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Notepad++ vs PhpStorm: What are the differences?

Introduction: Notepad++ and PhpStorm are both popular code editors used by developers for coding purposes. While they share some similarities, there are some key differences between them that make them unique in their own ways. In this article, we will explore and highlight the main differences between Notepad++ and PhpStorm.

  1. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) vs Code Editor: The most significant difference between Notepad++ and PhpStorm lies in their functionality. Notepad++, as the name suggests, is primarily a code editor that offers basic editing features and little to no support for advanced programming tasks. On the other hand, PhpStorm is a full-fledged Integrated Development Environment (IDE) equipped with powerful coding features, code analysis, debugging tools, and advanced language support. PhpStorm aims to provide a comprehensive set of tools to facilitate the entire development process.

  2. Language Support: Notepad++ supports a wide range of programming languages, including popular options like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. However, it lacks extensive language-specific features and plugins that enhance productivity. In contrast, PhpStorm is tailored specifically for web development and offers strong language support for PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and many more. It provides features like code completion, syntax highlighting, code formatting, and advanced refactoring options, making it more suitable for professional web development projects.

  3. Debugging and Profiling: One of the major distinctions between Notepad++ and PhpStorm is their debugging and profiling capabilities. Notepad++ does not provide built-in debugging or profiling tools, limiting its use for code analysis and optimization. On the other hand, PhpStorm offers robust debugging and profiling capabilities, allowing developers to diagnose and resolve issues in real-time. It provides breakpoints, step-through debugging, variable inspection, profiling reports, and other useful tools for efficient debugging.

  4. Project Management and Version Control Integration: While Notepad++ allows users to work on multiple files simultaneously, it lacks dedicated project management functionalities. It does not provide features like project navigation, integrated terminal, project-specific settings, and version control system integration. However, PhpStorm excels in project management by providing a structured environment for organizing files, directories, and dependencies. It integrates with popular version control systems like Git, enabling seamless collaboration and simplified code versioning.

  5. Code Analysis and Inspections: Another key difference between Notepad++ and PhpStorm lies in their code analysis capabilities. Notepad++ offers basic syntax checking and highlighting but lacks in-depth code analysis and automated inspections. PhpStorm, on the other hand, offers powerful static code analysis, identifying potential errors, highlighting code issues, and suggesting code improvements. It provides various inspections, code quality tools, and code generation options, helping developers write cleaner and more efficient code.

  6. Community Support and Updates: Notepad++ is an open-source project with a large and active community of users. It has been around for a long time, resulting in a vast library of user-contributed plugins, themes, and extensions. While it receives regular updates and bug fixes, the development pace may be slower compared to PhpStorm. PhpStorm, being a commercial IDE, has dedicated support from JetBrains, the company behind it. It receives regular updates, bug fixes, and improvements, and offers professional technical support to its users.

In Summary, Notepad++ is a lightweight code editor with broad language support, while PhpStorm is a feature-rich Integrated Development Environment (IDE) specifically designed for web development, offering advanced language support, debugging tools, project management features, code analysis capabilities, and dedicated technical support. Ultimately, the choice between the two depends on the development requirements, complexity of the project, and personal preferences of the developer.

Advice on Notepad++ and PhpStorm
Chaos Thunder
Website Administrator at The Indochina International Education Development Group · | 2 upvotes · 3.6K views
Needs advice
on
Notepad++Notepad++
and
PhpStormPhpStorm

Hello guys, I am currently using Notepad++ as my day-by-day web IDE. And now, I want to switch to something else. I mainly use Notepad++ on HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, MYSQL, ... such things whole days, sometimes other stuff I want to be reminded later. Should I choose PhpStorm over Notepad++, or is there any other better IDE. My preferences: - Simple - Fast - Reliable - Effective

Thanks guys. Best wishes to you. Please help me choosing which to choose.

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Replies (3)
Davi Koscianski Vidal
Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm

If you can pay for it, go for PhpStorm. You won't regret. It may not be/seem as simple as you want, but I think it is just a matter of practice.

A free alternative would be Visual Studio Code. I don't know the kind of Javascript support you need though. If you need only simple JS editing, PhpStorm is the way to go. If you need some JS debugging, you might consider PhpStorm and VS Code. If you need some advanced JS usage, you may want to consider PhpStorm and WebStorm.

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Christopher Wray
Web Developer at Soltech LLC · | 3 upvotes · 1.5K views
Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm
at

I recently started using PhpStorm and I love it for development in Vue and PHP. With auto code completion and inline error checking, it has made my development so much faster. Another free option is VS code. I love VS code for working in other languages for its simple interface and design.

I have never used Notepad ++, so I can't say if either is better, but these are the two IDEs I use and love!

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Richard Nitsche
Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm

I am using PHPStorm now for 3 years and it's just a pleasure to work with. Visual Studio Code is also nice but in my opinion doesn't come close to all the features of PHPStorm.

