Some FTP clients, such as Transmit, offer an option to simulate the synchronisation between a local and a remote directory. Basically what it means is, that you get a list of files that would be changed, instead of actually moving the files.
I was hoping to find such an option in PhpStorm's Remote Host Plugin, but I searched for it to no avail. Did I overlook something, or does this not exist (yet)?
PHPStorm can sync with the deployed version if the remote host has been configured. It shows the difference and you can select what to do with each file. See PHPStorm Documentation