You can always go for a custom development environment solution made from scratch. But today, I want to share some of the “run-and-go” solutions.

Before I start, this post is not sponsored but only depending on my own experiences. And numbers don’t reflect any rankings, but only list item numbers.

1- Devkinsta

I have been using it recently. It is docker-based. You gotta have docker installed first. I had no headaches after a couple of months so far. I liked the simplicity and the ability to customize anything I needed.

In short we can think of this as a Docker Wrapper.

Find out more:
https://kinsta.com/devkinsta/

2- DECK (Local development environment GUI)

I loved DECK back in the days. I admire the power of the tool, and the one guy that was developing it without any funding or company backing him up.

But with Apple Silicone, it started to become a pain not to have a day without an error. Though if you are a Windows user, you may like it. It has a tidy interface, very easy to use. Docker based as well.

Find out more:
https://github.com/sfx101/deck

3- Herd

“One click PHP development environment.
Zero dependencies. Zero headaches.”

That’s how it speaks on it’s official web page. I tried it and it worked without any issues on Apple Silicone. You can go for it no matter if you are developing with or without Laravel.

Find out more here.
https://herd.laravel.com

4- Local by Flywheel

It is WordPress focused docker based local development environment GUI.

I used it for WordPress. If you won’t need playing/installing some php extensions, then it’s fine. Otherwise you should look for something else. Because it didn’t let me install / customize php extensions when I was using it. Maybe it got an update, so you better check yourself and see if it gives such flexibility about managing php extensions.

Find out more:
https://localwp.com/

5- DDEV

Docker-based PHP development environments. PHP, Node.js, MySQL, PostgreSQL, nginx, Apache, Redis, MailHog, and more.

If you like Docker, you will love DDEV.

Find out more:
https://ddev.com/

That’s it today. I don’t wanna mention xampp, mamp, lamp stuff here. Anyone can find them over a little search already.

This post is mostly for people who are tired of the slow page loads of those not-docker-based solutions. Once you run on a docker-based local environment, you will never go back.

Thanks if you made it all the way here!