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Johnny Bell

When I switched to Visual Studio Code 12 months ago from PhpStorm I was in love, it was great. However after using VS Code for a year, I see myself switching back and forth between WebStorm and VS Code. The VS Code plugins are great however I notice Prettier, auto importing of components and linking to the definitions often break, and I have to restart VS Code multiple times a week and sometimes a day.

We use Ruby here so I do like that Visual Studio Code highlights that for me out of the box, with WebStorm I'd need to probably also install RubyMine and have 2 IDE's going at the same time.

Should I stick with Visual Studio Code, or switch to something else? #help

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Replies (15)
Erik Ostrom
Recommends
on
RubyMineRubyMine

If you're working with both Ruby and JavaScript, buy RubyMine and shut down the other two. It's much better for Ruby than Visual Studio Code is. It can also do everything WebStorm does, if you install the plugins you need from JetBrains, and they all work together nicely.

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Marc Swikull
Recommends
on
RubyMineRubyMine

If you install RubyMine, you shouldn't need WebStorm, as all the functionality of WebStorm appears to be included in RubyMine. (See here: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/132950).

I've used PhpStorm for several years and have never needed to open (or even download) WebStorm for anything front-end or JavaScript related.

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Russel Werner
Lead Engineer at StackShare · | 6 upvotes · 275K views
Recommends
on
WebStormWebStorm
at

I work at the same company as you and I use WebStorm for 99% of my tasks. I also have RubyMine installed and use that when I have to tweak some backend code. I tried using RubyMine for JavaScript but was unhappy with how it felt and I believe that WebStorm is faster because it has less plugins and language extensions running. Summary: Buy and use WebStorm for primary development and keep VS Code around for when you have to touch Ruby.

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Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

I've never had much issue running multiple IDEs and generally pick them based on the languages they best support. For front end work where I mainly use TypeScript, I stick heavily with Visual Studio Code. However, for backend work which we do primarily in Python, PyCharm is my go-to editor. The one thing that I do however is I do remap keyboard shortcuts so I get consistent keyboard ability even when I switch IDEs.

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Danny Battison
Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm

JetBrains all the way - my entire team uses PhpStorm and none of us would even consider switching.

The availability of IDEs for other languages along with consistency in environment and keyboard shortcuts is also a godsend, which is the reason I'd also choose Rider over Visual Studio (but also VS for Mac is trash, but I digress...)

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Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm

So here is the deal man, bottom line you want to write code. All of these tools are built in a mouse-driven world, they are designed not for engineers, but office monkeys. If you want a real workflow that gives you ultimate performance, customization and speed you need to use a modal editor, I suggest NeoVim. Start using it 20% of the time on single file edits, watch youtube videos about it and teach yourself vim gestures. It will infuriate you for 6 weeks, make you cry for another 2 months. But as you use it more, as long as your usage goes over 40% of the time, in 6 months you will understand why most of the world's too engineers use it. Settling on lesser editors out of laziness is exactly the attitude that results in shitty the engineering. Yeah it's hard. You're smart. You do hard things. Once it isn't hard anymore you will blow yourself away at how much more efficiently you edit files.

Also vim keybindings in a mouse driven editor does not cut it. Managing files, buffers and workflow is half of the value of vim/neovim. It is OK if you have to use an IDE (currently I only use an IDE for java development, so I have little choice)

So use VSCode while you teach yourself vim.

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Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a text editor. And this is best option in my opinion. For Ruby, I cannot say how VS Code is good. If you wanna choose IDE, RubyMine should fit your needs. Because IDEs are more compatible with major needs. But text editors are just text editor. You can do same things with also text editors. I recommend to try both VS Code and RubyMine. And you will be able to find which fits better for your needs

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Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

If I have to choose one I would go with VS Code; it’s become pretty mature and keeps getting better. If those plugins are creating problems for you then just uninstall them, find an alternative, or make a PR to fix. But at the end of the day these are IDE’s and they are meant to save you time. I would go with whatever helps you develop code faster. If restarting VS code slows you down then make a switch, that personally would annoying the crap out of me. Else maybe it’s a quick restart, not the end of the word, hopefully someone will fix at some point.

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Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

If you find something that works and are comfortable with it, stay with it. Changing IDE's and learning their idiosyncrasies takes valuable time away from programming while learning setups and keyboard short cuts. I personally use VS Code for cost and decent multiple language support. I've had issues occasionally with it locking up, but it is under heavy development and continually improving. I have also found it more intuitive for new programmers. ** Having profiles for different languages can reduce the amount of plugins running and issues they can cause.

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Recommends
on
PhpStormPhpStorm

I usually have both running but do the bulk of my language work in the appropriate JetBrains flavor. One thing to watch out for in VS is that under the hood it is running the tools needed for whatever language you are working with. This is where tools like JetBrains shine. While I am sure you can tune the heck out of what you use in VS, the provides context and clarity...

