Flywheel vs Kinsta
We give Flywheel a 2.0 GPA and Kinsta a 2.2, out of 4.0. Kinsta 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.
Flywheel
Managed WordPress hosting for designers, freelancers and agencies
Kinsta
Managed WordPress hosting priced by sites, visits or bandwidth
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAFlywheelFair | 2.2GPAKinstaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts. Starter is $300 a year for one site, so two years cost $600, about $25 a month, the middle of that group. Extra sites are $20 a month, and visits over 25,000 are $1 per 1,000. | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts, not cheap 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 | FNo free plan and no trial. There's a 60-day money-back guarantee, longer than most, but it isn't a trial, and Agency plans aren't covered by it. | 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 | BNightly backups kept 30 days, staging, FlyCache with a Fastly CDN, free malware cleanup, Blueprints and billing transfer. Managed plugin updates are an $8 add-on and there's no email, but the managed WordPress job is covered. | 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 app store rating to go on. Free migrations help, and building in Local first is handy, but it's still a WordPress host with plans and limits to learn. | CNo app store rating to go on. Kinsta's team moves your sites over for free, which helps, but there are plans, limits and add-ons to get your head around. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web dashboard plus the free Local app on your computer, which builds sites offline and pushes them to Flywheel. Fastly, Genesis and Google Analytics are named too, but no API is on record. | 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 | designers building WordPress sites for clients | 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: Flywheel and Kinsta. How we grade
Price against what you get
Flywheel starts at $25 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Kinsta starts at $30 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Flywheel starts $5 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, none scores higher than Flywheel 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
- Flywheel starts at $25 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 billed monthly). Kinsta starts at $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly).
At a glance
| Flywheel | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $25 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 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 | WP Engine | Kinsta Inc. |
| Price read from | getflywheel.com | kinsta.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Flywheel
- Designers and freelancers who build WordPress sites for clients
- Agencies that hand billing for each site over to the client
- Single WordPress sites that want backups and staging handled for them
Kinsta
- Business sites that have outgrown shared hosting
- Agencies and teams that need staging, user roles and an API
- WooCommerce shops that want a host managing WordPress for them
Worth knowing
Flywheel
- Flywheel does not host email; its pricing page sends you to a separate email provider such as Google.
- Traffic over the plan's limit is billed at $1 per 1,000 visits and storage at $1 per GB, rather than the site being throttled.
- Extra sites cost $20 a month each, and the Agency and Custom plans are excluded from the 60-day money-back guarantee.
- It hosts WordPress sites only, and the page notes that prices may vary by server location.
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
Flywheel
- Nightly backups and staging
- Every site is backed up each night and the copies are kept for 30 days, with one-click restores. Staging sites let changes be tested before they go live.
- Caching and CDN
- FlyCache handles caching at the server with exclusions for common plugins, and a CDN run by Fastly is included on every plan.
- Security and malware cleanup
- Malware and hacking attempts are scanned for and blocked at the server, hacked sites are cleaned free, and plugin security alerts flag vulnerable plugins.
- Tools for client work
- Blueprints save a theme and plugin set for reuse, Organizations share sites with a team, and billing for a site can be handed to the client.
- Local development app
- Local, a free app from the same company, builds WordPress sites on your own computer and pushes them to Flywheel when they are ready.
- Paid add-ons
- Managed Plugin Updates ($8 a month per site) uses AI visual regression checks, Performance Insights sends monthly reports, and White Label lets agencies resell hosting.
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
Flywheel
Starter$25
per month for up to 25,000 visits, billed annually ($30 monthly)
1 site, 10 GB storage and 50 GB bandwidth. Billed at $300 a year. Extra visits cost $1 per 1,000 a month.
Freelance$96
per month for up to 100,000 visits, billed annually ($115 monthly)
Up to 10 sites, 20 GB storage and 200 GB bandwidth. Billed at $1,150 a year.
Agency$242
per month for up to 400,000 visits, billed annually ($290 monthly)
Up to 30 sites, 50 GB storage and 500 GB bandwidth. Billed at $2,900 a year. Not covered by the 60-day money-back guarantee.
CustomCustom
Built with sales for more than 30 sites or high-traffic projects, with dedicated clusters and an account manager.
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
Flywheel
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
Paying yearly includes two months free: Starter is $300 a year instead of $30 a month, and an extra site is $200 a year instead of $20 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.
