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Examples

These examples show the costs for different real life setups including apps with multiple environments and different software stacks.

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CMS hosting

One engine renders the website and its backend. Host your PHP CMS on fortrabbit.

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In today's web, everybody is headless. But remember the basics.

A CMS that renders its own pages: editors publish, visitors read, and the HTML arrives finished. It's stupid simple, and it's what PHP was built for.

CMS flavors

Flatfile CMSes like Kirby and Statamic keep entries as text files in folders; Database-driven ones like WordPress, Craft CMS and TYPO3 keep them in MySQL. That's the LAMP stack. Both are supported by fortrabbit.

Flatfile

A flatfile site runs on the PHP and storage components alone. The content folder is runtime data: editors change it on the server, so it belongs in persistent storage rather than the deploy package — the deploy sync only replaces what the package contains and leaves everything else in place. Teams that version content in git instead route edits through deploys; both setups work, but mixing them silently overwrites one side.

Database-driven

A database-driven site adds the MySQL component for entries and settings, while uploads still land in storage. The backup component snapshots both together, so a restore point always holds a matching database and media library.

Classic or headless

Every CMS here can also run headless. Craft and Statamic ship GraphQL and REST layers, Drupal carries JSON:API in core, and WordPress and TYPO3 serve content over an API too. The same PHP app either renders its own pages or answers an API request — the components underneath stay the same.

Classic rendering is the default, and the simpler path: one deploy, finished HTML, nothing between the editor and the visitor. Headless splits the site into a content back end and a separate front end — a different shape, with its own reasons and trade-offs.

For the decoupled setup — where the back end runs and how the front end connects — see Headless CMS hosting.

Why fortrabbit?

fortrabbit has backed old, boring tech like PHP and MySQL since back when it was still cool — and still runs it as the main event, not a legacy checkbox. Push to deploy, keep uploads in persistent storage, and let the page cache carry the readers. We know this stack, and we host it like we mean it.

Trust

An honest account.

Different by design

A platform purpose-built for PHP. More than the sum of its parts.

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 a database required?
Not for flatfile

Not for flatfile - Kirby and Statamic store content as files, so an environment runs on the PHP and storage components alone — no MySQL component to book or maintain. WordPress, Craft and TYPO3 expect MySQL; the component is added per environment and billed by the day like everything else.

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Does a content site need a CDN in front of it?
Usually not

Usually not - A site with a working page cache and an audience in one region is served fine from the environment itself. A CDN starts paying off when the audience spans continents or large media files dominate the response weight — it is an addition, not a prerequisite.

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Where do editor uploads go?
Persistent storage

Persistent storage - The storage component is a persistent file system. Deploys replace the code directory; runtime data like uploads stays — so a media library survives every release without an external bucket. With autoscaling enabled, larger and smaller storage plans are booked automatically based on measured usage.

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Do scheduled posts publish on time?
Via cron job

Via cron job - A well-cached site delivers few requests to PHP, so publish-on-visit schedulers like WP-Cron drift. The jobs component runs real cron jobs in dedicated back-end PHP processes, isolated from the web front-end.

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Who upgrades the CMS?
The developer does

The developer does - Responsibilities split cleanly: we run the platform, and everything installed on it belongs to whoever deploys it. No CMS version, plugin or Composer dependency is ever touched from our side — an unannounced change to a running site would be worse than an outdated one. An upgrade is a Composer change plus migrations, shipped with a git push like any other release. Trying it on a second environment with a copy of the database first is the usual approach, and components are billed by the day, so that costs days rather than a month.

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Is site migration handled by fortrabbit?
No

No - Migration is not offered as a service — users stay in control of their hosting. Moving a site means deploying the code base with git push, importing the database, and copying the media library into persistent storage over SFTP or rsync. The docs cover each step, and support answers questions about the platform.

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What customers say

fortrabbit makes hosting Craft CMS refreshingly simple. The platform is reliable, well-built, and backed by a support team that actually understands the technology. It lets us spend less time managing infrastructure and more time building websites that drive results.

CM

Chris Martin

Founder at Digital Rebel Marketing

2026 — Direct feedback

As a design and development studio, managing and maintaining servers used to take a big chunk of our time, especially when things went wrong or major updates were needed. Passing that responsibility to fortrabbit, who are absolute experts and have a specialist team, was a game changer. The service is faultlessly stable, support is always fantastic & prompt and it scales with the click of a button. The whole experience is so scarily smooth! The time they have saved us could not be more valuable.

Josh Attwood

Josh Attwood

Creative director at Josh Attwood Studio

2026 — Direct feedback

Developer-first web hosting with user-centered first-rate documentation and powerful dashboard - and real human, distinctively insightful, support too. We first had a go in 2013, never looked back since (and they are even better).

D

Dixens

Developer

2026 — Direct feedback

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