Checkstyle vs PHPMD

Checkstyle is a free Java source-code analyzer for programmers who follow a coding standard. It checks naming, imports, Javadoc, formatting, class design, and coding practices against configurable rules. You can select supplied Google Java Style, Sun Conventions, OpenJDK Style, or Doc Style configurations, or create your own. Checkstyle runs from its command-line tool or as an Ant task, with documented Maven and Gradle integrations. Listed IDE and CI integrations include Eclipse, Bamboo, GitHub Actions, Codacy, and Code Climate. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. The current site says it parses Java features through Java 25; versions 13.x and 14.x require Java runtime 21 or newer. Analysis is single-file and source-level, without expression-type determination or a full inheritance hierarchy. Releases are available through GitHub releases and Maven Central, including a standalone all-in-one JAR. It is licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later and supports only the latest version.

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.