In recent years, I have used various manual and automatic tools to set up the development environments for WordPress websites. These tools are useful for local environments and are not intended for production use. In the future, I will write more about production and deployment tools for WordPress. If you are currently using XAMPP or other old-school methods, after reading this article, you will have many reasons to use a simpler, faster, more enjoyable, and more modern environment.

In this post, the following tools are reviewed:

  1. XAMPP
  2. Laragon
  3. Docker
  4. DevKinsta
  5. LocalWP
  6. Vagrant

Xampp

Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS

One of the most popular local development environments for PHP is XAMPP. This tool provides a ready-to-use development environment by installing PHP, MariaDB, Perl, and Apache. Some of the main drawbacks of XAMPP include the inability to use Nginx, the inability to install different PHP versions for each application, the complexity of configuration changes for each application, the lack of xdebug by default, the lack of SSL by default, and more.

If you are still using XAMPP, you probably have no answer other than “this is the only thing I know!”

Docker

Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS

One of the more modern choices for setting up a local development environment for WordPress is using Docker. Some advantages of this approach include the ability to set up a configuration similar to the production server and isolation. Despite all the benefits, in my opinion, Docker is not the best choice for this purpose! For about a year, I have used Docker not only in the production environment but also in the local environment. The result of this experience was simply a waste of time due to the complexity involved. The manual nature of the solutions made setting up and configuring a new WordPress site take about 30 minutes.

Before using Docker as a local development environment for WordPress, ask yourself: Is the complexity worth it?

DevKinsta

Platforms: Windows, Ubuntu, macOS

DevKinsta is another modern and new solution specifically designed for developing WordPress sites on the Docker platform. This tool provides a professional user interface that makes the development process more enjoyable. DevKinsta, developed by Kinsta, creates pre-configured containers with just one click. Easy access to local emails, the database manager Adminer, HTTPS, and easy integration with Kinsta are some of the features of this tool.

My experience with DevKinsta was that the local environment was slow and DevKinsta took a long time to execute, which led me to migrate after using it for a month.

localWP – My Choice

Platforms: Windows, Ubuntu, macOS

localWP astonishingly encompasses all the features you desire in a WordPress development environment. Its excellent speed and optimized configuration are among the best features of localWP.

Features of localWP include:

  • Ability to select PHP, database, and web server versions for each application
  • SSL support
  • Automatic virtual hosts configuration
  • Adminer database manager
  • Mailhog integration
  • Shareable live links for others to access your local website
  • xdebug support
  • One-click site creation
  • Site creation based on a blueprint
  • Instant Reload for automatic reloading
  • WP-CLI integration
  • Beautiful and powerful user interface (with dark mode)

I love it! I currently use this tool for developing WordPress projects.

Laragon

Platform: Windows

Laragon is a powerful local development tool. It allows you to install different versions of PHP, MySQL, and more, and easily switch between them. One of the most attractive features of Laragon is the Quick Install App, which enables you to create a WordPress site or your next Laravel project in just a minute. Laragon enables HTTPS and automatically configures virtual hosts. The Mail Catcher feature allows you to test and inspect website emails. You have the option to choose between Apache and Nginx and switch between them. Almost everything is automatically configured with this app.

Laragon is not limited to WordPress and Laravel; it is a suitable development environment for the following stacks:

  • Node.js/MEAN
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Python/Django
  • Python/Flask
  • Java/Spring
  • Java/SpringBoot
  • Go

Laragon supports the following databases:

  • MySQL/MariaDB
  • MongoDB
  • Postgres

From my perspective, Laragon is one of the best choices for a local development environment.

Vagrant

Platforms: Windows, Ubuntu, macOS

Vagrant, a product of HashiCorp, is a tool for managing virtual machines to set up both production and local development environments. One of the best setups for Vagrant is Trellis, a product of the Roots company. The most important feature of this approach is the consistency of the server configuration between development and production, isolation, and separation of the app layer and the WordPress core.