Skip to content
PluginStats

PHP Sniffer installs statistics

By wongjn · VS Code Marketplace · Linters

Uses PHP_CodeSniffer to format and lint PHP code.

View on VS Code Marketplace Fresh · Oct 19, 2026

PHP Sniffer has 237,028 recorded installs on VS Code Marketplace.

It ranks #1350 of 2,501 tracked VS Code Marketplace listings by installs.

It is rated 4.9 out of 5 from 15 ratings.

PluginStats has 4 daily observations since Oct 16, 2026; the latest is from Oct 19, 2026.

Installs
237,028
Official API · Oct 19, 2026
7-day growth
—
Insufficient history
30-day growth
—
Insufficient history
90-day growth
—
Insufficient history
Rank
#1350
Among tracked VS Code Marketplace listings

Rating: 4.87 / 5 from 15 ratings

About PHP Sniffer

PHP Sniffer

Uses PHP_CodeSniffer to format and lint (mainly) PHP code.

Features

• Runs phpcs to lint code. • Runs phpcbf to format fixable code validation errors, using the built-in commands "Format Document" or "Format Selection" (PHP only). • One may need to set this extension as the default language formatter for some languages. The following snippet is an example for PHP that can be added in a settings.json:

Requirements

• PHP • PHP_Codesniffer

Extension Settings

Quick Setup

settings.json:

And if your projects look like this:

Validation and formatting will work (see below for alternative filenames for .phpcs.xml).

In Depth

This extension contributes the following settings:

• phpSniffer.run: When to run phpcs (the linter). Can be onSave, onType or never. • phpSniffer.onTypeDelay: When phpSniffer.run is onType, this sets the amount of milliseconds the validator will wait after typing has stopped before it will run. The validator will also cancel an older run if the run is on the same file. • phpSniffer.extraFiles: Glob patterns of extra files to match that this extension should run on. Useful for standards that don't just validate PHP files. This extension will always run on PHP files — be sure to have your files.associations setting correctly setup for PHP files. • phpSniffer.executablesFolder: The folder where both phpcs and phpcbf executables are. Use this to specify a different executable if it is not in your global PATH, such as when using PHP_Codesniffer as a project-scoped dependency. Can be absolute, or relative to the workspace folder. • phpSniffer.autoDetect: Set to true for the extension to auto-detect phpSniffer.executablesFolder as ./vendor/bin/ per workspace folder (applies only if phpSniffer.executablesFolder is empty). • phpSniffer.standard: The standards to check against. This is passed to the phpcbf and phpcs executables as the value for --standard. Can be absolute, or relative to the workspace folder. If not set, PHP_CodeSniffer will attempt to find a file to use, at the root of the currently open file's workspace folder in the following order: 1. .phpcs.xml 2. phpcs.xml 3. .phpcs.xml.dist 4. phpcs.xml.dist • phpSniffer.snippetExcludeSniffs: Sniffs to exclude when formatting a PHP code snippet (such as when _formatting on paste_ or on the command format on selection). This is passed to the phpcbf command as the value for --exclude when not formatting a whole file. • phpSniffer.disableWhenDebugging: Disable sniffing when any debug session is active.

Known Issues

Windows Hanging PHP Process

When phpcs encounters a malformed array declaration, it can sometimes hang from an error. This is exacerbated by the fact that we do not have access to the spawned php process in the extension code and cannot kill php.exe directly. This causes many non-exiting PHP processes on Windows machines which can really slow down the machine. The fix for this is to update squizlabs/PHP_Codesniffer in use to >=3.4.2.

Description from the VS Code Marketplace listing.

  • linters
  • php
  • phpcbf
  • phpcs

Where PHP Sniffer sits in the listing

Each band is one page of 20. Installs on a log scale. Placement is projected from installs, so it can differ from the marketplace's own sort order. Hover a dot to see the listing.

All VS Code Marketplace2,501 listings · 126 pages · page 68, #10 (overall #1350)
All VS Code Marketplace: every listing in installs order
PNG SVG
Linters252 listings · 13 pages · page 9, #4 (overall #164)
Linters: every listing in installs order
PNG SVG
Formatters287 listings · 15 pages · page 8, #20 (overall #160)
Formatters: every listing in installs order
PNG SVG

Charts

Images: 30d · 1y · all time · 1600×900 dark

Adoption over time

PHP Sniffer installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 237,028 installs as of Oct 19, 2026.PHP SnifferInstalls on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days237,028installs237K237K237K237K237K237K237KJul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19installsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
PHP Sniffer installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 237,028 installs as of Oct 19, 2026.
PNG SVG

7/30/90-day growth

PHP Sniffer installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.PHP SnifferInstalls growth on VS Code Marketplace237,028installs now7-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history30-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history90-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient historyGrowth vs. nearest observation to each baseline date · Updated Oct 19, 2026pluginstats.com
PHP Sniffer installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.
PNG SVG

Ranking history

PHP Sniffer VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #1350 (by installs).PHP SnifferVS Code Marketplace ranking · by installs · Last 90 days#1350current rank#1347#1348#1349#1350#1351#1352Jul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19rankOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct 19, 2026pluginstats.com
PHP Sniffer VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #1350 (by installs).
PNG SVG

Ratings over time

PHP Sniffer ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 15 ratings as of Oct 19, 2026.PHP SnifferRatings on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days15ratings13.51414.51515.51616.5Jul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19ratingsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
PHP Sniffer ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 15 ratings as of Oct 19, 2026.
PNG SVG

Filled points are observed values; hollow points come from Internet Archive snapshots of the listing page. Dashed segments span periods with no observations — values between points are not interpolated.

Recent observations

Full history (4)
Recent installs observations for PHP Sniffer
Date (UTC)InstallsChange vs. previous
237,028+12
237,016+10
237,006+27
236,979—

Similar VS Code Marketplace Linters plugins

Data source

Install counts, average rating, and rating counts come from the public Visual Studio Marketplace gallery API. Installs are cumulative and exclude updates.

Listing: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=wongjn.php-sniffer. First seen Oct 16, 2026; last successful collection Oct 19, 2026. See the methodology.