Until recently, these were your main options for developing WordPress locally (looking for an in-depth review? Check out our 4 Best Local WordPress Development Environments)- none of them really seem fantastic, none of them really feel like the modern tool that forms the basis of a modern web developer’s stack.
#Local by flywheel addons install
DesktopServer is kind of a nice option, it takes away the hassle of having to install WordPress yourself, but it also feels a bit basic, like it’s hiding just a bit too much from you for the sake of being simple. Vagrant is a bit like voodoo and while it’s easy enough to set up a new VVV install, it’s not as easy as creating a new host in MAMP. I would even venture to say that if you’ve been developing WordPress sites on a Mac for five years or more, you have almost definitely used MAMP for a good chunk of that time.You likely still use it because it works well enough and there hasn’t been much else out there to entice you away. If you’ve been developing WordPress sites for more than just a couple of years, you’ve no doubt heard of MAMP or possibly WAMP if you swing that way.
I have updated the post’s text and most of the code to reflect this change. Update: This post was originally written about Pressmatic before the app was purchased by Flywheel and had its name changed to “Local”.