Cloud 66 vs Laravel Forge (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cloud 66 grades higher than Laravel Forge: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cloud 66 grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cloud 66
Deploy and manage apps on your own servers and cloud accounts
Laravel Forge
Server management and deploys for Laravel, PHP and Node apps
Which one is for you
Pick Cloud 66 if
- Fits if you deploy a small app or two to your own cloud servers
- Works for teams that want one console across several clouds
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you need more than 1 server on the free plan, or 5 deployments a day
- Pricey if you add servers, which cost $12 a month each, or sites at $10 a month
- Watch out: extra team members are $5 a month and extra build minutes $0.03 each
- Watch out: prices shown are annual, and only Team lists a monthly price
Pick Laravel Forge if
- Fits if you run Laravel apps and want flat-rate server management
- Works for solo developers with many apps on their own cloud accounts
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan or trial
- Watch out: servers are billed separately
- Tight if you use other clouds: Hobby has 1 external server
- Pricey if you want shared-server discounts, as Laravel VPS discounts start at Growth ($19)
- Watch out: only monthly prices could be read
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACloud 66Fair | 1.8GPALaravel ForgeWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CDeveloper is $23 a month billed annually for 2 servers, just above the $20.83 dearer-quarter line for web hosting. Your cloud servers are billed separately. | C$12 a month on Hobby, about the category middle ($11), with servers billed separately by your provider or Laravel VPS. Growth is $19 and Business $39. |
| Free plan and trial | BA free plan with 1 server, 1 static site, 5 deployments per 24 hours and 1 team member, no card. Light use fits inside it. | FNo free plan or trial on the pricing page. |
| Features | CDeploys to any cloud, native and containerised apps, zero-downtime deploys, databases and backups, static sites and team controls. Plans cap servers at 1, 2, 4 and 7. | CServer setup, zero-downtime deploys, queues, databases, SSL and an API. It does the server-management job fully, but that's a smaller job than hosting, and Hobby limits you to 1 external server. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You connect cloud accounts and set up servers and apps. | CNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud account and set up servers and sites. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it works with AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Slack, and has an API. | BWeb only, with DigitalOcean, AWS, Hetzner and a documented REST API. |
| Best for | deploying apps to servers in your own cloud account | managing Laravel and PHP servers |
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: Cloud 66 and Laravel Forge. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cloud 66 starts at $23 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Laravel Forge starts at $12 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Laravel Forge starts $11 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 7 score higher than Cloud 66 for less, and 3 score higher than Laravel Forge 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
- Cloud 66 also covers databases.
- Laravel Forge also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Cloud 66 | Laravel Forge | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $23 per month, billed annually (Developer; $59 billed monthly for Team) | $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing) |
| Free plan | 1 deployment server and 1 static site, 5 deployments per 24 hours, 1 team member, no card required. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloud66, Inc. | Laravel |
| Price read from | cloud66.com | laravel.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cloud 66
- Cloud servers are not included; you pay your cloud provider separately.
- Plans cap servers (1, 2, 4 and 7) and static sites; extra servers cost $12 per month and extra sites $10.
- Extra team members cost $5 per month and extra build minutes $0.03 each beyond the plan's allowance.
- Prices shown are the annual rate, and only Team lists its monthly-billed price on the page.
Laravel Forge
- Forge is a paid service with no free plan or trial listed on its pricing page.
- You also pay your cloud provider, or Laravel VPS charges, for the servers themselves.
- Hobby includes only 1 external server; unlimited external servers start with Growth at $19 a month.
- The pricing page has a Monthly and an Annual toggle; the annual figures could not be read, so only monthly prices are listed.
Key features
Cloud 66
- Deploy to any cloud
- Connect a Git repository and a cloud provider such as AWS, Google Cloud or Azure, or deploy to your own servers or a mix of both.
- Native and containerized apps
- Runs apps directly on virtual machines or in containers, with background jobs, scheduled tasks and deployment hooks.
- Zero-downtime deployments
- Health checks and zero-downtime deployments are part of the platform, with failover groups and autoscaling listed on the plan comparison.
- Managed databases and backups
- Managed databases are listed on every plan. Managed backup storage is billed at $0.38 per GB on paid plans.
- Static sites and preview deployments
- Hosts sites built with generators such as Jekyll and Hugo, and the comparison table lists preview deployments from branches, tags or pull requests.
- Team controls and API
- Full API access, audit logs, live logs and cost management alerts are listed, with SAML SSO and user provisioning in the comparison table.
Laravel Forge
- Laravel VPS
- A one-click server option that Forge says is set up in under 10 seconds, with Nginx, PHP, MySQL or Postgres and Redis installed, and a shared web terminal.
- Zero-downtime deploys
- Deploys can be scripted, queued and stacked, and zero-downtime deployments are included for a single server.
- Bring your own cloud
- Servers can also be created at providers such as DigitalOcean, AWS and Hetzner, though on Hobby only one external server is included.
- Databases and queues
- Forge can provision, back up and monitor database clusters, and supervises queue workers without manual Supervisor setup.
- SSL and hosted domains
- Free automated SSL is included, along with on-forge.com hosted domains for launching an app before domain setup.
- API
- A documented REST API covers servers, deployments, databases, firewall rules, backups, monitors and other resources.
Plans
Cloud 66
Free$0
1 server and 1 static site, 5 deployments per 24 hours, 50 build minutes, 1 GB of static-site traffic, 1 hour of metrics.
Developer$23
per month, billed annually
Up to 2 servers and 2 static sites, 50 deployments per 24 hours, 200 build minutes, 100 GB static-site traffic, Slack support.
Team$47
per month, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
Up to 4 servers and 5 static sites with unlimited deployments, 10 team members and 1,000 GB static-site traffic.
Business$80
per month, billed annually
Up to 7 servers and 10 static sites, 30 team members, 5,000 GB of static-site traffic and 30 days of metrics.
EnterpriseCustom
For more than 50 servers: on-prem and dedicated options, onboarding support, a dedicated account manager and invoicing.
Laravel Forge
Hobby$12
per month, monthly billing
Unlimited Laravel VPS servers, 1 external server, unlimited sites and deployments, managed databases and community support.
Growth$19
per month, monthly billing
Unlimited servers, 5% discount on Laravel VPS and standard support, plus the other features of Hobby.
Business$39
per month, monthly billing
Unlimited servers, 15% discount on Laravel VPS and advanced support.
Ways to pay less
Cloud 66
- Annual discount
Save about 20% with annual billing
The pricing page shows a 20% saving for annual billing; for example, Team is $47 per month billed annually versus $59 billed monthly.
- Startups
Startup and education pricing
The FAQ says qualified startups and educational institutions get special pricing, arranged through the sales team.
Laravel Forge
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cloud 66 or Laravel Forge?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Laravel Forge is cheaper to start with: $12 a month, against $23 a month for Cloud 66. Cloud 66 starts at $23 per month, billed annually (Developer; $59 billed monthly for Team), and Laravel Forge starts at $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing).
Which has a free plan, Cloud 66 or Laravel Forge?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Cloud 66 has a free plan. Laravel Forge does not.
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.