# Laravel Herd PRO reviews

Hey guys,

Recently, I just bought [Herd PRO](https://herd.laravel.com/) (a yearly subscription). I’ve been using the basic Herd since the first release.

So, my latest work required interaction with **S3 storage**, there are several ways to achieve that in the local env:

* Use Cloud (S3-compatible e.g. DigitalOcean, Vultr or use AWS’s S3 directly)
    
* [MinIO](https://min.io/): S3-compatible storage, offer a self-hosted version
    
    * I pick this
        

MinIO can be downloaded & run in several ways: Docker, Brew, etc.

I found out that **Herd is supporting MinIO** out-of-the-box (for the PRO version), that was the time I made the purchase decision).

So let’s check it out, to see the PRO features of Herd PRO.

## Herd PRO features

### Services

I love this, helps us to create and manage a lot of services/dependencies:

* Database: MySQL, PgSQL, MongoDB
    
* Cache: Redis
    
* Queue: Redis
    
* Broadcasting: Reverb
    
* Search: MeiliSearch, Typesense
    
* Storage: MinIO
    

For instance, I created a MinIO instance, Herd gave me the instructions & ENVs (all I needed to do was copy & paste)

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1726635415792/28c89e7f-8a00-4260-b4d9-c9a4d3e19552.png align="center")

### Mail

There are plenty of ways to test email locally, but now it’s getting way easier with Herd.

Typically, I’d use Mailtrap, but now, I’ll stick with Herd’s Mail.

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1726635537945/d13f189d-68e3-4e97-b3e3-5f1270b3a942.png align="center")

### Dumps

`Dumps` is amazing, unlike `ray` , it requires us to install a dependency (or dev-dependency), `dumps` doesn’t require additional dependencies.

We can use either `dump` or `dd` function to write the logs. It also writes the DB queries & Application Logs (`logger`).

### Debugger

If you like to debug using breakpoint, Herd PRO provides an easy integration, glued between PHPStorm and XDebug.

Honestly, I’m not a fan of this so I won’t give you guys any reviews here.

## Overall Reviews

I really like Herd PRO, my overall local development has been optimized a bit:

* PHP (versions, update, etc) => Herd PRO
    
* Database => Herd PRO (goodbye DBNgin 🥲)
    
    * Optimized part here
        
* Cache => Herd PRO
    
* External services: Herd PRO
    

My overall source: **4.5/5.**

To get 5/5, Herd PRO should be able to provide us these:

* Ability to install extra PHP extensions. At the moment, [**installing a specific extension**](https://herd.laravel.com/docs/1/advanced-usage/php-extensions#installing-php-extensions) is not so cool, way too much hassle.
    
    * If somehow `brew` bumps the extension’s version, we have to update the `php.ini` again, I don’t like this.
        
* Ability to run Laravel Queue Worker
    
* Ability to set up Sites with custom domains or ports.
    

## Conclusion

Well, as a person who loves to keep my local environment as minimal as possible, I do really love Laravel Herd. I can set up everything under the same Herd application.

If your applications are going to use more than a normal database, I’d recommend using Herd PRO. If not, let’s just stick with Herd Basic & DBNgin (Free).

Thanks for reading!