Xampp is a well-known popular software for php developer but it has some limitations & problems such as slow startup, no multiple php version facility, manual virtual host setup and more, which are not suitable for current PHP development trends especially for beginners. If you are looking for the best alternative of Xampp then I'll suggest you the Laragon. It's the best alternative of Xampp for windows users I've ever seen. I'll show you the features of Laragon provides one by one and I am really hopeful that you will fall in love with Laragon after using it and never go with Xampp.
The name Laragon that does not mean it only for Laravel Framework, you can use it for any PHP application development like Laravel, WordPress, Raw PHP or any other framework.
The Laragon gives you a superfast and smooth experience. It starts instantly and quick PHP, MySQL server start/restart where Xampp takes longer times to start and running its services. Laragon takes a little amount of RAM when it's running.
It's very easy to install multiple PHP version in Laragon. Here are simple steps you have to follow during the new PHP version installation.
laragon/bin/php directory.
According to your project need, you can easily switch the PHP version when you needed. Just click on Menu > PHP, it will show you all PHP versions installed currently. Now select the PHP version you want to switch. That's it!
By default for the MySQL operation, the free popular MySQL client HeidiSQL included with Laragon. It's super handy free MySQL client. You can do any MySQL operation like running query, exporting data, importing data so on. If you need PHPMyAdmin then you can also use it with Laragon software.
For using HeidiSQL click on Database button and click on New. Now enter your MySQL username, password and click open.
Laragon by default provides HeidiSQL software for MySQL operation. If you still want to install PHPMyAdmin then follow the simple steps for installing PHPMyAdmin in Laragon.
Laragon/etc/apps/phpMyAdmin and now you can use PHPMyAdmin to http://localhost/phpmyadmin
You can easily change apache port, MySQL port and other configuration settings quickly and easily without touching any configuration file.
You can create a quick app like WordPress, Laravel, Symphony or any other by simply choosing quick app from the list. You can also configure any other quick app if you need from quick app configuration settings.
In Laragon, you can share your local project with others. It means you can access your local project from anywhere with a shareable link. It's really handy features when we need to share/show the project to our client or interviewer or teacher without deploying it any server for a certain period of time. To share a project we have to create a share link of our project from Menu > www > share
After selecting a project, it will generate a shareable link for you. Now you can access your local project from anywhere by internet by the share link.
Laragon automatically create a virtual host for every new project. For example, if you create a project directory myproject in the laragon/www directory then you can access it in browser with myproject.test instead of using localhost/myproject. Where in Xampp we have to make virtual host manually which is not quite easy and not user friendly for a new developer.
Laragon ships with Cmder console emulator, which is user-friendly and very handy tool for running commands. It will give you more flexibility and good user experience which is not available in default windows command prompt.
To use Cmder click on Terminal button from Laragon software dashboard.
Sometimes we need to change windows host file. In Laragon it's very easy to do. Just click on h icon from Laragon software dashboard then it will open the windows host file with administrator mode for you. Where in Xampp we have to find out the windows host file manually.
Enable or disable any PHP extension by simply click checking or unchecking where in Xampp we have to change the php.ini file manually.
