Second this, FrankenPHP is on my list to check out someday and linda already forgot about it. Seems like a pretty decent option. I did however end up using a Docker image to run a small local project (using Caddy instead of nginx)
For me the journey kinda started by checking which was the most common way of installing PHP on the OS I'm using. If you're on MacOS then nothing beats homebrew.
The main thing is to try and use the latest stable version and then go from there. This should make life easier when it's time to update or when you start to deal with having to install/enable certain extensions.
I've tried setting up Docker but finally just set everything up in Debian so I can use VSCodium without issues.
In production (for a newbie) I would just go with something like a small 5-10$ VPS running Ubuntu with Plesk control panel which will help you setup and keep things updated (you'll have the option/warning of changing PHP version for each website in the control panel)
One issue I usually see with these services is related to not being able to send out email campaigns with "dynamic content" pulled from the client's DB or APIs (based on specific user/list segmentations)
Had cases where the exact same campaign or template had to be created multiple times due to the client wanting a slightly different intro/closing or even entirely different products and services promoted based on user/account preferences.
Sure, it could be managed with multiple campaigns/templates/lists but these duplications could easily be avoided by using slightly more advanced "segmentation logic".
This is usually the case where tracking/stats aren't that important but rather making sure the user receives relevant content.
