8 Best AI for PHP: Top Tools for Faster Development

PHP remains one of the most widely used languages for web development in 2025, with approximately 74% of all websites utilizing it as their server-side programming language. However, developers working with PHP still face common challenges such as debugging, code optimization, and keeping up with evolving frameworks. Fortunately, AI-driven tools are stepping in to simplify these tasks, making PHP development faster, more efficient, and less prone to errors. In this article, we’ll explore the 8 best AI tools for PHP that can boost your productivity and enhance your coding workflow.

8 Best AI for PHP to Speed Up Development

Before we dive deeper into our top picks, here is a quick overview of what awaits you:

1. Zencoder

Zencoder is an AI-powered coding agent that enhances the software development lifecycle (SDLC) by improving productivity, accuracy, and creativity through advanced artificial intelligence solutions. With its Repo Grokking™ technology, Zencoder thoroughly analyzes your entire codebase, uncovering structural patterns, architectural logic, and custom implementations.

Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with your existing development tools and supports over 70 programming languages, including PHP,  working effortlessly with popular IDEs such as Visual Studio Code and JetBrains.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Integrations – Seamlessly integrates with over 20 developer environments, simplifying your entire development lifecycle. This makes Zencoder the only AI coding agent offering this extensive level of integration.

2️⃣ All-in-One AI Coding Assistant – Speed up your development workflow with an integrated AI solution that provides intelligent code completion, automatic code generation, and real-time code reviews.

• Code Completion – Smart code suggestions keep your momentum going with context-aware, accurate completions that reduce errors and enhance productivity.
• Code Generation – Produces clean, consistent, and production-ready code tailored to your project’s needs, perfectly aligned with your coding standards.
• Code Review Agent – Continuous code review ensures every line meets best practices, catches potential bugs, and improves security through precise, actionable feedback.
• Chat Assistant – Receive instant, reliable answers and personalized coding support. Stay productive with intelligent recommendations that keep your workflow smooth and efficient.

3️⃣ Zentester – Zentester uses AI to automate testing at every level, so you can catch bugs early and ship high-quality code faster. Just describe what you want to test in plain English, and Zentester takes care of the rest, adapting as your code evolves.

Here is what it does:

• Our intelligent agents understand your app and interact naturally across the UI, API, and database layers.
• As your code changes, Zentester automatically updates your tests, eliminating the need for constant rewriting.
• From individual unit functions to full end-to-end user flows, every layer of your app is thoroughly tested at scale.
• Zentester’s AI identifies risky code paths, uncovers hidden edge cases, and generates tests based on how real users interact with your app.

4️⃣ Multi-Repo Search – Index and search across multiple repositories so AI agents can understand and navigate complex multi-repo architectures. Easily add and manage repositories through the web admin panel, enabling agents to access and query all indexed code when needed.

5️⃣ Zen CLI – This Universal CLI Platform is the first developer-first platform that unifies CLIs and IDEs into one seamless workflow. With Zen CLI, you can:

• Bring any CLI tool – Bring your own CLI, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or Grok, all connected directly into VS Code & JetBrains with full debugging, IntelliSense, and seamless context switching.
• Multi-repo intelligence – Your AI now understands your entire codebase across multiple repositories, enabling smarter coding, testing, and code reviews.
• Deploy anywhere – Run 100% on-premise, hybrid, or cloud with complete air-gapping, enterprise-grade security, and zero external dependencies.
• Control costs – Leverage existing enterprise subscriptions instead of unpredictable $5K+/user monthly API bills per developer.
• Future-proof architecture – Our JSON-RPC foundation ensures instant compatibility with new CLI and IDE tools as they enter the ecosystem.

6️⃣ Security treble – Zencoder is the only AI coding agent with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 & ISO 42001 certification.

7️⃣ Zen Agents – Zen Agents allow you to bring the power of Zencoder’s intelligence to your entire organization. These customizable AI teammates understand your code, integrate seamlessly with your tools, and can be launched in seconds.

Here is what you can do:

• Build smarter – Create specialized agents for tasks like pull request reviews, testing, or refactoring, tailored to your architecture and frameworks.
• Integrate quickly – Connect to tools like Jira, GitHub, and Stripe in minutes with our no-code MCP interface, letting agents operate seamlessly within your existing workflows.
• Deploy instantly – Deploy agents across your organization with one click, with auto-updates and shared access to keep teams aligned and expertise scalable.
• Explore marketplace – Discover a growing library of open-source, pre-built agents ready to drop into your workflow. See what other developers are building, or contribute your own to help the community move faster.

