--- title: Zend Studio Reviews meta_title: 'Zend Studio Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 24 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Zend Studio works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.8 review_count: 24 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-07' parent_category: name: Integrated Development Environments (IDE) url: https://www.g2.com/categories/integrated-development-environments-ide --- # Zend Studio Reviews **Vendor:** Perforce **Category:** [PHP Integrated Development Environments (IDE)](https://www.g2.com/categories/php-integrated-development-environments-ide) **Average Rating:** 3.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 24 ## About Zend Studio Zend Studio is the next-generation PHP IDE designed to create robust PHP apps while boosting developers' productivity. It is the only PHP IDE that combines mobile development with PHP and includes a sample mobile application with source code. ## Zend Studio Reviews ### 1. Excellent Plugins, Clean Themes, and Seamless PHP Integration **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2026 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Plenty of plugins and solid integration with PHP servers, including Zend itself. It’s my daily driver for PHP and a host of other languages. The text formatting and color themes are excellent, and everything looks clean and readable. I’ve never had to use customer support, which is a plus in my book. It’s also simple to install, with no crazy config settings to dig through. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Honestly, I can’t really think of anything off the top of my head right now. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** It’s incredibly fast for developing PHP apps, whether I’m using a local PHP server installation, connecting to a Zend-driven server, or simply having it auto-FTP/SCP the files I’m working on to my DEV server. That way, I don’t have to keep doing manual uploads or run a separate FTP/SCP app just to monitor folders. ### 2. FASCINATING.. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** ESTEFANY G. | Auxiliar contable, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 07, 2019 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** THE SIMPLICITY OF WORKING WITH ZEND STUDIO ALLOWS ME TO BE CONFIDENT WITH THE INFORMATION I PROVIDE IN THE DATABASE. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** IT STILL NEEDS IMPROVEMENTS EVEN THOUGH THE LAST UPDATE HAS ALLOWED IT TO DEVIATE A LITTLE FROM ITS OBJECTIVE. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** WE HAVE IMPROVED OUR SYSTEMS AND THE SERVICE DOES NOT EXPIRE. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** UPDATE THE ENTIRE NETWORK WE HAVE IN OUR DATABASE TO IMPROVE THE RESPONSE CAPACITY OF OUR SERVERS BY 50%. ### 3. Best platform for 4 technologies Coding,debugging,prototyping,Testing of the mobile and web appl. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sameer A. | Software Engineer, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2019 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I like this tool because of the performance helps in indexing ,searching and the validation of the php code it also helps for deploying php applications on the any servers which includes cloud support of the Microsoft Azure and Amazon aws. In the debugging it offers are z-ray integration ,zend debugger and xdebug. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** The main I dislike this is the cost is more. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** I recommend to use this tool because it supports best in class development like docker and git flow.the main thing is it supports cloud technology as Microsoft azure and Amazon aws. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** In one platform only we can use coding,debugging,prototyping and testing of the mobile and Web applications. ### 4. Zend Studio excellent editor!! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2019 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** The migration tools that allow us to move code to PHP 7 in the fastest way, enable us to perform code tests and help us execute unit tests faster, thus making code more reliable, have helped me save time. We can deploy the applications on any server, including in the cloud. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** For commercial use, a paid license is required; however, considering the cost-benefit received, the price is reasonable. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** It is a very good editor that allows us to save hours of work. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it for PHP editing and development in the company. ### 5. Zend Studio: simple, but complete too **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Desiderio M. | Consultor técnico júnior, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Its small weigtlh and simplicity make it a very light and quick editor, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have all the features you need to develope any rich and comlex application. It has one of the best integrations with PHP7, a great debugging tool and project management is really easy. And as a plus, it also takes advantage of the Eclipse ecosystem, gaining access to a lot of usefull plugins. Another good reason to use it is it's easy deployment to cloud based systems. And it also works great when you are working on mobile apps. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** It is getting heavier and heavier each new version. Although this is not yet a huge impediment when you are working on a complex project, I don't feel it's the best option for small apps. From time to time, it has some stability issues. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** If you are looking for a complete IDE for PHP, this is a must try, for sure. You will love it's debugging feature, it's not as heavy as others (although it's becoming less and less light those times). And when your project is getting bigger and bigger, you will see how easy it is to manage hundreds of variables around all that files. