PhpStorm vs. Retool Comparison


PhpStorm JetBrains	Retool	+	+
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About The Lightning-Smart PHP IDE. PhpStorm deeply understands your code. PhpStorm is perfect for working with Symfony, Laravel, Drupal, WordPress, Zend Framework, Magento, Joomla!, CakePHP, Yii, and other frameworks. The editor actually 'gets' your code and deeply understands its structure, supporting all the PHP language features for modern and legacy projects. It provides the best code completion, refactorings, on-the-fly error prevention, and more. Make the most of the cutting edge front-end technologies, such as HTML 5, CSS, Sass, Less, Stylus, CoffeeScript, TypeScript, Emmet, and JavaScript, with refactorings, debugging, and unit testing available. See the changes instantly in the browser thanks to Live Edit. Perform many routine tasks right from the IDE, thanks to the Version Control Systems integration, support for remote deployment, databases/SQL, command-line tools, Docker, Composer, REST Client, and many other tools.		About Securely deploy vibe-coded apps in one governed platform. Build in Retool, import from tools like Claude Code, Replit, or Lovable, or connect via MCP. However your team builds, every app ships safely, with governance built in. People across your organization are already vibe-coding internal tools with no SSO, no RBAC, no audit logs, and no connection to your existing data controls. Retool is where secure vibe coding happens by default. Build from scratch, import an app from another AI builder, or connect an agent via MCP — governance lives in the platform, not in each individual app.
Platforms Supported Windows Supported Mac Not Supported Linux Not Supported Cloud Supported On-Premises Not Supported iPhone Not Supported iPad Not Supported Android Not Supported Chromebook Not Supported		Platforms Supported Windows Not Supported Mac Not Supported Linux Not Supported Cloud Supported On-Premises Supported iPhone Not Supported iPad Not Supported Android Not Supported Chromebook Not Supported
Audience PHP developers		Audience Data teams, engineers, and operations teams at startups and enterprises looking to rapidly build secure, AI-powered internal tools that integrate with their existing systems
Support Phone Support Not Supported 24/7 Live Support Not Supported Online Supported		Support Phone Support Supported 24/7 Live Support Not Supported Online Supported
API Offers API Not Supported		API Offers API Supported
Screenshots and Videos View more images or videos		Screenshots and Videos View more images or videos
Pricing $199 per user per year Free Version Not Supported Free Trial Supported		Pricing $10 per user per month Free Version Supported Free Trial Supported
Reviews/Ratings Overall 4.2 / 5 ease 4.2 / 5 features 4.8 / 5 design 4.0 / 5 support 5.0 / 5 Read all reviews		Reviews/Ratings Overall 5.0 / 5 ease 5.0 / 5 features 5.0 / 5 design 5.0 / 5 support 5.0 / 5 Read all reviews
Pros & Cons from Real Users Pros Clean and customizable interface. Multiple themes and color schemes for personal preference. Simple yet powerful layout for managing files, tools, and navigation. Support for multiple project views and easy file navigation. - The auto-suggestion feature is quite accurate and comes very handy while coding on a big project. - The color themes can be easily customizable according to the user preference. - It supports Git and version control. - It in built assistance feature helps in highlighting errors and give suggestions in real-time. Debugging from browser. Decent support, responsive and to the point. Some search features are good once you learn to use them. Php lacks many advanced IDE like other popular languages but PhpStorm definitely fills the void. It supports all major frameworks and features intelligent autocomplete that understands your code. It has built in developer tools and database support for even most advanced php development. It is also quite affordable for enterprise development. Easy to use & user friendly interface. Autocomplete feature. In-app terminal & ssh support. Supports front end HTML , CSS & JS files. Tons of customization options. Add-ons to support different PHP frameworks. Cons The sheer number of features and options might overwhelm new users. Some UI elements may seem cluttered when working with larger projects, but this can be customized. - The code initialization and debugging takes a lot of time. - It can be sluggish sometimes when compiling a large code base. A lot. I've thought I'd switch over from phpEd, but honestly, the time I'm spending on trying to figure out how to disable these annoying automatic things, and the amount of time I'm spending communicating with the support is insane. I've easily lost days worth of work-time already. It does a lot of things to "help"; but they don't help but hinder. Some of it can be disabled, some can not. But even those that can be disabled; good luck finding these. Also the key shortcuts are rather weird so plenty of time to reconfigure those. The lack of ability to fold comments only, or open to methods only; no helping this. Then there's the error highlighting; it highlights essentially whole files, just because it just cannot figure out either the smarty syntax(!), or the code structure. There are plenty more, I'm not going to bother to detail it all out. There are things that are in the dev queue for many years now, some would help - but it seems these will never get done. Unlike other tools from Jetbrains it has no Community edition, so beginners or individual users might consider that as a big con. Expensive yearly price. Resource Intensive - takes long time to load.		Pros from Real Users Pros For our internal workflows and tooling, we now use retool for everything. It is super easy and quick to get our critical operations workflows built. Excellent support from their team too!
