Laravel Forge is server management software, a software service and not a hosting service. It sets up and manages servers on providers such as DigitalOcean, Hetzner or AWS, and with Laravel VPS it now rents the server too. Forge has become very good: Nginx, PHP and MySQL in minutes, zero-downtime deploys, Ubuntu security updates every week.

Why not Laravel Forge?

The server is still yours. Forge does not reboot it after a kernel patch and does not upgrade PHP or MySQL. When the Ubuntu release reaches its end of life, the advice is a new server and moving every site over by hand. You pay for two services, the server and the software. And when something breaks in between, who do you call?

Why fortrabbit

Responsibility: Even though we no longer handle bare metal on our own, fortrabbit offers a more conventional hosting experience. Our platform is a complete solution that abstracts the AWS infrastructure. You have one direct contact for billing and for all technical questions. See our legal section to see what it takes.

App hosting: The fortrabbit platform is service oriented. Launch and scale apps, not servers. Learn about our app hosting architecture.

Pricing: One bill instead of two. Entry plans fit small websites.

Human support: Talk directly to us in the support chat. See our support features.

Good Laravel support: fortrabbit is around longer than Laravel Forge. We have a lot of experience hosting Laravel, and there is comprehensive documentation, see our Laravel guides.

Forge and fortrabbit

Feature	Forge + server	fortrabbit
Server	Yours, root access	Managed, no root
Reboots	Yours	Managed
PHP upgrades	Manual	Version switch
OS end of life	New server, migrate	Managed
Support	Forge, server separate	One chat
Pricing	$12–$39 + server	Per component, arrears

Want root, Meilisearch next to the app, or someone on the team enjoys running Linux? Then Forge is the better fit.

# Different by design

Pay in arrears

Daily prorated, post-paid billing. No upfront payment, no yearly commitment.

Modular pricing

Pay per component and scale each one from xs to 2xl on its own.

No dark patterns

No vendor lock-in, no upselling, no misleading messages.

Humans in support

Eye-level developer chat over the support bubble. No sales calls.

Developer-first

Git-push deploy, SSH access, bring your own code. No 1-click bloat.

Managed platform

A hardened, service-oriented PHP stack. Deploy code, skip the server admin.

# Frequently asked

Is fortrabbit cheaper than Forge plus a server?

For small apps

For small apps - Forge starts at $12 a month and the server comes on top. A fortrabbit app with a MySQL component starts at about €5 a month.

Do queue workers and the scheduler run on fortrabbit?

Yes

Yes - Workers, Horizon and the scheduler run as jobs next to the web app, configured in the dashboard.

Can spending be capped?

Yes

Yes - Disable autoscaling and pick a fixed plan. Billing is in arrears, pro-rated, and cancellation runs from the dashboard with immediate effect.

# What customers say

Having fortrabbit is like having a dedicated DevOps engineer on the team, taking care of the infrastructure so we can focus on writing code. We've used many PaaS providers, but none come close to fortrabbit's mix of features, reliability, predictable and fair pricing, and fast, genuinely helpful support. Their service has been rock solid, giving us the confidence that our apps are in good hands.

Len van Essen

CTO at Fitwinkel

2026 — Direct feedback

Unmatched performances and ease-of-configure. I really like what fortrabbit is doing for the modern PHP hosting ecosystem, and I'd suggest anyone to have a try with them.

Federico Magnani

CTO at glueglue

2026 — Direct feedback

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# About Laravel Forge

# Why not Laravel Forge?

# Why fortrabbit

# Forge and fortrabbit