# Servd alternative for Craft CMS hosting

Source: https://www.fortrabbit.com/alternatives/servd
Created: 2026-08-14
Reviewed: 2026-08-14


## 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.

:ContentButton{property="dashboard" text="Start a free trial — no credit card" route="/signup"}

## How 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 :ContentLink{href="/pricing" text="fortrabbit pricing"} for the current matrix.

## Migrating from Servd to fortrabbit

1. **Create the app on fortrabbit** and add a MySQL component. The free trial is enough to validate the move.
2. **Install the fortrabbit Craft plugin** — it automates the setup checks and the database sync.
3. **Move the database** with a dump over the SSH tunnel — see :ContentLink{href="/guides/general/mysql-import" text="MySQL import guide" prefix="docs"}.
4. **Connect the repository** and push; Composer runs in the build — see :ContentLink{href="/guides/craft-cms" text="Craft CMS guides" prefix="docs"}.
5. **Move assets** with rsync into persistent storage, and point Craft's volumes at the new path.
6. **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.
7. **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.

## FAQ

### Is fortrabbit a good Servd alternative?

**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** — 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** — 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 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** — 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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- [All alternatives](/alternatives)
- [Craft CMS hosting](/software/craft-cms)
- [Craft CMS guides](/guides/craft-cms)