Training Documentation Supported Webinars Not Supported Live Online Not Supported In Person Not Supported		Training Documentation Supported Webinars Supported Live Online Supported In Person Supported
Company Information JetBrains Founded: 2000 Czech Republic www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/		Company Information Retool Founded: 2017 United States retool.com
Alternatives Apache NetBeans Apache Software Foundation		Alternatives StackAI
CodeLite		Bolt.new StackBlitz
JetBrains Fleet JetBrains		Rayven
WebStorm JetBrains		DronaHQ
PyCharm JetBrains View All		Neptune DXP Neptune Software View All
Categories AI IDEs Supported IDE Supported Source Code Management Supported		Categories Agentic AI Supported AI Agent Builders Supported AI Agents Supported AI App Generators Supported AI Automation Supported AI Code Generators Supported AI Coding Agents Supported AI Coding Assistants Supported AI Development Supported AI IDEs Supported AI Mobile App Builders Supported App Design Supported App Makers Supported Application Development Supported Database Supported Database Clients Supported Drag and Drop App Builders Supported IDE Supported Low-Code Development Supported Mobile App Development Supported MongoDB GUI Clients Supported No-Code Development Supported PostgreSQL GUI Clients Supported Rapid Application Development (RAD) Supported Vibe Coding Supported Web App Development Supported Workflow Management Supported
IDE Features Code Completion Supported Compiler Supported Cross Platform Support Not Supported Debugger Supported Drag and Drop UI Not Supported Integrations and Plugins Supported Multi Language Support Not Supported Project Management Not Supported Text Editor / Code Editor Supported Show More Features Source Code Management Features Access Controls/Permissions Not Supported Bug Tracking Supported Build Automation Supported Change Management Supported Code Review Supported Collaboration Supported Continuous Integration Not Supported Repository Management Not Supported Version Control Supported		Show More Features App Design Features Change Management Supported Collaboration Supported Design Templates Supported Drag & Drop Supported Feature Library Supported Prototyping Supported Testing Management Supported Visual Interface Supported Low-Code Development Features AI-Assisted Development Not Supported Business Process Automation Supported Collaborative Development Supported Data Aggregation and Publishing Supported Deployment Management Supported Drag & Drop Supported Integrations Management Supported Iteration Management Supported Performance Monitoring Supported Requirements Management Supported Templates Supported Visual Modeling Supported Web / Mobile App Development Supported Workflow Management Supported No-Code Development Features AI-Assisted Development Not Supported Business Process Automation Supported Collaborative Development Supported Data Aggregation and Publishing Supported Deployment Management Supported Drag & Drop Supported Integrations Management Supported Iteration Management Supported Performance Monitoring Supported Requirements Management Supported Templates Supported Visual Modeling Supported Web / Mobile App Development Supported Workflow Management Supported
Integrations Docker Supported Git Supported MySQL Supported Amazon Athena Not Supported Amazon Q Developer Supported CakePHP Supported CodeStream Supported Firebase Not Supported Fynix Supported GPT-4.1 Supported GraphQL Not Supported Kiuwan Code Security Supported Lingma Supported Ona Supported PVS-Studio Supported Qodo Supported SQL Supported WordPress Supported Zoho Directory Not Supported Show More Integrations View All 91 Integrations		Integrations Docker Supported Git Supported MySQL Supported Amazon Athena Supported Amazon Q Developer Not Supported CakePHP Not Supported CodeStream Not Supported Firebase Supported Fynix Not Supported GPT-4.1 Not Supported GraphQL Supported Kiuwan Code Security Not Supported Lingma Not Supported Ona Not Supported PVS-Studio Not Supported Qodo Not Supported SQL Not Supported WordPress Not Supported Zoho Directory Supported Show More Integrations View All 46 Integrations
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