A free Laravel Herd alternative for Windows
Herd is fast and polished, but on its free tier you get PHP and SQLite — managing MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Redis and the mail catcher need Herd Pro (paid). Dunebox includes every database, the Mailpit mail catcher and the web tools for free, in one portable folder.
Dunebox vs Herd
Side by side
| Feature | Dunebox | Herd |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Freefreeware | Free+ Pro (paid) |
| Platform | Windows | macOS + Windows |
| PHP versions serving at the same time | ✓5.6–8.5 | ✓per site |
| Databases managed, free | ✓MySQL ×3, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis | Profree: SQLite |
| Mail catcher built in (Mailpit) | ✓ | Pro |
| phpMyAdmin / Redis UI built in | ✓both | — |
Local .test + trusted HTTPS |
✓ | ✓ |
| Optional wildcard local DNS — no hosts-file edits | ✓ | — |
| Fully portable — no installer, no service | ✓ | — |
| Claude (Code / Desktop) integration | ✓ | — |
Why developers choose Dunebox: the databases, the mail catcher and the web admin tools are all free (no Pro tier), it's fully portable, and it adds an optional wildcard DNS and Claude integration. Herd still wins on the official Laravel brand and native polish. Pricing and tiers change over time — see the full comparison.
See also: Dunebox vs Laragon · Dunebox vs XAMPP
The full stack, free.
On Windows.
Download a zip, extract it anywhere, open it once — web server, every PHP version, databases and tools configure themselves. No installer, no Windows service, no Pro tier.
Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) · ~2–3 GB · internet on first launch