Windows: XAMPP vs WampServer vs EasyPHP vs alternative

I generally install Apache + PHP + MySQL by-hand, not using any package like those you're talking about.

It's a bit more work, yes; but knowing how to install and configure your environment is great -- and useful.

The first time, you'll need maybe half a day or a day to configure those. But, at least, you'll know how to do so.

And the next times, things will be far more easy, and you'll need less time.

Else, you might want to take a look at Zend Server -- which is another package that bundles Apache + PHP + MySQL.

Or, as an alternative, don't use Windows.

If your production servers are running Linux, why not run Linux on your development machine?

And if you don't want to (or cannot) install Linux on your computer, use a Virtual Machine.

After years of using XAMPP finally I've given up, and started looking for alternatives. XAMPP has not received any updates for quite a while and it kept breaking down once every two weeks.

The one I've just found and I could absolutely recommend is The Uniform Server

It's really frequently updated, has much more emphasis on security and looks like a much more mature project compared to XAMPP.

They have a wiki where they list all the latest versions of packages. As the time of writing, their newest release is only 4 days old!

Versions in Uniform Server as of today:

• Apache 2.4.2
• MySQL 5.5.23-community
• PHP 5.4.1
• phpMyAdmin 3.5.0

Versions in XAMPP as of today:

• Apache 2.2.21
• MySQL 5.5.16
• PHP 5.3.8
• phpMyAdmin 3.4.5

EasyPHP is very good :

• lightweight & portable : no windows service (like wamp)
• easy to configure (all configuration files in the same folder : httpd.conf, php.ini & my.ini)
• auto restarts apache when you edit httpd.conf

WAMP or UWAMP are good choices if you need to test with multiples versions of PHP and Apache.

But you can also use multiple versions of PHP with EasyPHP (by downloading the PHP version you need on php.net, and loading this version by editing httpd.conf) :

LoadModule php4_module "${path}/php4/php4apache2_2.dll"