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** When a bug appears (and we know they are inevitable), Zend Studio is by far the best tool to find it. And this can save you lots of time (and money, of course). It supports almost any modern framework you can use, increasing productivity. ### 6. Helps Resolve Application Issues Quickly **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jason P. | Manager of Sales, Automotive, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I like the responsiveness of Zend Studio. As I'm developing, Zend Studio has proven to be the most responsive software that I have used. I also like how accurate the customization is - this saves a lot of time by ensuring accuracy. I also appreciate the constant updates that are made to Zend Studio. It stays up-to-date, automatically upgrading as necessary. I have found that it stays on top of those upgrades - which is important for us. I also like Zend Studio's method suggestion - this has saved me so much time when developing. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** I don't have much that I have found to dislike about Zend Studio. I dislike that when working with large repository imports, Zend Studio takes a long time making additions to my projects. Overall, I think that Zend Studio could improve performance by enhancing its overall speed and responsiveness. Other than those, there is nothing that I can say that I dislike. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** I recommend that - when using Zend Studio - you integrate at the debugging level. This will allow for quick analyzing. I also recommend - as I do with most expensive software - that you take full advantage of Zend Studio's free trail period. Use the trail period to ensure that the product meets your needs. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Since Zend Studio is easy to configure and automatically updates - it is an easy program to utilize. It saves time because time isn't wasted with configurations and updating the software. Zend Studio has also proven to be beneficial because it is easy to train new users to use. Implementing this program has been a breeze because of its ease of use. ### 7. Zend Studio is a shame **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2019 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Nothing, it is obsolete. They still have their name (Zend, the developer of PHP), but their products (Studio and Guard) is no longer meet any modern requirement. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Zend Studio is an obsolete, neglected project of Zend. It is like Zend Guard. They still sell it, but no release for years. I find it a shame, that they still ask money for it. Beginners may fall into this trap. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Do not buy Zend Studio. There are other much much much better choices!!! **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nothing. Compared to other choices, Zend Studio brings nothing. (Not developed for years now.) ### 8. Excellent **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jhon O. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I use Zend Studio every day. It's not very well put together. It should be project based. You mention that you have to define a global setting for the php version - that should be defined by the current project you have open or by the project the current file belongs to. The same goes for ftp servers - they're all defined globally - that should be defined within the scope of the project. The UI sucks in general because you can't hide unused toolbars. Everything is always in the way. Yes, it's a java app and it's reasonably fast, but it always has choke points. It'll freeze up and you can't do anything for a minute while it does whatever it thinks needs doing. This sucks big time because it almost always comes while writing code - like it decides to rebuild the code completion database in the middle of working. It blocks the whole UI and is extremely irritating. Because of that, I've taken to using vim more than ZS. It's pretty good, but there's a lot of room for improvement. Keep in mind that it's a commercial app and you don't get even minor version updates without a support contract. If there's a serious bug, chip up the cash to get the next minor release (which are rare) or the next major release. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Generally a Java-based IDE is little bit slow but the Zend Studio is a powerful IDE for PHP development. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Zend Studio has some very nice features like code completion for your own classes, project setup, SVN integration & extended debug options. But... after I've tried the v.5.2 trial for one week I gave up because of some unacceptable problems: - It crashes very often. It simply suddenly dies on Windows XP, and if you had things unsaved you lose them. Unacceptable. - After you have done a find & replace action, you can't go back. It simply moves the cursor over the screen when you press CTRL+Z, without undoing anything. Unacceptable. thanks for the great site ### 9. Good debugger adequate **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Law Practice | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Zend Studio release support and all its improvements to the language. Zend studio has great advancements in the Composer and JavaScript tooling, allowing you to create a new PHP project from a composer package or take advantage of the Eclipse Web Tools Platform. It also brings support for HiDPi displays and automatically scales according to the existing DPI settings. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** I feel that I was expecting even better results than what I actually got it is a good debugger overall and works really well with JavaScript but I do feel it was somewhat slow and couldn't quite keep up with the amount of work that I needed to complete with this software program **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** I think the best business benefit is that it is an amazing debugger one of the best that I've ever come across I really think that's the biggest benefits and probably the only reason that I would continue with Zend studio ### 10. Efficient way to build code **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mukesh R. | Software Engineer Quality, Computer Software, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 17, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Multiple deployment option makes very efficient to build app and have it ready in timely manner. Enhance support makes troubleshooting very easy and effective. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Operating on remote server can be troublesome depends on latency and response time. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Absolutely recommend to small to midsize corporation as it's open source and save tons of money and add talent to team. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's open source software that help promoting and encouraging innovation and flexibility of customization. Taking full advantage to build customize app to improve day to day mundane tasks and build quality code that lead to quality software. ### 11. Great Program - Quick **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Caitlyn C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Great program that helps code and has a great debugging program included. High Quality graphics as well **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Hard to integrate all types of software for additional programs. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Great program for novice users. Makes coding simple and easy. Made making a mobile app easier and took away the guessing work for bugs and other issues. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Sets up program fast and easy. Makes coding your projects simple. Great for making and fine tuning mobile apps for your business. ### 12. Good PHP editor **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jose Luis N. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Include all the necessary components during the lifecycle of a PHP application. Include editor, analysis, debugging, code optimizers, and database tools. Zend Studio allows us to streamline web development and simplify complex projects. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Requires a paid license, does not include a visual HTML editor, a bit complex. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Software development ### 13. Awesome work done by zend team **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Devashish G. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** -Its MVC compatibility. -highly user ftiendly **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Not anything specifically but if you ask forcefully then i will say it should introduce diff tool for code files. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** we are managing one media house news product. and we liked it for the way it display files and code on runtime code exicution and giving errors. ### 14. Good tool, but require lot of tweaking **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Very good looking IDE and very powerful engine that helps with contextual code completion **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** It took me lot of time to configure the tool before I was efficient with it. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Use it for a non-critical project or a project you have a lot of time to tweak and configure Zend Studio. While the learning curve is high, you will be rewarded once you have a good workflow. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Fast PHP development. Once Zend Studio was properly installed I was able to be much more efficient in my work. ### 15. Good Eclipse Build for PHP Development **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jasper H. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Comes with easy-to-use FTP/SSH integration. Great PHP hinting and debugging tools. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Runs slow compared to others, like PHP Storm. If you're not used to Eclipse then there is a bit of a learning curve for getting the workspace setup just as you like it. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** 3rd-party Eclipse plugins make Zend Studio very extendable. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Writing PHP code for multiple types of servers. ### 16. One of the best IDE for PHP development **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** - Very convenient and fast IDE for PHP based programming. - Supports multiple source control tools as a in-build plugins - Has support for Azure and AWS cloud integrations - Code Debugging becomes robust and easy to use. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** - Inability to drag and drop tools availability similar to Microsoft Visual Studio - Higher cost for multi user licence. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Yes, will definitely recommend the individual PHP developers **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** - PHP based programming - Developing plugins for PHP applications ### 17. Good IDE with SSH Support **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 17, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I migrate from Eclipse because Zend support SSH as filesystem. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Licence only work with your current version. Need to pay for upgrades. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Develop PHP in real time using SSH as filesystem. ### 18. Accessing things in a snap! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** It is one of the few debuggers out there allowing you to go through code, either via command line invocation, through a browser, or a PHPUnit. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** It can be a bit unstable at certain updates. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Accessing things are so fast with this product. I don't see a reason why not to use it. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Zend Studio for PHP development and for Mac OSX ### 19. Flexible and friendly IDE to program PHP **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 07, 2018 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I really like that it allows autocomplete code, also can interpret within the same code without lifting a PHP server **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** The new versions are increasingly heavy and complex **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** I would recommend it but it would be ideal to have more types of licenses and also there are some flexibilities for students **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** The new versions are getting heavier ### 20. A Solid IDE for PHP Development **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Zend Studio is created by the folks who make Zend, so what better tool is there to use?! It sits on top of Eclipse and offers several code repository integrations and frameworks that snap in. As you're developing, the built in code completion is responsive, and the built-in documentation is spot on. It's flexible enough for all of your PHP development needs **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** As with any piece of software, there are some quirks. We often times use SVN for some of our code repositories, and way the software caches credentials isn't optimal. On particularly large repo imports, it can take an extended period of time to add the project. Better real-time status updates for these processes would be helpful. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** We do custom PHP development in our environment, and this tool solves the issue of an IDE that's designed and tuned specifically for PHP. My developers like it, I've been using it for well over 5 years, and it's an actively maintained and smartly improved piece of software. ### 21. The complete package **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 27, 2017 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** The IDE has lots and lots of features. It's easy enough to get started, but it has the depth to do complexities when needed. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** There is a lot of help but sometimes it doesn't explain things too well. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helps to keep code consistent by enforcing rules and patterns. ### 22. PHP IDE for faster and robust development **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Divyamol J. | Student, Financial Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 03, 2016 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Performance vice Zend studio has improved a lot. Debugging is very effective in Zend Studio. From the old Zend Studio versions, it has improved a lot in Plugin system, Cloud server support etc, Almost all PHP tools are available which helps developers a lot. Especially PHP code sniffer tool for effective code review approach. Refactoring codes are the hardest job that developers are dealing with, Zend Studio managed it well. Method suggestion is also very helpful. Also it is updated with trending JavaScript frameworks like Angular JS. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Speed and performance improved a lot, but still a lot more needed. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Most of the time developers go for heavy IDEs which are basically not specifically built for PHP. For those Zend Studio is the best option. Easy to install and configure. Can be update easily. Almost all Plugins are available for better development. Also helps the mobile back end developers to check the API. Can easily deploy to cloud based hosting servers. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mainly web applications which covers medical,logistic etc. Zend studio helps developers to code effectively and debug helps a lot in functionality test. ### 23. The perfect IDE for PHP and Web development **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Giuseppe D. | IT Security Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2017 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** Zend Studio is Eclipse IDE + PHP Development Tools (PDT) with steroids! **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Generally a Java-based IDE is little bit slow but the Zend Studio is a powerful IDE for PHP development. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** Zend offer a special student licenze, **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** Zend Studio facilitate the PHP development and debugging. ### 24. Best IDE for PHP Development **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 11, 2016 **What do you like best about Zend Studio?** I have been using Zend Studio for the last 6 years. Unlike other IDEs, Zend Studio is very simple and effective. I had tried other IDEs and felt they are too heavy. Their initial lag and memory consumption were huge when compared to Zend Studio. That is the main reason still I like to develop the PHP applicaitons in Zend Studio. Support for PHP is excellent in Zend Studio. Mainly debugging, plugin plays the vital role in this IDE. I like the simple and effective solution with very well maintained User interface. Zend Studio did that part successfully. **What do you dislike about Zend Studio?** Need to investigate and integrate revision based system. Make it more developer friendly. **Recommendations to others considering Zend Studio:** If you are a PHP developer and tired using heavy IDE which is not probably designed for PHP, then Zend Studio is the best solution. You can feel the easiness and productivity increase after using this. You can integrate debugging level and library support for quick method analyzing. You will like the UI, which is perfectly designed as developer friendly. **What problems is Zend Studio solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have designed and implemented so many applications ie Survey Management system, Questionnaire applications, Logistic portal applications etc. Fast coding and less maintenance are the main benefits. ## Zend Studio Discussions - [What is Zend Studio used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-zend-studio-used-for) - [View Zend Studio pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/zend-studio/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-22+07%3A32%3A04+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=2c4021dd-0059-4cc5-8ff8-7e991c45ff5e&secure%5Btoken%5D=e542c842d63bede6826d938e28af4101e8084c8c482eecf49795946385f5b146&format=llm_user) ## Zend Studio Integrations - [Jira](https://www.g2.com/products/jira/reviews) - [Progress WS_FTP](https://www.g2.com/products/progress-software-progress-ws_ftp/reviews) - [TortoiseSVN Subversion on Windows Server 2019](https://www.g2.com/products/tortoisesvn-subversion-on-windows-server-2019/reviews) - [WinSCP](https://www.g2.com/products/winscp/reviews) ## Zend Studio Features **Functionality** - Ease of Use - File Management - Multi-Language Support - Customization - Straight-Out-the-Box Functionality - Help Guides - Patching & Updates ## Top Zend Studio Alternatives - [PhpStorm](https://www.g2.com/products/phpstorm/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (486 reviews) - [NetBeans](https://www.g2.com/products/netbeans/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (655 reviews) - [Eclipse](https://www.g2.com/products/eclipse/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (3,093 reviews)