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Kyle Schoonover
Senior Software Engineer at Nordstrom · | 2 upvotes · 237.3K views
Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

I'm personally a Visual Studio Code fan. I've used it for both Go and Java. It really depends on the quality and support of the plugins. Typically VS Code doesn't crash as much as a bad plugin causes an unforeseen error. Make sure you stay up to date and look at alternative plugins.

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Lungu Alexandru-Mihai
Recommends
on
VimVim

Well you can try for a while MacVim because it is already configured with tons of plugins. My favourite text editors are Sublime Text and TextMate which are lightweight and speedy. My feeling is that JetBrains IDEs are making you brainless.

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Recommends
at

Visiual Studio is the best

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Recommends

An integrated development environment software with huge potential in the future is VS Code. So I would personally say you can use VS code.

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Recommends
on
Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code

Are you using the prettier-vscode VSCode extension or prettier via prettier-eslint? The prettier-vscode extension recommends you...

Use prettier-eslint instead of prettier. Other settings will only be fallbacks in case they could not be inferred from ESLint rules.

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Decisions about Notepad++ and PhpStorm
Andrey Ginger
Managing Partner at WhiteLabelDevelopers · | 3 upvotes · 526.9K views

Since communication with Github is not necessary, the Atom is less convenient in working with text and code. Sublim's support and understanding of projects is best for us. Notepad for us is a completely outdated solution with an unacceptable interface. We use a good theme for Sublim ayu-dark

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Pros of Notepad++
Pros of PhpStorm
  • 104
    Syntax for all languages that i use
  • 60
    Tabbed ui
  • 56
    Great code editor
  • 54
    Fast and lightweight
  • 38
    Plugins
  • 28
    Nice GUI
  • 26
    Regex & Special Character Search & Replace
  • 16
    Fast startup
  • 9
    Application is free, and plugins are too
  • 9
    Themes
  • 6
    Free
  • 4
    Very Lightweight
  • 3
    100% Free
  • 2
    Column selection
  • 1
    Awesome autocomplete
  • 1
    Easy edit on FTP servers (NppFTP)
  • 1
    Cos it's seck
  • 1
    Nice gui. are you kidding me?
  • 1
    Open Sourced
  • 287
    Best ide for php
  • 232
    Easy to use
  • 218
    Functionality
  • 166
    Plugins
  • 160
    Code analysis
  • 87
    Integrated version control
  • 76
    Great php ide for mac
  • 73
    All-round php ide
  • 62
    Local history
  • 53
    Themes
  • 18
    Best PHP IDE
  • 11
    Database control
  • 10
    Easy to find anything and everything in your code
  • 9
    Best bebugging
  • 9
    Best inspection variable
  • 7
    Command line integration
  • 7
    Great frameworks integration
  • 7
    PHPUnit integration
  • 7
    Getting Better
  • 7
    UX
  • 6
    Composer integration
  • 6
    Performance
  • 6
    Coolest IDE
  • 5
    Real time code validation
  • 5
    Easy to use and github interaction
  • 5
    Neat does the job and easy
  • 5
    Best ide for advanced php and symfony
  • 4
    Best ide for php
  • 4
    TypeScript support
  • 4
    Code indexing
  • 4
    It has no match. it filled one of the biggest void
  • 4
    Fast and relevant auto-complete
  • 4
    Great refactoring support
  • 4
    Cross platform
  • 3
    Integration with Vagrant and Docker
  • 3
    Debugger for Javascript
  • 3
    Good
  • 3
    Very good
  • 2
    Debugging in the Just-In-Time Mode
  • 2
    Perfect locahost / host sync
  • 2
    Awesome debugging features

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Cons of Notepad++
Cons of PhpStorm
  • 3
    No default plugin manager
  • 2
    Can't install more advanced packets
  • 14
    Uses a lot of memory
  • 10
    Does not open large files
  • 9
    Slow
  • 8
    Uses Java machine
  • 3
    No way to change syntax highlight for files without ext
  • 2
    No save prompt or asterisk on file change

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What is Notepad++?

Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.

What is PhpStorm?

PhpStorm is a PHP IDE which keeps up with latest PHP & web languages trends, integrates a variety of modern tools, and brings even more extensibility with support for major PHP frameworks.

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What companies use Notepad++?
What companies use PhpStorm?
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What tools integrate with PhpStorm?

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What are some alternatives to Notepad++ and PhpStorm?
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is available for OS X, Windows and Linux. One license is all you need to use Sublime Text on every computer you own, no matter what operating system it uses. Sublime Text uses a custom UI toolkit, optimized for speed and beauty, while taking advantage of native functionality on each platform.
Atom
At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also use productively on the first day without ever touching a config file. Atom is modern, approachable, and hackable to the core. We can't wait to see what you build with it.
UltraEdit
It is a powerful, fast, and secure text editor whose helpful features make every day life easier for any user type and programming language. Windows, Mac, Linux.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
See all alternatives