Pricing

Zencoder offers a Free Plan, a Starter Plan (free for 7 days) that starts at $19 per user/month, a Core Plan starting at $49 per user/month, an Advanced Plan starting at $119 per user/month, and a Max Plan starting at $250 per user/month.

2. Greptile

Greptile is an AI-powered code review platform that provides full support for PHP, offering automated pull request analysis in GitHub and GitLab with complete codebase context. It helps engineering teams catch subtle bugs, enforce coding standards, and accelerate feedback cycles to merge PRs faster while maintaining high-quality PHP code.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Full codebase context – Builds a semantic graph of your entire PHP project to detect issues with awareness of classes, functions, and dependencies.

2️⃣ Adaptive learning – Learns your team’s PHP coding standards and style over time to deliver more relevant, noise-free code reviews.

3️⃣ Interactive PR reviews – Provides in-line, context-aware comments and supports follow-up queries directly within GitHub or GitLab pull requests.

4️⃣ Enterprise-grade security – Offers SOC 2 compliance and self-hosted deployment options to safeguard sensitive PHP applications.

Pricing

Greptile offers a Cloud Plan starting at $30 per month and an Enterprise Plan with custom pricing.

3. Windsurf

Windsurf is an AI-powered coding platform designed to keep developers in flow by deeply understanding codebases, automating repetitive tasks, and offering agent-like assistance through features such as Cascade and Tab. It integrates seamlessly with popular developer tools and frameworks, supporting PHP alongside many other programming languages.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Autocomplete – Generates multi-line completions and entire functions, reducing boilerplate and speeding up development.

2️⃣ In-IDE refactoring & explanations – Refactors code, explains functions, and generates new methods directly within the IDE for smoother workflows.

3️⃣ Context-aware codebase understanding – Applies changes across interconnected files (e.g., controllers, models, views) by reasoning about the entire project.

4️⃣ Natural-language to code – Converts plain English instructions into functional code, enabling rapid prototyping and feature building.

Pricing

Windsurf offers a Free Plan, 2 Paid Plans starting at $15 per month, and an Enterprise Plan with custom pricing.

4. PhpStorm

PhpStorm is JetBrains’ powerful PHP IDE that boosts productivity with intelligent code editing, debugging, testing, and integrated tools for modern PHP frameworks.. With the addition of JetBrains’ AI assistant and the new Junie coding agent, it streamlines routine tasks, supports multi-file edits, and enhances navigation, refactoring, and workflow management for professional PHP development.

Key Features:

1️⃣ AI assistant – Context-aware coding help, in-editor AI prompts, AI chat, and commit message generation aligned with your project.

2️⃣ Intelligent code editor – AI-powered completion, refactoring, type inference, and instant error detection for faster, cleaner coding.

3️⃣ Testing tools + AI support – Automatic test generation, coverage analysis, and AI assistance with PHPUnit, Pest, and other testing frameworks.

4️⃣ Framework integration – Deep support for Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress, where AI improves navigation, code generation, and adaptation across frameworks.

Pricing

For organizations, PhpStorm offers 2 Paid Plans starting at $28.90 per month. For individuals, it also offers 2 Paid Plans starting at 10.90 per month.

5. Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Q Developer is a generative AI–powered assistant that helps with the entire software development lifecycle, offering inline code suggestions, testing, documentation, refactoring, and AWS guidance inside popular IDEs, the CLI, GitHub, GitLab, and chat apps. It supports multiple languages, including PHP, providing inline code completions, documentation generation, and chat-based coding help.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Code generation – Produces accurate, multi-line code suggestions with a high acceptance rate to speed up development.

2️⃣ Automated documentation – Generates clear, maintainable documentation directly from source code and comments.

3️⃣ Test generation – Creates unit and integration tests to improve reliability and coverage.

4️⃣ Code review – Analyzes code for quality, security, and best practices before deployment.

Pricing

Amazon Q developer offers a Free Plan and a Pro Plan starting at $19 per month.

6. Tabnine

Tabnine is an AI-powered software development platform designed for enterprises, offering secure and flexible deployments (including cloud, on-premises, and fully air-gapped environments) while accelerating code generation, debugging, and documentation. It provides broad language and IDE support, including PHP through PhpStorm, ensuring seamless integration into complex enterprise development workflows.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Context-aware code completion – Delivers intelligent, real-time suggestions at the line, function, or comment level for faster and more accurate PHP development.

