Laravel Valet
Laravel Valet is a lightweight local development environment for Mac users. It serves PHP applications using Nginx without requiring a full web server installation. Easy to install and configure.
php
laravel
local-development
Laravel Valet: Lightweight Local Dev Environment
A lightweight local development environment for Mac users, serving PHP applications using Nginx without full web server installation, easy to install and configure.
What is Laravel Valet?
Laravel Valet is a lightweight PHP development environment for Mac users. It leverages Nginx to serve PHP applications without requiring a full LAMP or LEMP stack installation. Some key features:
- No need to edit host files or run complex commands to serve sites
- Zero configuration required for most PHP projects
- Supports serving Laravel, Symfony, Zend, WordPress and more out of the box
- Automatic SSL certificate generation for secure local development
- Simple domain naming (myapp.test) for linking projects
- Integrates with Laravel Forge and Envoyer for deployments
- Fast performance via Nginx and minimal resource usage
Overall, Valet removes the friction from setting up a local web server on Mac by handling the complex parts. It's designed specifically for PHP developers to improve productivity when building sites and applications.
Laravel Valet Features
Features
- Serves PHP applications using Nginx without requiring a full web server installation
- Supports serving Laravel, Symfony, Zend, CakePHP, and more
- Automatic HTTPS using trusted certificates generated on install
- Sharing of sites is simple with ngrok integration
- Uses DNSMasq to assign .test TLDs to projects
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Very easy and fast to install and configure
Lightweight with minimal resource usage
Works nicely with Laravel and PHP frameworks out of the box
Built-in HTTPS support
Easy sharing of local sites
Cons
Only available for Mac
Less flexibility than full LAMP/LEMP stack
No official support for Windows or Linux
Official Links
The Best Laravel Valet Alternatives
Top Development and Web Development and other similar apps like Laravel Valet
Here are some alternatives to Laravel Valet:
Suggest an alternative ❐
XAMPP
XAMPP is an open-source web server solution stack package developed by Apache Friends. It consists mainly of the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and interpreters for scripts written in the PHP and Perl programming languages.XAMPP makes it easy for developers to create a local web server for testing purposes on...
Laragon
Laragon is an integrated web development environment for building, testing, debugging and deploying PHP/MySQL applications and websites on Windows. It bundles together popular open source web development tools like Apache, PHP, MySQL, Memcached, Redis, Node.js and more into an easy-to-install and easy-to-use package.Some key features of Laragon include:Easy one-click installation...
Local by Flywheel
Local by Flywheel is a powerful local WordPress development environment for building WordPress sites without needing a web host. It's made by Flywheel, a managed WordPress hosting provider.With Local, developers can build complete WordPress sites right on their computer. It comes pre-packaged with WordPress, a MySQL database server, PHP, Nginx...
WordPress Portable
WordPress Portable is a portable version of the popular open-source WordPress content management system. It allows you to run WordPress directly off a USB flash drive or portable hard drive without needing to install it on the host computer.One of the main benefits of WordPress Portable is that it makes...
DesktopServer
DesktopServer is an open source WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP) distribution for Microsoft Windows. It allows web developers and programmers to run a local web server on their Windows desktop or laptop for testing purposes.Key features include:Bundled with the latest versions of Apache, MySQL, PHP and other componentsEasy one-click...
ServBay
ServBay is a cloud-based customer service software designed to help companies deliver exceptional customer support across multiple channels. It brings all customer interactions including emails, chats, calls, and social media conversations into one unified workspace.Some key features of ServBay include:Unified inbox to manage customer queries from multiple channelsSLA-based ticket management...
InstantWP
InstantWP is a managed WordPress hosting platform designed to make WordPress website deployment fast, easy, and secure. With its optimized server stack and one-click WordPress installer, InstantWP enables anyone to launch a new WordPress site within seconds, with no technical expertise required.Key features of InstantWP include:One-click WordPress installation with over...
Wordup
Wordup is a feature-rich yet easy-to-use word processor and document editing application. It is designed to provide a lightweight and fast word processing experience while still offering powerful formatting options and tools.At its core, Wordup allows users to easily type and edit text documents. It has support for all common...
Theme Juice
Theme Juice is a powerful yet easy-to-use WordPress plugin for customizing your theme's design and functionality without code. It provides a visual drag and drop interface to customize various theme elements like:Typography - Font sizes, families, colors etc.Colors & Backgrounds - For different theme sectionsSpacing & Layouts - Paddings, margins,...
Pressmatic
Pressmatic is a customizable WordPress popup and announcement bar plugin. It enables you to quickly create attention-grabbing popups, slide-ins, notification bars, and more to capture leads, drive conversions, and engage visitors on your WordPress site.With an easy-to-use visual editor, you can customize the design, layout, content, images, colors, and more...
