  • Tree Shaking
    esbuild supports tree shaking, which helps in eliminating dead code, thereby resulting in smaller bundle sizes and improved performance.
  • TypeScript Support
    esbuild has built-in support for TypeScript, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate TypeScript into their build process without needing additional configuration.
  • CommonJS and ES Module Support
    esbuild supports both CommonJS and ES modules, providing flexibility in how modules are imported and exported.
  • Bundling
    esbuild can bundle multiple JavaScript files, resolving dependencies and optimizing the output, which is beneficial for production-ready applications.

Possible disadvantages of esbuild

  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    Compared to more mature tools like Webpack or Rollup, esbuild has a relatively smaller ecosystem of plugins, which might limit some advanced customization and integration capabilities.
  • Less Mature
    As a newer tool, esbuild might have less extensive community support and fewer resources such as tutorials and documentation compared to older and more established build tools.
  • Feature Parity
    While esbuild covers many essential features, it may lack some advanced features found in other build tools, potentially requiring additional tools or workarounds for complex scenarios.
  • Non-Configurable Output
    esbuild's approach to simplicity sometimes means less configurability compared to other tools. This might be restrictive for projects that require highly customized or specific build outputs.
  • Source Map Support
    While esbuild does support source maps, its support might be less comprehensive compared to some other build tools, potentially causing issues during debugging.

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

Analysis of esbuild

Overall verdict

  • Esbuild is considered a great tool for developers looking for a fast and efficient bundling solution. Its performance and feature set make it a preferred choice for projects where build speed is a critical factor.

Why this product is good

  • Esbuild is highly regarded due to its impressive speed and performance. It is built in Go, which allows it to be significantly faster than other JavaScript bundlers written in JavaScript. Esbuild is designed to handle large codebases quickly, making it a great tool for developers who prioritize build speed. Additionally, it supports modern JavaScript features and offers features like tree shaking, minification, and support for various module formats.

Recommended for

    Esbuild is recommended for developers who work on large projects and need a bundler that can significantly reduce build times. It is ideal for those who prefer using cutting-edge tools and technologies in their workflow. Additionally, it's suitable for developers who need to support modern JavaScript features and are looking for a straightforward configuration process.

PhpStorm videos

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

More videos:

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

esbuild videos

ESBuild and SWC: Worth your time?

More videos:

  • Review - Let's talk about esbuild
  • Tutorial - Introduction to ESBuild tutorial for React / JavaScript and Typescript bundling. Bye bye Webpack

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PhpStorm and esbuild)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
JS Build Tools
0 0%
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using PhpStorm and esbuild. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, esbuild seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 142 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.

PhpStorm mentions (0)

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

esbuild mentions (142)

  • Understanding how Vite deals with your node_modules
    Pre-bundle all the dependencies on the "optimization boundary" list into node_modules/.vite/deps/ folder. This step is done by esbuild. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Show HN: Nue – Apps lighter than a React button
    5. Show me metrics: https://esbuild.github.io/ nailed this one. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Extensible WASM Applications with Go
    ESBuild is a bundler. The subtitle on the website is literally “An extremely fast bundler for the web”. To bundle, pass —-bundle flag. https://esbuild.github.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • How I Built a SpeedtestTracker with Raspberry PI and AWS Lambda
    Esbuild for bunding both the client and server separately. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Custom builder for Angular: My way
    Micro-frontend has always aroused my curiosity: I wanted to understand how they work, how to build them, what their pros and cons are. In 2018, inspired by this topic, I tried to build something similar to single-spa in one of the pet projects. At that time, there was no Webpack Module Federation (WMF), and Webpack itself seemed inconvenient. The choice fell on ESBuild and importmap. Browser support for importmap... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

Vite - Next Generation Frontend Tooling

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

Webpack - Webpack is a module bundler. Its main purpose is to bundle JavaScript files for usage in a browser, yet it is also capable of transforming, bundling, or packaging just about any resource or asset.

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.

rollup.js - Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into a larger piece such as application.