Biome vs PHPMD
Biome
biomejs.devPHPMD
phpmd.orgSide by side
| Figure | Biome | PHPMD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Linters | 8.2 (#7) | 7.7 (#21) |
| Purpose | Biome is a toolchain for web projects that provides tools to maintain project health. | PHPMD analyzes PHP source code for possible bugs, suboptimal code, overcomplicated expressions, and unused parameters, methods, or properties. |
Plans
In their own words
Biome
Biome is a toolchain for maintaining the health of web projects. It formats JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX, TSX, JSON, HTML, CSS, and GraphQL, and provides lint rules for JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX, CSS, and GraphQL. Linting can report diagnostics and apply safe fixes. Its check command can format files, lint them, and organize imports in one run. Biome is distributed as a standalone executable, so it does not require Node.js. Installation instructions cover npm, pnpm, bun, deno, and yarn. First-party editor extensions are available for VS Code, IntelliJ, and Zed; community extensions include Vim, Neovim, and Sublime Text. The getting-started guide links to CI integrations for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI. Biome describes itself as open source and lists MIT or Apache 2.0 licensing. The open-source toolchain is free. Contributors may offer commercial support, but requests depend on their availability.
PHPMD
PHPMD analyzes PHP source code for possible bugs, inefficient patterns, complicated expressions, and unused parameters, methods, or properties. Its predefined rules flag code smells and potential errors across categories including clean code, code size, controversial practices, design, naming, and unused code. Teams can add custom rules and use security rules, and PHPMD supports CI workflows. Reports include JSON, SARIF, Checkstyle-compatible, GitHub, and GitLab options, including a GitLab renderer for GitLab CI. The project documents installation through a Phar, PHIVE, or Composer; Phar files are signed with a public key associated with [email protected]. Listed requirements are PHP >= 5.3.9 and PHP_Depend >= 2.0.0. PHPMD is free under the BSD 3-Clause license and runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, or a self-hosted setup. The homepage lists version 2.15.0, dated 2023/12/11, as the latest release shown. Help is available through the Gitter channel, while bugs and feature requests go to the issue tracker.