INDEX · COMPARE
WP Shift vs the alternatives
There are great tools out there — Forge, Ploi, Kinsta, WP Engine. Here's an honest, feature-by-feature look at where WP Shift fits.
PROVIDERS
05
DigitalOcean · Vultr · Hetzner · Linode · AWS
SETUP
~3 min
From zero to live WordPress.
TRIAL
7 days
No credit card required.
PRICING FROM
€5.99/mo
Server costs separate.
§ 01 · POSITIONING
Where each tool wins
The right answer depends on what you're building. Here's the short version.
REF · WPS-01
WP Shift
For WordPress operators
Pick WP Shift if WordPress is the centre of your work. You want to bring your own cloud, but you don't want to learn the operations stack — or you want a tool a non-developer teammate can also use.
REF · FRG-01
Forge / Ploi
For Laravel & PHP devs
Pick Forge or Ploi if you ship Laravel apps, custom PHP, or non-WordPress workloads. They're excellent generic provisioners — you just bring the WordPress know-how yourself.
REF · MNG-01
Kinsta / WP Engine
For zero-ops shops
Pick a managed host if you'd rather not see a server at all and you're happy paying a premium per site. WP Shift sits between this and a raw VPS — control without sysadmin.
§ 02 · MATRIX
Every feature, side by side
Updated periodically based on each vendor's public docs. Spot something out of date? Email hello@wpshift.io.
| FEATURE | ▸ WP SHIFT | FORGE | PLOI | KINSTA / WP ENGINE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| § 02.01 · Built for WordPress | ||||
| Purpose-built for WordPress | YES | — | — | YES |
| One-click WordPress site creation | YES | — | Beta | YES |
| Plugin & theme update manager | YES | — | — | Limited |
| wp-config editor | YES | — | — | Limited |
| WP-CLI per site | YES | Manual | Manual | YES |
| § 02.02 · Servers & infrastructure | ||||
| Bring-your-own cloud (DO, Vultr, Hetzner, …) | YES | YES | YES | — |
| Pricing independent of server size | YES | YES | YES | — |
| Nginx + PHP + MySQL + Redis preconfigured | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Per-site PHP-FPM pools | YES | Manual | Manual | YES |
| Server metrics & logs in dashboard | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| § 02.03 · Domains, email, DNS | ||||
| DNS management in dashboard | YES | — | — | Limited |
| Mailbox creation per domain | YES | — | — | — |
| SPF / DKIM / DMARC configured for you | YES | — | — | Limited |
| Free SSL on every domain | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| § 02.04 · Operations & teams | ||||
| Automated daily backups | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| One-click restore | YES | Manual | Manual | YES |
| Team workspaces with roles | YES | YES | YES | Limited |
| GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket deploys | YES | YES | YES | Limited |
| Designed for non-developers | YES | — | — | YES |
§ 03 · HONEST TAKE
When not to choose WP Shift
We'd rather you pick the right tool than the wrong one. Here's when we'd point you elsewhere.
CASE-01
You ship non-WordPress apps
If your stack is Laravel, Symfony, Node, or anything else — Forge or Ploi will fit better. We're focused on going deep on WordPress, not on covering every framework.
CASE-02
You want zero-ops, premium support
Kinsta and WP Engine charge more, but they own the entire stack including the metal. If "I don't want to think about a server" is the brief, that's the right pick.
CASE-03
You need enterprise SLAs
We don't sell uptime SLAs — your server uptime is your cloud provider's responsibility. If you need 99.99% with penalties, talk to a managed host.
CASE-04
You only manage one site, ever
For a single small site, a basic shared host is cheaper. WP Shift starts paying off the moment you run two or more sites or care about real performance.
§ 04READY · TO · COMPARE
Try WP Shift free for 7 days
Spin up a server, migrate a real site, and see if it fits. No credit card required.
TRIAL
7 days
CARD
none
SETUP
~3 min
CANCEL
anytime