2️⃣ PhpStorm integration – Embeds directly into PhpStorm to provide native auto-completions, refactoring assistance, and debugging support.

3️⃣ AI-driven code refactoring – Automates refactoring, bug fixes, and code transformations to modernize and optimize applications efficiently.

4️⃣ Secure, customizable deployment – Offers on-premises, private cloud, or air-gapped deployment options with custom models to safeguard code and enforce organizational standards.

Pricing

Tabnine offers 2 Paid Plans starting at $9 per month.

7. Cursor

Cursor is an AI-powered coding editor that offers autocomplete, natural-language edits, and full-codebase understanding to streamline development. It supports PHP along with popular frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress, making it well-suited for both web applications and larger enterprise projects.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Agent assistance – Delegates coding tasks through natural language, enabling higher-level focus on architecture and design.

2️⃣ Codebase understanding – Embeds and indexes the entire project for semantic recall, making navigation and cross-file reasoning seamless.

3️⃣ Scoped refactoring – Executes targeted edits and smart rewrites across multiple files, ensuring consistent and efficient code changes.

4️⃣ Bugbot debugging – Identifies issues and proposes one-click fixes, streamlining error detection and correction during development.

Pricing

For individuals, Cursor offers a Free Plan and 3 Paid Plans starting at $20 per month. For organizations, it offers a Teams Plan starting at $40 per month and an Enterprise Plan with custom pricing.

8. GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that helps developers write, review, and manage code by providing intelligent completions, explanations, and automated pull requests across the entire software development lifecycle. It supports a wide range of languages, including PHP, offering contextual suggestions for everything from boilerplate scripts to complex frameworks, making it a helpful tool for PHP developers working on web and backend projects.

Key Features:

1️⃣ Contextual code completion – Suggests relevant lines, functions, or entire code blocks by interpreting comments, syntax, and surrounding project context.

2️⃣ Natural language to code – Converts plain English descriptions into functional implementations, speeding up prototyping and reducing boilerplate.

3️⃣ Framework awareness – Adapts to common libraries and frameworks by generating idiomatic patterns that match established best practices.

4️⃣ Code review and testing support – Identifies potential issues, proposes fixes, and generates test cases to enhance reliability and maintainability.

Pricing

GitHub Copilot offers a Free Plan and 2 Paid Plans starting at $10 per month for individuals.

For businesses, GitHub Copilot offers 2 Paid Plans starting at $19 per month.

How to Choose The Best AI for PHP

Now that you know the 8 best AI tools for PHP, it’s time to pick the one that best suits your development needs. For lightweight pull request automation and faster code reviews, Greptile is a strong choice. If you’re looking for deep IDE integration and framework support, PhpStorm with AI assistant is an excellent option. Developers who want fast prototyping and natural language code generation will benefit from GitHub Copilot and Cursor. However, for an all-in-one, context-aware coding experience with enterprise-grade security and powerful AI assistance, Zencoder is the ideal choice.

With Zencoder, you can:

• Leverage Repo Grokking™ to deeply understand your entire PHP codebase and accelerate development.
• Automatically generate clean, production-ready code that improves consistency and reduces errors.
• Conduct AI-powered code reviews to enhance quality, strengthen security, and streamline collaboration.
• Automate testing with Zentester to catch bugs early and ensure long-term reliability.
• Scale your workflow with customizable Zen Agents that adapt to your architecture and integrate seamlessly with your tools.

Sign up today to explore how Zencoder’s AI-powered features can speed up every stage of your PHP development workflow.

How We Selected the Best AI Tools for PHP

To help you find the best AI for PHP in 2025, we:

✅ Researched 20+ AI coding assistants and IDE integrations with direct support for PHP and related frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, WordPress).

✅ Focused on productivity, code quality, and security, prioritizing tools that go beyond autocomplete to include refactoring, reviews, testing, and documentation.

✅ Compared developer workflows across IDE integrations, Git-based pull request reviews, natural language prompts, and full codebase reasoning to identify flexibility.

✅ Reviewed security & deployment options (on-premises, SOC 2, air-gapped models, enterprise compliance) to highlight tools that fit both startups and enterprises.

✅ Evaluated real-world adoption and feedback, factoring in developer satisfaction, update frequency, and integration depth with PHP-specific ecosystems.