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Comparison

Flock vs Laragon

Laragon has been the friendly Windows stack for years: unzip, start, done. Since it moved to paid licenses for commercial use, a lot of developers are taking a second look. Flock keeps the one-click feel, adds a PHP version per project and a macOS app, and stays free for work.

Download Flock Switching from Laragon

Side by side

Row by row, no fine print.

Flock
Laragon
Price
Yes: Free, open source, no account
$ Paid: Free for non-commercial use, from $49/yr for work
Platforms
Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps
Partly: Windows only
Runs natively
Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers
Yes: Native Windows processes
PHP versions
Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side
Partly: 8.1 to 8.5 bundled, one active at a time
PHP per project
Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site
No: Not built in
.test domains
Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included
Yes: Automatic .test, written to hosts file
Trusted HTTPS
Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings
Yes: Automatic, one click to trust its cert
Databases
Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB
Partly: MySQL and PostgreSQL
Cache, search, storage
Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS
Partly: Redis and Memcached, no search or storage
Database UI
No: Use your own client
Yes: HeidiSQL bundled
Mail catcher
Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview
Yes: Mailpit included
Dumps and logs
Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log
No: Not included
Xdebug
Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint
Partly: Add the DLL, then toggle in the menu
Node.js
Yes: Per project from .nvmrc
Partly: Several versions, one active at a time
Other languages
No: PHP and Node.js only
Yes: Python and Go
FrankenPHP and Octane
Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode
No: Apache or nginx
Public preview link
Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command
Partly: Through ngrok, your own authtoken
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 Something out of date?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 Flock if…

  • You build client or company projects and don't want a commercial license.
  • Your projects need different PHP versions at the same time.
  • Part of your team is on a Mac or on Linux.
  • You want dumps and Xdebug ready without editing config files.

Choose Laragon if…

  • You want a stack that runs from a USB stick or a synced folder.
  • You also develop in Python or Go in the same environment.
  • You start a fresh WordPress site several times a week.

FAQ

Flock and Laragon, answered.

For non-commercial use, yes. Using it for work needs a license, from $49 a year per device. Flock is free for any use, commercial included.

No. Flock answers *.test with its own small DNS server, so new sites and subdomains work right away and your hosts file stays untouched.

Yes. Any PHP project works: Flock serves public/index.php when there is one and the project root otherwise.

More comparisons

Flock vs Laravel Herd Flock vs XAMPP Flock vs AppServ Flock vs ServBay Flock vs FlyEnv Flock vs Local Flock vs Docker (Laravel Sail) Flock vs Lerd Flock vs Yerd Flock vs EnvKit

Join the flock.

Install Flock, park your code folder and open https://your-app.test.

Download Flock Star on GitHub