Craft Cloud alternative for Craft CMS hosting
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Craft hosting, untangled.
fortrabbit is a Craft Cloud alternative — independent Craft CMS hosting with full SSH and SFTP access, pay-after-use pricing, and human support.
Why pick fortrabbit as an independent Craft Cloud alternative?
fortrabbit is the independent Craft Cloud alternative. Craft Cloud is the official hosting platform by Pixel & Tonic, the makers of Craft CMS — launched in 2024, serverless, with the Craft license bundled into the plan. Buying CMS and hosting from the same vendor is convenient, but it concentrates everything in one place: one roadmap, one pricing model, one company your site depends on.
fortrabbit has hosted Craft CMS since the early days of the CMS — long before Craft Cloud existed. You get classic PHP hosting with full SSH and SFTP access, git-push deployments with Composer builds, and a free Craft plugin that automates setup checks, database syncs, and deploys. Apps run in EU (Dublin) or US (North Virginia) data centers. Pricing is per component and billed in arrears — a small Craft site starts around €5 a month, and the trial doesn't require a credit card.
Start a free trial — no credit card# Frequently asked
Is fortrabbit cheaper than Craft Cloud?For most sites
For most sites - Craft Cloud starts at $120 a month per project — the Craft Team license is bundled in, whether the site needs it or not. On fortrabbit, a small Craft site with a MySQL component starts around €5 a month, a production site around €30, and the Craft license is a separate purchase from Pixel & Tonic (Craft Solo is free). Billing is in arrears: use first, pay at the end of the month, cancel any time.
#Does fortrabbit offer SSH and SFTP for Craft CMS?Yes
Yes - Full SSH and SFTP access on every plan. Run Craft console commands directly on the host, tunnel into the database, rsync files, read logs. Craft Cloud's serverless architecture has a read-only filesystem and no SSH or SFTP; everything goes through their console and deploy pipeline.
#Do I need my own Craft license on fortrabbit?Yes
Yes - Craft Cloud bundles the license into its plans; on fortrabbit you bring your own. Craft Solo is free, Craft Team is $279 and Craft Pro $399 one-time, each with $99 a year for updates after the first year — billed by Pixel & Tonic, not by us. Two vendors, two bills, but also two independent decisions.
#How well does fortrabbit run Craft CMS compared to Craft Cloud?Very well
Very well - fortrabbit has hosted Craft CMS since the early days of the CMS, long before Craft Cloud launched in 2024. Deploys run via git push with Composer in the build, a free Craft plugin automates setup checks, database syncs, and deploys, and assets live in persistent storage. Craft Cloud is more deeply integrated — CDN image transforms, zero-config queues — at the price of a serverless architecture without direct server access.
#Can a Craft site be moved from Craft Cloud without a migration service?Yes
Yes - Migration is self-service for developers, with docs and personal support along the way, but there is no done-for-you migration service. Export the database, import it via the SSH tunnel, point the Craft filesystem at persistent storage, and connect the git repo for push-to-deploy.
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