Are Lerd and Flock both free?

Yes. Both are open source and free, with no paid tier.

Does Flock use containers like Lerd?

No. Flock runs PHP and every service as native processes, so there is no Podman or Docker involved.

Does Flock run on Linux?

Yes. Flock runs natively on Ubuntu 24.04+ and Fedora, with a GTK app, and no containers.

Comparison

Flock vs Lerd

Lerd and Flock share a lot: free, open source, a PHP version per site, Mailpit-style mail and an MCP server for AI agents. The difference is underneath. Lerd runs everything in Podman containers and reaches Windows through WSL2. Flock runs natively, with a real app on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Download Flock Switching from Lerd

Side by side

Row by row, no fine print.

Flock

Lerd

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; Yes: Free, MIT license
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Partly: Linux and macOS, Windows through WSL2 (beta)
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; Partly: Podman containers, native PHP on macOS
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; Yes: 7.4 to 8.6 preview
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; Yes: Per site
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; Yes: Automatic
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; Yes: Trusted certificates
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; Yes: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, OpenSearch and more
Database UI: No: Use your own client; Yes: phpMyAdmin, Adminer, pgAdmin
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; Yes: Mailpit
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; Yes: Debug window
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Yes: One command per PHP version
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; Yes: Per site
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; Yes: Python, Rails, Go and Rust apps
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; Yes: FrankenPHP per site, with Octane
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; Partly: Needs ngrok, cloudflared or Expose
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; Yes: MCP server

The score

16 Flock

15 Lerd

of 18 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock16/18: 16 of 18 rows
Lerd15/18: 15 of 18 rows

Where Flock shines

Native apps everywhere

WinUI 3 on Windows, SwiftUI on macOS and GTK on Linux, not WSL2 and a web dashboard.
No containers at all

Services run as plain processes, with no container runtime to install or keep updated.

Where Lerd shines

Git worktrees as sites

Every worktree gets its own domain, certificate and database.
A deep service store

OpenSearch, Solr, Kafka and LocalStack, a few clicks away.

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 develop on Windows and want a native app, not WSL2.
You don't want a container runtime on your machine.
You want share links without installing ngrok or cloudflared first.
You prefer a menu bar or tray app over a web dashboard.

Choose Lerd if…

You work in several git worktrees at once.
You need OpenSearch, Solr or Kafka locally.

FAQ

Flock and Lerd, answered.

: Yes. Both are open source and free, with no paid tier.
: No. Flock runs PHP and every service as native processes, so there is no Podman or Docker involved.
: Yes. Flock runs natively on Ubuntu 24.04+ and Fedora, with a GTK app, and no containers.

More comparisons

Flock vs Laravel Herd Flock vs Laragon Flock vs XAMPP Flock vs AppServ Flock vs ServBay Flock vs FlyEnv Flock vs Local Flock vs Docker (Laravel Sail) 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