Request: Consider a Free or Community Edition of PhpStorm for Individual Developers
Hi JetBrains Team,
I wanted to share a small request — could you please consider introducing a free or community edition of PhpStorm for individual developers who can’t afford the subscription?
I’ve used PhpStorm during the trial period, and the experience was truly exceptional. The functionality, the workflow, and especially the AI assistance — nothing else really compares. After the 30-day trial, when it required a license, I had to uninstall it and switch to VS Code or Cursor. They work, but they don’t deliver the same level of performance or the overall “vibe” PhpStorm gives.
I completely understand that PhpStorm is a premium product and part of your business model, and if offering a free version isn’t feasible, that’s perfectly understandable — a single user can’t change your strategy. Still, I wanted to share this thought because it would genuinely help many independent developers and learners do more with the right tools.
And just a small suggestion — if possible in the future, it would be amazing to see one unified JetBrains IDE that supports all programming languages instead of separate tools for each. I also use Android Studio (which is free), and that accessibility helped me grow tremendously as a developer.
Thank you for your time and for continuously delivering world-class developer tools.
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Hello Kishan Singh,
We appreciate your kind words about PhpStorm, and it’s wonderful to hear that you had a positive experience during the trial period.
Regarding your suggestion for a free or community edition of PhpStorm, we currently don’t have plans to introduce one. However, we already provide several opportunities for free licenses for specific groups, such as students, teachers, content creators, and open source contributors. You can explore these options here.
Additionally, we also offer special discounts for startups, non-profit organisations, and other groups that might benefit from reduced pricing.
You also mentioned the idea of a unified IDE for all programming languages. Have you already checked the All Products Pack, which allows developers to use all JetBrains IDEs under one subscription - JetBrains All Products Pack?
Once again, thank you for your dedication to our tools and for taking the time to share your thoughtful suggestions.
Hello Anastasiia Zyrianova,
Thank you for the detailed response and for clarifying the current licensing options. I completely understand the reasoning and appreciate the initiatives you already have in place for students, educators, and open-source contributors.
Yes, I’ve checked out the All Products Pack — it’s a solid offering and a great option for teams or developers working across multiple stacks. My suggestion was more around accessibility for independent developers and small-scale contributors who might not fit into the current free-license categories but still want to stay within the JetBrains ecosystem.
Either way, I value the transparency and the continued innovation you bring to your tools. PhpStorm remains one of the most polished IDEs I’ve used.
I'd maybe add that a lot of PHP Projects are open source, I don't believe that qualifies you for an open source license.
I've had one in the past and let it lapse because I no longer worked on the project, but contributing to something like WordPress or Laravel I believe would require the owners of those projects to apply for the program.
I understand that a company needs to make money, absolutely.
But Javascript/HTML/CSS, Python, Rust, Rails, and C have free community versions.
PHP does not.
I'll end up paying for it regardless.