Laragon — Windows Dev Environment

Laragon is what XAMPP should have become. It's a portable, lightweight development environment for Windows that does everything XAMPP and WAMP do — Apache, MySQL, PHP — but adds automatic virtual hosts, one-click app installers, SSL certificates, and PHP version switching. The difference is workflow: with XAMPP, you put files in htdocs and access them at localhost/myproject. With Laragon, you create a project and it automatically gets its own domain like myproject.test with a proper virtual host.

It's also portable — the entire thing runs from a single folder. No Windows installer, no registry entries, no services. Copy the folder to a USB drive and take your dev environment with you.

Why Developers Switch from XAMPP

Automatic virtual hosts. Create a folder in C:\laragon\www\ called mysite, and Laragon automatically creates http://mysite.test — no Apache config editing, no hosts file editing. It handles the DNS, the virtual host, everything. This alone is the killer feature.

One-click application installers. Right-click the Laragon tray icon → Quick App → WordPress, Laravel, Drupal, Joomla, Symfony, or plain HTML. Laragon downloads the framework, sets up the database, configures everything, and gives you a working URL in 30 seconds.

SSL in one click. Right-click tray → Apache → SSL → Enable. Your mysite.test immediately works at https://mysite.test with a trusted local certificate. Try doing that on XAMPP.

PHP version switching. Like WAMP, Laragon lets you switch PHP versions from the tray menu. Download additional PHP versions into the bin/php/ folder and they appear in the menu.

Getting Started

1. Download Laragon from laragon.org (the "Full" version includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, Node.js, and more)
2. Extract to C:\laragon\ (or anywhere you want)
3. Run laragon.exe and click Start All
4. Open http://localhost — you'll see the Laragon welcome page listing your projects

Quick App Installers

# Create a WordPress site:
Right-click tray → Quick App → WordPress
→ Enter site name (e.g., "myblog")
→ Done! Access at http://myblog.test

# Create a Laravel project:
Right-click tray → Quick App → Laravel
→ Creates a new Laravel project with Composer

# Or use the terminal (Laragon includes its own):
Right-click tray → Terminal
cd C:\laragon\www
composer create-project laravel/laravel myapp
# Laragon auto-creates http://myapp.test

Included Tools

Laragon Full comes with more than just a PHP stack:

Tool	What It Does
Apache + Nginx	Web servers (switchable from tray)
MySQL + phpMyAdmin	Database + management GUI
PHP (multiple versions)	Switchable from tray
Node.js + npm	JavaScript runtime
Git	Version control
Composer	PHP dependency manager
HeidiSQL	Alternative to phpMyAdmin
Cmder / Terminal	Enhanced Windows terminal

Laragon vs XAMPP vs WAMP

	Laragon	XAMPP	WAMP
Auto virtual hosts	✓ (automatic)	✗ (manual)	✗ (manual)
One-click apps	WordPress, Laravel, etc.	None	None
SSL/HTTPS	One click	Manual config	Manual config
PHP switching	Tray menu	Manual swap	Tray menu
Portable	Yes	Yes	No
Includes Node.js/Git	Yes	No	No
Nginx support	Switchable	No	No
Cross-platform	Windows only	Windows/Mac/Linux	Windows only

Laragon's main limitation: Windows only. If you need Mac or Linux support, XAMPP or Docker is your option.

Troubleshooting

*.test domains don't resolve: Laragon modifies the Windows hosts file automatically. If it stopped working, check C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts — you should see entries for your projects. Run Laragon as Administrator if auto-hosts stopped working.

Apache won't start: Same as any local server — port 80 is blocked. Check for Skype, IIS, or another web server. Laragon shows a helpful error message telling you which process is blocking the port.

MySQL won't start: Usually a leftover process. Click "Stop All," wait a moment, then "Start All." If persistent, delete the MySQL data/ibdata1 file (warning: this resets all databases).