Is there a paid EnvKit tier?

No. Every feature on this page is in the free download, with no account and no seat count.

Does the Debug window need a package in my project?

Yes, a small one, and EnvKit adds it for you: one click on the site’s Debug tab copies a Laravel service provider or a Symfony event subscriber into the project, and the same tab removes it again.

Does EnvKit run on Windows as well as macOS?

Yes. Windows 10/11 and Apple Silicon Macs, including the Herd import on both.

Can I keep using Herd for some projects?

Yes, as long as the two are not running on the same ports at the same time. Stop Herd’s services before starting EnvKit, or change EnvKit’s ports in Settings.

Laravel Herd alternative

Herd Pro features, free

Laravel Herd is free as a PHP runtime, but databases, Reverb, mail, the dumps window, the log viewer and Xdebug are Herd Pro, at $99 a year per seat. EnvKit includes all of them in the free download on Windows and macOS, and imports your Herd sites in one step.

What Herd Pro charges for

Herd Pro: $99 a year per seat
Herd Teams: $299 a year for 10 Pro licenses
Pro-only features: Dumps window, mail, log viewer, services (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, Reverb and more), Xdebug detection
Free tier: PHP, nginx, DNS, Node.js, Forge integration

Laravel Herd details checked on 18 September 2026 against Herd pricing and Pro features. Prices and plans change; the linked pages are the authority.

What you get with EnvKit

A Debug window for dump() and queries
dump() and dd() calls, SQL queries flagged for N+1 patterns and slow runs, mail, views, jobs and outgoing HTTP stream into one window, for Laravel and Symfony.
Databases, with admin UIs
MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis and MongoDB, several MySQL or MariaDB versions at once, with phpMyAdmin, pgAdmin and mongo-express at .test hosts.
Reverb, queues and the scheduler
Laravel Reverb runs behind the site’s own host, and queue workers and the scheduler start from the site page.
Xdebug, logs and Tinker
Turn Xdebug on from Tools, read and follow logs in the app, and run Tinker against a site without opening a terminal.
Mailpit for every site
Outgoing mail from every site lands in one local inbox, ready to inspect.
More than Laravel
WordPress in one click, Node and Vite dev servers, cron jobs, nginx or Apache, and an MCP server your AI assistant can drive.

Bring your Herd sites over

Install EnvKit. The first-run wizard offers to import from Laravel Herd, and it stays available later under Tools.
EnvKit reads Herd’s parked paths and links every site in them as a .test site with trusted HTTPS.
Sites that Herd pinned to an isolated PHP version keep that version when EnvKit has it installed. Missing versions are listed so you can install them from Services.

Herd databases are not copied. Dump them from Herd, import them into the bundled servers, and point each .env at EnvKit. Stop Herd’s services first so the ports are free.

Download for Windows Read the docs

Or install from the terminal

> irm https://envkit.net/install.ps1 | iex

Free, no account, no card. Windows 10/11 and macOS (Apple Silicon).

Questions people ask

Is there a paid EnvKit tier?: No. Every feature on this page is in the free download, with no account and no seat count.
Does the Debug window need a package in my project?: Yes, a small one, and EnvKit adds it for you: one click on the site’s Debug tab copies a Laravel service provider or a Symfony event subscriber into the project, and the same tab removes it again.
Does EnvKit run on Windows as well as macOS?: Yes. Windows 10/11 and Apple Silicon Macs, including the Herd import on both.
Can I keep using Herd for some projects?: Yes, as long as the two are not running on the same ports at the same time. Stop Herd’s services before starting EnvKit, or change EnvKit’s ports in Settings.