Herd

The fastest, and the least isolated.

What it does better

PHP runs natively on the host. There is no container layer, no file sync and no virtual machine, so requests and CLI commands are as fast as the machine allows. For a single application on macOS it is hard to beat.

It also parks directories: any application in the parked directory is served on .test without being registered.

What it costs

PHP is the host's. Two projects needing different extensions, or a different PHP build, is a problem rather than a setting — the thing containers exist to solve.

Databases, redis and mail are Herd Pro, which is paid. Without it, a project that needs a database needs something else to provide it.

macOS and Windows only. A colleague on Linux cannot follow you here, and neither can CI.

Switching

dqx switch herd

dqx generates almost nothing for Herd — that is the point of it. What it does is make sure the project's declaration and Herd's view of the world agree.