BigScoots vs Kinsta (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Kinsta: it is third in our ranking of web hosts, and it grades higher too, 2.2 against 1.6.
Checked Nov 2, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Kinsta grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BigScoots
Managed WordPress hosting priced by monthly visitors
Kinsta
Managed WordPress hosting priced by sites, visits or bandwidth
Which one is for you
Pick BigScoots if
- Fits if you run a WordPress site and want the host to handle migrations and upkeep
- Works for sites with steady traffic that fits a visitor tier
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you run one small site, at $29.17 a month for 1 site
- Tight if your traffic grows, because plans are capped by monthly visitors
- Skip it if you want to try first, as there is no free plan or trial listed
- Watch out: Essential 75 uses a CDN, and Boost starts at Essential 125
- Watch out: monthly billing is higher on every plan, with annual shown as two months free
Pick Kinsta if
- Fits if your business site has outgrown shared hosting
- Works for agency teams that need staging, user roles and an API
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you add sites, at $30 a month for each one beyond the plan, or $20 per extra 20 GB of disk
- Tight if traffic spikes, since visits over the cap bring overage fees
- Watch out: a visit is each unique IP in 24 hours, and all sites on a plan share one monthly limit
- Skip it if you want hourly backups or Redis included, as they're paid add-ons
- Watch out: the free first month means signing up to a paid plan, and covers Launch, Single and WP 2 only
How we grade them
| 1.6GPABigScootsWeak | 2.2GPAKinstaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CEssential 75 is $29.17 a month billed annually for 1 site and 75k visitors, above the $20.83 dearer-quarter line for web hosting. Two sites and 200k visitors is $70.83. | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts, not low-priced shared hosting. Launch is $350 a year after a free first month, so two years cost $700, about $29.17 a month, toward the dear end of that group. Each extra site is $30 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing is free: no free plan and no trial are listed. | DThe first month is free on Launch, Single and WP 2 for new customers, but you sign up to a paid plan to get it, so it works like a trial that needs payment details. After that there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Features | CManaged WordPress with free migrations, staging, backups, SSL, monitoring and email. Boost by BigScoots starts at Essential 125, and shared, VPS and dedicated are separate products. | BDaily backups, one-click staging, a Cloudflare firewall and CDN, free malware removal, unlimited free migrations, SSO and its own APM tool for slow plugins. Hourly backups and Redis are paid add-ons, but the managed WordPress job is all there. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. A managed host handles servers, but you still migrate and connect a site. | CNo app store rating to go on. Kinsta's team moves your sites over for free, but there are plans, limits and add-ons to get your head around. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only and WordPress only, with a Cloudflare-powered CDN and no integrations list. | BA web dashboard with no app on record, plus a REST API for creating sites and clearing cache, and backups to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage. |
| Best for | managed WordPress hosting sized by monthly visitors | managed WordPress with an API and monitoring |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: BigScoots and Kinsta. How we grade
Price against what you get
BigScoots starts at $29.17 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Kinsta starts at $30 a month and scores 2.7.
Kinsta scores higher, and starts $0.83 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 54 score higher than BigScoots for less, and none scores higher than Kinsta for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- BigScoots also covers page speed.
- Kinsta also covers malware protection.
At a glance
| BigScoots | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29.17 per month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) | $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | First month free on Launch, Single and WP 2 plans for new customers, then a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Web | ||
| Made by | BigScoots | Kinsta Inc. |
| Price read from | bigscoots.com | kinsta.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 |
Worth knowing
BigScoots
- Plans are capped by monthly visitors, so traffic growth can push a site into a pricier tier.
- Essential 75 uses a CDN rather than Boost; Boost by BigScoots starts with Essential 125.
- Annual billing is shown as two months free; the monthly price is higher on every plan.
- Shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers have their own pricing, not covered by these plans.
Kinsta
- Plans cap monthly visits, bandwidth and storage; going over keeps the site online but adds overage fees, with alerts at 80% and 100%.
- Each extra site is $30 a month and each extra 20 GB of disk is $20 a month.
- A visit is each unique IP address in a 24-hour period, and visits to all sites on a plan count toward one monthly limit.
- Redis caching, hourly backups, external backups and premium staging are paid add-ons.
