Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

XAMPP VS InstantWP

Compare XAMPP VS InstantWP and see what are their differences

XAMPP logo XAMPP

XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server that is primarily used when locally developing web applications.

InstantWP logo InstantWP

InstantWP is a complete standalone, portable WordPress development environment.
  • XAMPP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-20
  • InstantWP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-06-05

XAMPP features and specs

  • Ease of Installation
    XAMPP provides an easy installation process, bundling Apache, MariaDB, PHP, and Perl into a single package, making it simple for developers to set up a local development environment.
  • Cross-Platform
    XAMPP is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, ensuring a wide range of developers can use it regardless of their operating system.
  • Pre-Configured
    XAMPP comes pre-configured with many useful modules, reducing the need for manual setup and configuration of these components.
  • Community Support
    XAMPP has an active community and extensive documentation, making it easier to find solutions to potential issues and learn how to use the tool effectively.
  • Open Source
    XAMPP is free and open-source, making it accessible for anyone to use and modify according to their needs.

Possible disadvantages of XAMPP

  • Security Concerns
    XAMPP is not recommended for production environments because it is configured with a wide range of open defaults for convenience, which can pose significant security risks.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running all of the bundled services simultaneously can be resource-intensive, potentially slowing down a developer’s machine, especially if it has limited hardware capabilities.
  • Updates and Compatibility
    Updates to XAMPP's components (Apache, MariaDB, PHP, etc.) may not be as frequent or timely compared to installing them individually, potentially leading to issues with compatibility or missing out on new features.
  • Limited Production Usability
    XAMPP is designed primarily for development and debugging, making it less suitable for live, production servers without significant reconfiguration.
  • Less Granular Control
    The pre-configured nature of XAMPP means that developers might have less granular control over individual components compared to setting up a custom server environment.

InstantWP features and specs

  • Portability
    InstantWP runs from a USB stick or local hard drive, making it highly portable and convenient for developers who want to work in different locations without needing to install WordPress on each machine.
  • Ease of Use
    InstantWP is designed to be user-friendly, allowing developers to set up a WordPress environment instantly without complicated configurations, which is especially helpful for beginners.
  • Isolation
    InstantWP provides an isolated environment for WordPress development, minimizing the risk of conflicts with other software on the host machine.
  • No Installation Required
    Since it does not require actual installation, users can quickly set up a WordPress environment just by unzipping the InstantWP package.

Possible disadvantages of InstantWP

  • Limited to Local Development
    InstantWP is designed for local development only, which means it doesn't provide a solution for live deployment or collaborative development over the internet.
  • Performance
    Running WordPress through InstantWP might not represent the same level of performance as on a typical web server environment, which could affect testing of site speed and responsiveness.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some users might face compatibility issues with certain themes or plugins due to the local server environment differing from their final production environment.
  • Updates
    Keeping the WordPress environment up to date with the latest versions or additional server technologies might be more cumbersome than using a traditional hosting service.

XAMPP videos

XAMPP - What is...

More videos:

  • Tutorial - XAMPP Tutorial In One Video In Hindi With Live PHP MYSQL Project Using phpMyAdmin 2019
  • Review - MySQL & Apache Server auf dem Desktop! - XAMPP Review (Deutsch)

InstantWP videos

#instawptutorial #instantwp How to Install Instant WP | WordPress Local Setup |

More videos:

  • Tutorial - 【 WordPress 】How to Download Install & Start up「 instantWP 」- portable WP development environment -
  • Tutorial - How To Install Wordpress Locally - InstantWP - WordPress Development Server

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to XAMPP and InstantWP)
Web And Application Servers
Web Servers
93 93%
7% 7
Application Server
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
86 86%
14% 14

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare XAMPP and InstantWP

XAMPP Reviews

Exploring 7 Efficient Alternatives to MAMP for Local Development Environments
WampServer is a web development environment tailored for Windows, integrating Apache server, MySQL database, PHP, and phpMyAdmin. Similar to XAMPP, it offers an intuitive interface for managing server configurations and databases, supporting quick PHP version switching for testing in different environments.
Source: medium.com
Top 6 Alternatives to XAMPP for Local Development Environments
Fortunately, there are many excellent alternatives to XAMPP on the market. In this article, we'll analyze and recommend the top 6 alternatives to XAMPP.
Source: dev.to
Best XAMPP Alternatives for Website Development in 2024
While XAMPP is widely used for local website development, its limitations can hinder the process. However, XAMPP alternatives like InstaWP offer a powerful solution for WordPress development. Offering a user-friendly interface, seamless migration options, and comprehensive testing environments, InstaWP addresses the shortcomings of XAMPP.
Source: instawp.com
8 Best MAMP Alternatives (Definitive List)
Compared to MAMP or WampServer, the XAMPP control panel provides you with far more options to manage your local development setup. You get access to a broad range of configuration options and administrative controls for each software component. XAMPP also provides you with in-depth logs so you can track every change to the environment.
Source: kinsta.com
13 Best XAMPP Alternatives
It offers a wide range of great features, but let’s take a look at some of its best characteristics: automatic detection for PHP versions, Apache versions, MySQL versions, and much more; native support for most typical servers, including Xampp, LAMP, MAMP, and WampServer; automatic updates using CPanel on your server; easy migration process that can migrate databases between...
Source: thetechtian.com

InstantWP Reviews

We have no reviews of InstantWP yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, InstantWP seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 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.

XAMPP mentions (0)

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

InstantWP mentions (5)

  • What are some good online journals to use that are free?
    I have a couple different blogs, one of them is journal-like. I use a self-hosted WordPress. I highly recommend* WP because you can do pretty much anything with it and it works great as a journal/diary right out of the box. If you host it online and want it private that's easy enough to do with a plugin and a few settings tweaks. However, WordPress does not actually require it be on the internet to work. You can... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Lowest cost XYZ for "repair shops", musings from reading various posts
    Offline Editing/Testing Tool: (https://instantwp.com) $0 ... DONT make edits to a live site, unless your superman (ps you arnt). Good for demo's, stand-alone from USB/cloud. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Migration from Wordpress to Blogger
    If you don't want anyone to see the site does it need to be online at all? You could use something like https://instantwp.com or https://localwp.com to host a local instance of WordPress. You would be able to install any plugin you want. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • InstaWP - Launch a disposable WP instantly! (free)
    I think they're referring to InstantWP. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Free websites where I can just write in PHP?
    If OP is just wanting to tinker around and also not install anything, they could download InstantWP and put a blank PHP file in the base directory and access it through a web browser locally. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing XAMPP and InstantWP, you can also consider the following products

MAMP - MAMP is the abbreviation for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It is a reliable application with its four components that allows you to access the local PHP server as well as the database server (SQL).

Local by Flywheel - Provides a simple, local development environment with a friendly GUI.

Apache Tomcat - An open source software implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies

Laragon - All in one web server.

Apache HTTP Server - Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996

WordPress Portable - With WordPress Portable you can experience the most popular blogging platform right out of the box. Just download, extract and run it!