EnvKit vs Flock
Flock is a new, AGPL-licensed local environment for Laravel on Windows and macOS, released as a beta in October 2026. It is a single Go binary with Caddy, its own DNS and a tray app, and it covers PHP, Node, databases, mail, dumps and Xdebug. EnvKit does the same jobs natively on both platforms, and goes further for WordPress, Node and teams.
| Feature | EnvKit | Flock |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Windows, macOS | Windows 10+, macOS 15+ |
| Price / license | Free | Free, AGPL-3.0 |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Multiple PHP versions per site | Yes | Yes |
| MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis | Yes | Yes |
| Mail capture, dumps, Xdebug | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server for your own AI agents | Yes | Yes |
| One-click WordPress | Yes | No |
| Node dev servers on .test | Yes | No |
| Web servers | nginx, Apache, Caddy, FrankenPHP | Caddy, FrankenPHP |
| Committed project config | Yes | PHP version in .flockrc |
| Public share URL | Yes | No |
| Import from Laragon, XAMPP and Herd | Yes | No |
Flock details checked on against Flock docs, Flock AI agents docs and Flock on GitHub. Prices and plans change; the linked pages are the authority.
What you gain over Flock
More than Laravel
One-click WordPress with the admin installed, CodeIgniter, Symfony, and Next.js, Vite, Angular and Express dev servers on their own .test hosts. Flock serves any public/index.php, and its focus is Laravel.
The whole project setup in the repo
Commit an envkit.json and teammates get the same PHP version and extensions, hostnames, databases, queue workers, scheduler and processes. Flock pins the PHP version in .flockrc.
Share a site with a link
Publish a .test site at https://name.envkit.net, optionally with a password, without a tunnel account.
Moves over from Laragon, XAMPP and Herd
Importers bring your projects, databases and PHP pins over in one step.
Your choice of web server
nginx, Caddy or FrankenPHP on both platforms, and Apache on Windows.
Where Flock still fits better
iFlock is open source
Flock is AGPL-licensed on GitHub. EnvKit is free but closed source.
iFlock is a single small binary
One Go binary runs the web server, DNS and services. The EnvKit installer is around 100 MB.
iBuilt around Laravel and agents
Flock’s MCP server can read caught mail and the events of a request, offers a debug_site prompt, and writes a Laravel Boost guideline for your project. EnvKit’s MCP server has more tools for running the stack, and reads mail through the Debug window events.
iBoth are betas
Flock and EnvKit are both in public beta, so expect frequent updates from either.
Moving from Flock
Add your project folders from the Sites page. EnvKit detects the framework, assigns a .test host and issues a certificate. Dump your databases from Flock and import them into the bundled servers, then point .env at them.
irm https://envkit.net/install.ps1 | iexFree, no account, no card. Windows 10/11 and macOS (Apple Silicon).
Questions people ask
- Is EnvKit open source like Flock?
- No. EnvKit is free to use with no paid tier, but its source is not public.
- Does EnvKit support Intel Macs?
- No. EnvKit runs on macOS on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer), and on Windows 10/11.
- Can I run Flock and EnvKit together?
- Not on the same ports. Stop Flock first, or change the EnvKit ports in Settings.