PhpStorm has stuck around as one of the best PHP development environments, and now JetBrains has released a new major version. PhpStorm 2025.3 is now available with PHP 8.5 support, a new theme, Claude agent integration, and much more.
The most important upgrade here might be full support for PHP 8.5 , which was released in November with a new pipe operator, better object cloning, URL parsing, persistent cURL share handles, and other improvements. You'll have to change the language version in your project to try the new features, either by editing your composer.json file or using the "Switch to PHP 8.5 language level" quick-fix suggestion.
PhpStorm will also be proactive in helping you adopt new PHP 8.5 features. For example, it might suggest replacing a 'clone' operation with 'cone with' syntax, and it can highlight invalid callable in a pipe operator chain.
The update also makes the Laravel Idea plugin a built-in feature in PhpStorm. It extends the editor's built-in Laravel support with code generation, advanced routing, Blade component support, and other improvements. Laravel Idea used to be an additional expense, but it was made free in July , and now it's fully built into PhpStorm.
If you want to use AI assistance in coding, you can now switch between JetBrains' Junie and Anthropic's Claude in the chat window, in case one AI agent can handle a certain task better than the other one. The ability to use other OpenAI API-compatible agents is also coming in a future update.
JetBrains
There's also the same new 'Island' theme as today's updates to IntelliJ IDEA , GoLand , PyCharm , and other IDEs. JetBrains said it offers "Instantly recognizable tabs, improved in-editor contrast, clear separation between working areas, and rounded corners create a soft and balanced environment that was designed around one goal: helping you stay focused and code with ease."
Unfortunately, PhpStorm still isn't getting the same robust free access as IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm. It's still a paid product that costs $109 for the first year, and reduced pricing after that if your subscription stays active, dropping to $65/year in the third year and onwards. Teachers and students can request free access, but for everyone else, Visual Studio Code with various PHP extensions is probably your best bet.
You can download PhpStorm for Windows, macOS, and Linux from the official website. It includes an evaluation license key for a 30-day free trial, and after that, you'll have to pay up for access.
Source: JetBrains
