MAMP vs Laravel Herd: which fits your Mac?

MAMP has been around since the days when a local stack meant Apache, MySQL and PHP in one folder. The free MAMP and the paid MAMP PRO are still actively developed: version 7.4.3 shipped in June 2026 with PHP up to 8.5. It supports Apache or Nginx, and languages beyond PHP.

Laravel Herd is newer, made by the Laravel team, and built around nginx, *.test domains and a fast install. It bundles pre-compiled PHP, nginx, dnsmasq and Node.js, so it doesn't need Homebrew. It runs on macOS and Windows.

Neither is "better" across the board. Which one you want depends on your web server, your projects and how you feel about subscriptions.

This is often the deciding factor. MAMP lets you choose Apache or Nginx. If your projects rely on .htaccess files - most older PHP apps and plenty of WordPress sites do - Apache runs them unchanged, the same way many shared hosts do.

Herd uses nginx. Laravel, Symfony and most modern frameworks route everything through a front controller and don't care, but .htaccess rules are ignored by nginx, so Apache-era projects can need their rewrites reworked.

MAMP also supports Python, Perl and Ruby. Herd is PHP-focused, with Node.js bundled for front-end builds.

Herd ships PHP 8.5 by default and installs older versions with herd php:install 8.3; the homepage lists 7.4 to 8.5. You pin a site to a version in the Site Manager or with herd isolate 8.3, after which herd php and herd composer use that version.

MAMP PRO lets you "assign each of your websites its own PHP version". The 7.4.3 release bundles PHP 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5.

Both handle the common case of running an older client site next to a new build. See multiple PHP versions on a Mac for how this works under the hood.

MAMP PRO includes MySQL 8 and MySQL 5.7, with a tool to copy 5.7 databases to 8, plus snapshots and transfer to or from a live server. Mail is caught by Mailhog.

Herd's free tier has no database. Herd Pro adds services - MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Laravel Reverb, Typesense, Meilisearch, MinIO and RustFS - and you can run several instances. Pro also adds a mail service with a separate inbox per app, a dumps window, a log viewer and automatic Xdebug detection.

If you want Herd's free tier plus a database, you'll need another tool for MySQL. If you need PostgreSQL, Redis or a search engine alongside PHP, Herd Pro covers more of that than MAMP PRO does.

MAMP is free. MAMP PRO 7 costs $99 / €99 net (VAT extra). The licence itself is valid indefinitely and includes a year of updates; after that, updates are an auto-renewing yearly subscription at the same price, which you can cancel. One user can install it on three computers, running one at a time. There's a 14-day trial and a 14-day refund window. Moving from PRO 6 to PRO 7 was a paid upgrade.

Herd has a free tier (PHP, nginx, DNS, Node.js, Forge integration). Herd Pro is $99 for a one-year licence that activates on two devices, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you don't renew, Herd downgrades to the free version. Herd Teams is $299 for ten Pro licences.

So both are about $99 a year if you want ongoing updates. The difference is what happens when you stop paying: MAMP PRO keeps working at the version you have; Herd drops back to its free feature set.

Both now ship an MCP server so AI tools can work with your local sites.

MAMP PRO 7.4.3 connects to Claude for Desktop (macOS 12+). You opt in per site, and the AI can read, create, modify and delete files, run SQL against MySQL and run WP-CLI. MAMP warns that deletions can't be undone. Claude Desktop is the only documented client.

Herd's MCP server is documented for Claude Code, Cursor, Junie and Windsurf. It can manage services and PHP versions, list sites, secure sites, isolate PHP versions, fetch the last Forge deployment and pull debug data. Herd's docs don't say whether it needs Pro, though several of its tools use Pro features.

More on this in AI-assisted PHP development.

MAMP PRO is the better fit if

• Your projects depend on Apache and .htaccess.
• You mostly build WordPress or older PHP sites and want snapshots and live-server transfer built in.
• You'd rather own a working version than rent one.
• You also need Python, Perl or Ruby locally.

Laravel Herd is the better fit if

• You work mainly in Laravel or other modern frameworks on nginx.
• You want a quick install with a genuinely useful free tier.
• You need PostgreSQL, Redis, Meilisearch or similar alongside PHP, and are happy to pay yearly for Pro.
• You also develop on Windows, or deploy with Laravel Forge.

If neither quite fits, Bothy is what I built for my own work: a native Mac app on Caddy, with Homebrew PHP and MySQL/MariaDB, .htaccess rewrites translated into the site's config, a CLI and an MCP server, for a one-off $69. It needs Homebrew and macOS macOS 14 or later, has no free trial and is Mac-only. The detailed comparisons are on the MAMP alternative and Laravel Herd alternative pages.