Yes, Apache and PHP already come by default with a Mac OS X installation, and you can download an installer for MySQL on their website.
For a configuration guide, have a look at this related answer:
How to turn Mac OS X Lion into a web server?
The linked answer also applies to Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Another popular (and imo superior) way of running development environments is running a Linux server with your preferred configuration in a VirtualBox virtual machine. Vagrant makes this workflow even easier. This is a very flexible solution, as you can easily add custom extensions and more specifically for one project, without messing with one centralized install.
OK, so I found the culprit.
It is amazing that no error message was visible in console or in the error logs, but I found a site which helped me a lot.
http://blog.joshdick.net/2012/07/28/troubleshooting_apache_in_os_x_10.8_mountain_lion.html
In that post, the author, Josh, suggested restarting apache using the following command:
sudo bash -x /usr/sbin/apachectl -k start
This command provides some error information, and overcomes the frustrating silent termination of Apache.
When I issued the command, it gave me the following output:
$ sudo bash -x /usr/sbin/apachectl -k start
+ ARGV='-k start'
+ HTTPD=/usr/sbin/httpd
+ test -f /usr/sbin/envvars
+ . /usr/sbin/envvars
++ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:
++ export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
+ LYNX='lynx -dump'
+ STATUSURL=http://localhost:80/server-status
+ ULIMIT_MAX_FILES=
+ LAUNCHCTL=/bin/launchctl
+ LAUNCHD_JOB=/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist
+ '[' x '!=' x ']'
+ ERROR=0
+ '[' 'x-k start' = x ']'
+ case $ARGV in
+ /usr/sbin/httpd -k start
httpd: Syntax error on line 118 of /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf: Cannot load /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.11/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so into server: dlopen(/usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.11/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so, 10): Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/zlib/lib/libz.so.1.2.7\n Referenced from: /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.11/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so\n Reason: image not found
+ ERROR=1
+ exit 1
At the end of that snippet, you can see that it is trying and failing to load /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.11/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
Well, when I upgraded my homebrew installs, php5 was upgraded to 5.4.15, so that path was no longer valid. (Actually, the path was valid, since php was now at 5.4.15, and the path pointed to the older 5.4.11 lib, apache was terminating.
Modifying that line in https.conf solved the issue.
Best Answer
All of these options have a GUI which is helpful. You could install Apache/MySQL/PHP with Homebrew or MacPorts, but you would be managing all of the settings manually. While this is the best way to get all of the options for free, this increases the difficulty curve.
As another option, I have Abyss Web Server running on my machine to act as a local dev server. The free version allows for 1 site though, there are more features with the paid version.
As with any of these options, you will have to pay for the extra features when using a GUI.
I looked into this years ago when Apple Server abandoned web services. I hope you find something that will work for you.