Difference between WebStorm and PHPStorm

ide phpstorm webstorm
Filip Kraus picture Filip Kraus · Sep 3, 2014 · Viewed 119.3k times · Source

I'm choosing an IDE for web development and I would like to know what the differences between WebStorm and PHPStorm are.

I couldn't find any major points on JetBrains' website and even Google didn't help that much.

All I know now is that PHPStorm doesn't support JS like WebStorm, but is able to due to plugins. Is this the only difference?

Answer

LazyOne picture LazyOne · Sep 3, 2014

I couldn't find any major points on JetBrains' website and even Google didn't help that much.

You should train your search-fu twice as harder.


FROM: http://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/

NOTE: PhpStorm includes all the functionality of WebStorm (HTML/CSS Editor, JavaScript Editor) and adds full-fledged support for PHP and Databases/SQL.


Their forum also has quite few answers for such question.

Basically: PhpStorm = WebStorm + PHP + Database support

WebStorm comes with certain (mainly) JavaScript oriented plugins bundled by default while they need to be installed manually in PhpStorm (if necessary).

At the same time: plugins that require PHP support would not be able to install in WebStorm (for obvious reasons).

P.S. Since WebStorm has different release cycle than PhpStorm, it can have new JS/CSS/HTML oriented features faster than PhpStorm (it's all about platform builds used).

For example: latest stable PhpStorm is v7.1.4 while WebStorm is already on v8.x. But, PhpStorm v8 will be released in approximately 1 month (accordingly to their road map), which means that stable version of PhpStorm will include some of the features that will only be available in WebStorm v9 (quite few months from now, lets say 2-3-5) -- if using/comparing stable versions ONLY.

UPDATE (2016-12-13): Since 2016.1 version PhpStorm and WebStorm use the same version/build numbers .. so there is no longer difference between the same versions: functionality present in WebStorm 2016.3 is the same as in PhpStorm 2016.3 (if the same plugins are installed, of course).

Everything that I know atm. is that PHPStorm doesn't support JS part like Webstorm

That's not correct (your wording). Missing "extra" technology in PhpStorm (for example: node, angularjs) does not mean that basic JavaScript support has missing functionality. Any "extras" can be easily installed (or deactivated, if not required).

UPDATE (2016-12-13): Here is the list of plugins that are bundled with WebStorm 2016.3 but require manual installation in PhpStorm 2016.3 (if you need them, of course):

  • Cucumber.js
  • Dart
  • EditorConfig
  • EJS
  • Handelbars/Mustache
  • Java Server Pages (JSP) Integration
  • Karma
  • LiveEdit
  • Meteor
  • PhoneGap/Cordova Plugin
  • Polymer & Web Components
  • Pug (ex-Jade)
  • Spy-js
  • Stylus support
  • Yeoman

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