Choose Flock if…
- Your Mac fans spin up whenever Docker starts.
- You work on many projects and switch between them all day.
- You want https://my-app.test instead of localhost:8080.
- You want php, composer and artisan to run directly in your terminal.
Comparison
Flock vs Docker (Laravel Sail)
Docker gives every project its own sealed stack, and Laravel Sail makes that easy to start. You pay for it in RAM, battery, slower file access on macOS and Windows, and a rebuild whenever PHP or Node changes. Flock runs the same services natively and serves every project at once.
Side by side
Row by row, no fine print.
Flock
Docker (Laravel Sail)
- Price
- Yes: Free, open source, no account
- Partly: Free; Docker Desktop is paid for larger companies
- Platforms
- Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps
- Yes: macOS, Linux, Windows through WSL2
- Runs natively
- Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers
- No: Containers, inside a VM on macOS and Windows
- PHP versions
- Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side
- Yes: 8.0 to 8.5
- PHP per project
- Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site
- Yes: One compose.yaml per project
- .test domains
- Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included
- No: localhost and port numbers
- Trusted HTTPS
- Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings
- No: Not by default
- Databases
- Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB
- Yes: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
- Cache, search, storage
- Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS
- Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS
- Database UI
- No: Use your own client
- Partly: A container you add yourself
- Mail catcher
- Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview
- Yes: Mailpit
- Dumps and logs
- Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log
- No: Not included
- Xdebug
- Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint
- Partly: Environment variables and a rebuild
- Node.js
- Yes: Per project from .nvmrc
- Partly: Baked into the image, rebuild to change
- Other languages
- No: PHP and Node.js only
- Yes: Any language, as an image
- FrankenPHP and Octane
- Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode
- Partly: Octane through a compose.yaml setting
- Public preview link
- Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command
- Yes: sail share, through Expose
- AI agentic development
- Yes: Built-in MCP server
- No: Not included
Built in
Partly or by hand
$
Paid tier
Not available
Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.
Which one fits
Pick the tool, not the hype.
Choose Docker (Laravel Sail) if…
- Your local stack must match production containers exactly.
- You need a service that only exists as a Docker image.
- You want the exact same setup on every developer's machine, byte for byte.
FAQ
Flock and Docker, answered.
-
On macOS and Windows, usually yes. Docker runs Linux in a virtual machine and syncs files into it. Flock runs PHP directly on your system, so there is no VM and no file sync.
-
Yes. Sail lives in compose.yaml and the sail script, and Flock needs no files at all. Point DB_HOST and REDIS_HOST at 127.0.0.1 when you use Flock.
-
Not for Flock. Keep it if other projects need containers, but stop Sail's containers first so ports 80, 3306 and 6379 are free.
More comparisons
Join the flock.
Install Flock, park your code folder and open https://your-app.test.