Laradock vs Laravel Valet

What is Laravel Valet?

Laravel Valet is a minimal, official Laravel tool for macOS that configures Nginx and DnsMasq to run natively in the background on your Mac, then proxies requests for any project folder you "park" or "link" to a .test domain. There is no virtual machine and no container: everything runs directly on your OS, using roughly 7MB of RAM.

It predates (and still underlies parts of) Laravel Herd, which is a friendlier GUI wrapper around the same idea. This page compares Valet's native, command-line-only approach to Laradock's containerized one.

Valet is the leanest possible native option: no GUI, no virtual machine, just Nginx and DnsMasq running quietly in the background. Laradock is the leanest possible containerized option: no host installs at all, everything disposable. Both value minimalism; they just draw the line in different places.

TL;DR: pick Valet if you are on macOS, want the absolute lightest native footprint, and are comfortable installing services with Homebrew. Pick Laradock if you want Linux/Windows support, production-like containers, or services beyond what Homebrew conveniently offers.

Setting up a Laravel app with Valet

composer global require laravel/valet
valet install
cd ~/Sites
valet park
laravel new my-app

Any project inside a "parked" directory is instantly served at http://my-app.test; a single project elsewhere can be exposed with valet link my-app instead. Need a database? Valet does not include one, install MySQL or PostgreSQL yourself via Homebrew, or add them through Herd Pro, DBngin, or a container.

Switch PHP version per site:

valet use [email protected]
# or drop a .valetphprc file in the project containing "8.3"

The same thing with Laradock

cd my-app
git clone https://github.com/laradock/laradock.git
cd laradock && cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d nginx mysql redis workspace
docker compose exec workspace bash

Your site answers at http://localhost; MySQL and Redis are one word in the up command instead of a separate Homebrew install, and 100+ other services (search, queues, local LLMs) are equally one command away. docker compose down leaves nothing behind, whereas Valet's native services stay installed until you remove them by hand.

Side by side

	Laravel Valet	Laradock
Platform	macOS only	Linux, macOS, Windows
Runs as	Native Nginx + DnsMasq	Docker containers
Install	Composer + Homebrew	Nothing (git clone; only Docker itself)
Databases, Redis, etc.	Not included; install separately	100+ services, one command each
Domains	Automatic .test via park/link	Manual, or wire Caddy/Traefik
PHP versions	Per site (valet use, .valetphprc)	Per project (.env)
Resource use	~7MB RAM, always-on background services	Only while containers are running
Production parity	None (native macOS)	High (Linux containers)
GUI	None (CLI only); Herd offers one	None (CLI only)

Choose Valet if...

• You are on macOS and want the smallest possible native footprint with a .test domain out of the box.
• You are comfortable adding databases and other services yourself via Homebrew.
• You do not need Linux or Windows support, or production-like containers.

Choose Laradock if...

• You need Linux or Windows support; Valet is macOS-only (the community Valet Linux fork exists but is not official).
• You want databases, caches, and 100+ other services pre-wired instead of installed by hand.
• You want your local stack to behave like a Linux production server.

Already on Valet? Migrating takes minutes

1. Export your database (installed via Homebrew alongside Valet): mysqldump -h 127.0.0.1 -u root my_db > backup.sql
2. Stop Valet's services so port 80 frees up: valet stop (or composer global remove laravel/valet once you're confident).
3. Add Laradock next to your code: git clone https://github.com/laradock/laradock.git && cd laradock && cp .env.example .env
4. Start your stack: docker compose up -d nginx mysql redis workspace
5. Import the database: docker compose exec -T mysql mysql -uroot -proot default < ../backup.sql
6. Update your app's .env: DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 becomes DB_HOST=mysql; credentials in mysql/defaults.env.
7. Your site now answers at http://localhost instead of my-app.test (or wire an nginx site config to keep a custom domain).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Laravel Valet free?

Yes, Valet is free and open-source, maintained by the Laravel team as part of the Laravel ecosystem.

Does Valet work on Windows or Linux?

Officially, no, Valet is macOS-only. A community-maintained fork, Valet Linux, brings similar functionality to Linux, but it is not part of the official Laravel project.

Does Valet include a database?

No. Valet only handles PHP and the web server; you install MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, or anything else separately, typically via Homebrew.

What is the difference between Valet and Herd?

Laravel Herd builds on the same native idea as Valet but adds a menu-bar GUI, easier PHP version switching, and (in the paid Pro tier) managed databases, Xdebug, and mail capture. Valet stays a lean, free, CLI-only tool.

Can I run multiple PHP versions with Valet?

Yes, per site: use valet use [email protected] inside a project, or drop a .valetphprc file containing the version number so Valet picks it automatically.

See the full landscape, including DDEV, Sail, Lando and XAMPP: Laradock vs Others. Ready to try it? Getting Started takes about five minutes.