Not just a local server environment: ServBay is an essential development tool

ServBay is an indispensable tool for developers, offering the fastest local server environment. No configuration and no coding are needed, helping developers and teams efficiently deploy development environments, reduce maintenance costs, and greatly improve the efficiency of developers and development teams.

Not just a local server environment: ServBay is an essential development tool

What ServBay can do for you

Easy to Use

Easy to Use

Time is money. ServBay allows developers to use it out of the box, requiring no deployment of code or relearning, truly achieving zero code and zero configuration, thus saving a lot of time. This allows developers to focus on project development itself, rather than wasting time on environment setup.

Born for Modern Teams

Born for Modern Teams

Compared to similar software, ServBay stays up to date, maintaining a high frequency of updates to ensure that developers can keep up with the latest technologies. ServBay offers a rich array of packages, whether in programming languages like PHP, Node.js, and Python, or web servers and databases like Caddy, Nginx, and Apache, even Ollama. Developers can freely choose the versions they want, greatly enhancing usability.

Unified Development Environment

Unified Development Environment

Maintaining consistency in team development environments is challenging for team managers. ServBay Team’s Unified Configuration helps development teams align their environments quickly, promoting real-time sharing and collaboration on work outcomes, especially beneficial for agile development teams that require high levels of collaboration, making project management and maintenance across the entire team much simpler and more efficient.

Sounds great, but I want to know more

ServBay has a Complete Development Ecosystem

As a cornerstone for developers, ServBay possesses a complete development ecosystem. Whether it’s development languages like Node.js, Python, web servers like Apache, Caddy, Nginx, or databases like MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, users can use them freely without any restrictions. Different versions can coexist, supporting various custom configurations, providing developers with more choices.
ServBay has a Complete Development Ecosystem
Rich Features Without Restrictions

Rich Features Without Restrictions

Laravel Herd can only use limited features; if users want database functionalities, they must purchase the Laravel Herd Pro. In contrast, ServBay provides rich features without requiring payment, allowing developers to choose the software they need freely.

No Learning Curve, Beginner Friendly

All features of ServBay can be used immediately without spending time and effort mastering various functionalities and concepts. Users only need a simple click, taking just seconds, to set up various software, enabling even beginners to complete complex feature configurations through the graphical interface.
No Learning Curve, Beginner Friendly

Comparison of ServBay with Herd

Function
ServBay
Laravel Herd
PHP 5.6 ~ PHP 8.5
Node.js 12 ~ Node.js 23
Python Support
Databases (SQL & NoSQL) Paid
PKI System (SSL Certificate)
Built-in DNS Server Paid
Built-in Mail Server Paid Paid
LLM (Ollama)
Price Free/$59 Free/$99

We have served countless excellent developers

"ServBay simplifies our local development process. How did we manage to go years without it? ServBay Pro is definitely worth every penny."

ServBay User: Bean Codes, Coder of stuff
Bean Codes @ Backend Developer

"ServBay Pro makes local development so simple that I no longer need to worry about the tedious setups. I’m never going back."

ServBay User: Shuaeb Panchal, LuckyCat CEO
Shuaeb Panchal @ SQL Optimization Expert

"Absolutely fantastic! I've completely abandoned Herd; ServBay is just so easy to use."

ServBay User: Chris Wang, Student
Chris Wang @ CTO of NeuxGen.AI

"Instead of waiting for Brew to download half the internet to set up PHP, ServBay can do it in just a few seconds."

ServBay User: Kumar, Frontend Developer
Kumar @ Senior PHP Developer

"We actually use ServBay to kickstart our products. It is crucial to unify the entire team's environment while developing projects."

ServBay User: Michael Hanson, Student
Michael Hanson @ Web Developer

"Using ServBay saves our team about 30 hours a week, time that was previously spent on maintaining environments or building images. Now they can focus on creating impactful projects."

ServBay User: Saheed Kolawole, IT Project Manager
Saheed Kolawole @ Senior Software Engineer

