Servd alternative for Craft CMS hosting
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Reviewedbyfl
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More than one dish on the menu.
fortrabbit is a Servd alternative for teams who want Craft CMS hosted next to their other PHP projects rather than on a platform that runs Craft and nothing else.
About Servd
Servd.host is a hosting service specialised in Craft CMS. It is uniquely made for Craft and has a high grade of abstraction for doing just that. It is run by a small, independent, UK-based team that also publishes its own Craft plugin, and it has a strong reputation in the Craft community as the original Craft-focused platform. Just like fortrabbit, Servd is a small hosting provider — we really like what they are doing over there, it is a genuinely good service.
Under the hood, Servd runs containers on Kubernetes with atomic git-push deploys and a Craft-tuned stack. The Craft-specific features are the draw: off-server image transforms, a global asset CDN, daily backups with retention, a web application firewall, and staging on every plan. SSH is available through short-lived sessions and the database is reached over an SSH tunnel. Each plan hosts a single Craft installation, and regions cover North America, the UK and the EU — the pricing page names the EU without naming the country, which matters if a data location has to be documented.
Should you swap Servd for fortrabbit?
The question is whether Craft is the only thing being hosted. If it is, Servd's specialisation is a real advantage and there is little to gain by moving. Everything the platform does is arranged around one CMS, and no general-purpose host will match that shape.
fortrabbit is the more open, less magic platform: any PHP runs here, several apps sit under one account, and the Craft-specific tuning that Servd bakes in is left to the developer or a third-party service. That trade pays off for an agency with a Craft site, a Laravel app and something inherited, all billed together. Plans start at €2.50 per month and the trial does not require a credit card.
Start a free trial — no credit cardHow does fortrabbit compare to Servd?
| Feature | Servd | fortrabbit |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Small independent UK team | Independent, bootstrapped, Berlin |
| Runs | Craft CMS only | Any PHP, Craft CMS included |
| Deployment | git push, atomic | git push, Composer builds, atomic |
| SSH / SFTP | Short-lived SSH sessions | Full SSH and SFTP |
| Sites / plan | One Craft installation | Multiple apps per account |
| Staging | Included | Optional component |
| Assets | Craft-native asset CDN | Persistent storage, CDN via Cloudflare |
| Backups | Daily, included | Component, with retention |
| Regions | US, UK, EU | EU (Dublin), US (N. Virginia) |
| Pricing model | Fixed tiers, in advance | Per component, in arrears |
| Support | Craft specialists | Human chat on all plans |
Pricing comparison
| Use case | Servd | fortrabbit |
|---|---|---|
| One Craft site | One plan, staging included | €5 / mo with a database |
| Production Craft site | The tier its traffic needs | €30 / mo |
| Three sites for an agency | Three plans, no volume discount | Three apps, components each |
Servd's tiers are separated by CPU, worker count, asset storage and image bandwidth, which is a sensible way to sell one thing well. It also means the third site costs what the first one did. See fortrabbit pricing for the current matrix.
Migrating from Servd to fortrabbit
- Create the app on fortrabbit and add a MySQL component. The free trial is enough to validate the move.
- Install the fortrabbit Craft plugin — it automates the setup checks and the database sync.
- Move the database with a dump over the SSH tunnel — see MySQL import guide.
- Connect the repository and push; Composer runs in the build — see Craft CMS guides.
- Move assets with rsync into persistent storage, and point Craft's volumes at the new path.
- Replace the asset CDN if the project relied on Servd's — Cloudflare in front of the app covers most of it, image transforms are a plugin decision.
- Cut over DNS, watch the certificate issue, then cancel the plan.
Why teams switch
- Craft is not the only thing they host. One account, one invoice, one support chat for every project.
- Components, not tiers. Storage grows without buying more CPU.
- Full shell access. SSH and SFTP without a session timer.
- In arrears billing. Pay for the month that happened, cancel any time.
# Frequently asked
Is fortrabbit a good Servd alternative?Yes
Yes - Especially when Craft needs company. Servd is a Craft-only specialist with deep, Craft-tuned automation; fortrabbit hosts Craft CMS well too but stays a general PHP platform, so it fits when Craft needs to live next to a Laravel app or another PHP project under one account.
#Does fortrabbit host Craft CMS as well as Servd?Yes
Yes - fortrabbit has hosted Craft CMS since the early days of the CMS. Deploys run via git push with Composer in the build, a free Craft plugin automates setup and database syncs, and assets live in persistent storage. Servd layers on more Craft-specific magic — off-server image transforms, a Craft-native asset CDN — at the cost of being Craft-only.
#Can more than one site run on one account?Yes
Yes - A Servd plan covers one Craft installation, so an agency running several sites buys several plans and the per-site cost does not fall with volume. On fortrabbit, several apps — Craft or otherwise — run under the same account and are billed per component.
#Is fortrabbit cheaper than Servd?Generally
Generally - Generally yes, because resources are picked per component rather than bundled into a plan tier. Both are cheaper than Craft Cloud, the first-party managed Craft option. Servd bills in advance on fixed tiers; fortrabbit bills in arrears for what was booked.
#Do both include staging?Differently
Differently - Servd includes a staging environment in every plan. fortrabbit offers staging as an optional component, added only when a project needs it — which keeps the base cost lower and means it has to be asked for.
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