Key features
BigScoots
- Free migrations
- The vendor says its team performs zero-downtime site migrations at no charge on every managed WordPress plan.
- Boost by BigScoots
- A performance and edge delivery layer built on a custom Cloudflare Enterprise setup, included from the Essential 125 plan upward.
- Staging, backups and SSL
- One-click staging, automatic and manual backups with retention, and an SSL certificate for each site.
- Monitoring and security
- Sites are checked every 60 seconds, with a DDoS and web application firewall service and an uptime SLA.
- Email included
- Unlimited email accounts with 10 GB of storage appear in the plan comparison.
- Other hosting types
- Cloud VPS, dedicated servers, shared hosting and optimization, security and website maintenance services are sold separately.
Kinsta
- Firewall, CDN and malware removal
- Sites sit behind a Kinsta firewall and Cloudflare with enterprise DDoS protection, are served from a CDN with edge caching, and get malware cleaned up at no charge.
- Daily backups and staging
- Sites are backed up every 24 hours, kept for 14 days on entry plans, and have one-click staging. Hourly backups and premium staging are paid add-ons.
- Kinsta API
- A REST API creates sites, reads site details, clears cache and restarts PHP, so routine work can be scripted.
- Built-in APM tool
- Kinsta's own application monitoring tool traces slow plugins, queries and requests on a site.
- Unlimited migrations and users
- Kinsta's team migrates any number of WordPress sites for free, and you can add unlimited users with their own access levels, with SAML single sign-on.
- 24/7 support in 8 languages
- Support is by chat around the clock, from people rather than a bot.
Plans
BigScoots
Essential 75$29.17
per month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
1 WordPress site, 75k monthly visitors, 10 GB storage, 150 GB bandwidth and a Cloudflare-powered CDN.
Essential 125$50
per month, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
1 site, 125k monthly visitors, 15 GB storage, 500 GB bandwidth, with 1 Boost by BigScoots license.
Essential 200$70.83
per month, billed annually ($85 billed monthly)
2 sites, 200k monthly visitors, 30 GB storage, 750 GB bandwidth, with 1 Boost license.
Core 500$166.67
per month, billed annually ($200 billed monthly)
5 sites, 500k monthly visitors, 100 GB storage, 1.5 TB bandwidth and 2 Boost licenses.
Core 1000$291.67
per month, billed annually ($350 billed monthly)
10 sites, 1M monthly visitors, 150 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth and 5 Boost licenses.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited sites and millions of visitors, quoted through a consultation. Essential 300 ($100 a month annually) also exists.
Kinsta
Launch$30
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Resource-based plan with 75,000 visits, 15 GB bandwidth and 15 GB storage a month. First month free.
Single 35k$30
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Billed by 35,000 visits a month, with 10 GB storage; Single 20GB is the same price billed by bandwidth instead. First month free.
Launch Plus$50
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
125,000 visits, 25 GB bandwidth and 25 GB storage a month for one busier site.
Build$58
per month for 2 sites, billed annually ($69 billed monthly)
200,000 visits, 40 GB bandwidth and 30 GB storage a month shared by two sites.
WP 2$59
per month for 2 sites, billed annually ($70 billed monthly)
Two sites billed by 70,000 visits or 40 GB bandwidth a month, with 20 GB storage. First month free.
Expand$83
per month for 5 sites, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
350,000 visits, 65 GB bandwidth and 40 GB storage a month across five sites. Larger plans run to Lead at $250 a month for 20 sites.
Ways to pay less
BigScoots
- Annual discount
Two months free on annual billing
The pricing page shows annual plans at a lower monthly rate, for example $350 a year for Essential 75 versus $35 a month.
Kinsta
- Annual discount
Two months off with annual billing
Paying yearly costs ten times the monthly price, for example $350 a year for Launch instead of $35 a month.
- Other savings
Up to $10,000 in hosting credits for agencies
Eligible agencies on Agency plans can get up to $10,000 in hosting credits, plus free hosting for the agency's own site.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, BigScoots or Kinsta?
As of Nov 13, 2026, BigScoots is cheaper to start with: $29.17 a month, against $30 a month for Kinsta. BigScoots starts at $29.17 per month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly), and Kinsta starts at $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, BigScoots or Kinsta?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither BigScoots nor Kinsta has a free plan. Kinsta has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.