Detailed feature comparison between ServBay and Herd

Features\Products
ServBay
ServBay Pro
Laravel Herd
Laravel Herd Pro
Pricing
Pricing
Free
$59.00 ($29 for Edu)
Free
$99
Free Trial
/
7 days
/
Authorize Device
/
2
/
1
Functions
macOS Support
Native macOS App
Swift + SwiftUI
Swift + SwiftUI
Swift + PHP + Valet
Swift + PHP + Valet
Install Package Size
50 MB
50 MB
121 MB
121 MB
Upgradeable Package
Security Updates
/
/
Operating System
Non-intrusive Installation
Launch at Login
Start with System
CLI Support
GUI Interface
System Resource Monitoring Panel
Quick Control/Menu Bar
Service Control Panel
Multilingual
Easy-to-Use Application
Configurable via GUI
❗️ Limited
Easy Backup
Website Group
Web Servers
Apache
NGINX
Caddy
Hosts / Websites
Configurable via GUI
Multiple Hosts
Maximum Number of Supported Hosts
5
Unlimited
1
Unlimited
Custom Domains
Custom Ports
Custom SSL Certificates
Custom TLD Suffixes
Multiple Domains/Aliases
Selectable PHP Version
URL Rewrite (Pseudo-static)
CORS Support
Static Website Support
Reverse Proxy
Docker/Node.js Proxy
Redirection (301/302)
SSL Support
PKI
ACME Certificates
ACME Certificate Auto-Renewal
ACME - Let's Encrypt
ACME - ZeroSSL
ACME - Google Trust Services
Self-Signed SSL
ServBay Private CA
Number of Private CA Certificates
10
Unlimited
ServBay Public CA
Number of Public CA Certificates
-
20
Domain Certificates
S/MIME Email Signature Certificates
Code Signing Certificates
Document Signing Certificates
Programming Languages
PHP Support
Multiple PHP Versions
5.6 - 8.5
5.6 - 8.5
7.4/8.0/8.1/8.2/8.3
7.4/8.0/8.1/8.2/8.3
PHP 8.4
PHP 8.5
Multiple PHP Instances
Instantly Switch PHP Versions
Node.js Support
Node.js 22
Node.js 23
Multiple Node.js Versions
12 - 23
12 - 23
16/18/20/21
16/18/20/21
Instantly Switch Node.js Versions
Python Support
Python 2.x
Python 3.x
Multiple Python Versions
2.7 & 3.5 - 3.14
2.7 & 3.5 - 3.14
/
/
Instantly Switch Python Versions
Databases
MySQL Support
Multiple MySQL Versions
5.1 - 9.1
5.1 - 9.1
Multiple MySQL Instances
Instantly Switch MySQL Versions
MariaDB Support
Multiple MariaDB Versions
10.4 - 11.8
10.4 - 11.8
Multiple MariaDB Instances
Instantly Switch MariaDB Versions
PostgreSQL Support
Multiple PostgreSQL Versions
10 - 17
10 - 17
Multiple PostgreSQL Instances
Instantly Switch PostgreSQL Versions
MongoDB Support
Multiple MongoDB Versions
5.0 - 8.0
5.0 - 8.0
Multiple MongoDB Instances
Instantly Switch MongoDB Versions
Redis Support
Memcached Support
SQLite 3
AI
Ollama
Mail Server
Built-in Mail Server
SSL/TLS
STARTTLS
SMTP
POP3
Mail Relay
Webhook
SpamAssassin
DNS
Built-in DNS Server
*.test
*.test
Custom Domains
5
unlimited
Hosts File Management GUI
Host Domain Resolution via /etc/hosts
Host Domain Resolution via Local Built-in DNS Server
*.test
*.test
Tunnels/Reverse Proxy
Cloudflared
frpc
Ngrok
Pinggy.io
Tools
phpMyAdmin
Adminer
SVN (Subversion)
OpenSSL
Composer
cURL
npm
pnpm
yarn
Customization
Project Level Customization
PHP Settings
PHP FPM Settings
PHP Extension Settings
Node.js Settings
Python Settings
Redis Settings
Memcached Settings
MySQL Settings
MariaDB Settings
PostgreSQL Settings
MongoDB Settings
E-Mail Server Settings
Ollama Settings
Development Tools
Development Library
Recompile Support
Additional PHP Extensions Compile
Support
Troubleshooting Tools
Documentation
Community
Email
Paid Support
Discord
Telegram
WhatsApp
Line
WeChat Group

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have more questions, please visit the Help Center.
What is ServBay and why should I use it?

ServBay provides you with a one-stop local web development environment, serving as a powerful foundation for development. It includes everything you need, such as web servers, databases, programming languages, mail servers, and queue services. Just add development IDEs like vscode, and developers can start coding immediately without any other operations.

Is there a free version of ServBay?

ServBay has a free version. For most users, the free version can meet their daily development needs. For some experienced developers or development teams, our professional version is available for deeper functionality configurations. For more details, please refer to our pricing page.

Should I use ServBay or Laravel Herd?

The free version of Laravel Herd only allows basic web services with version limitations; to unlock other services like databases, users need to pay. In contrast, ServBay provides fully functional services for free, while its rich array of packages offers developers maximum flexibility. The free version of ServBay can fully replace the paid Laravel Herd Pro.

Does ServBay support custom domain names?

Absolutely! ServBay allows support for custom domain names and free SSL certificates, ensuring the security and professionalism of the development environment. Compared to that, Laravel Herd has very limited support, only allowing *.test domain names.

I’m a newbie, is ServBay easy to use?

There’s no need to worry at all. ServBay offers a powerful GUI, allowing developers to stack the modules they need together like building with LEGO, achieving zero configuration and zero code right out of the box. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer, setting up the services you need can be done easily.

Is ServBay suitable for team usage?

Of course! The design of ServBay aims to help teams create a consistent and easy-to-maintain development environment. With the Unified Configuration feature from ServBay, team managers can control and deploy the environment configurations with one click, thereby unifying the entire team's development environment and reducing differences in the team’s development environment and code.

The Next Generation Development Tool

1 app, 2 clicks, and 3 minutes are all you need to set up your web development environment. No need to compile and install dependencies, non-intrusive to the system. Includes various versions of programming languages, databases, domain names, SSL certificates, email servers, and reverse proxies.