Kinsta vs Rocket.net
We give Kinsta a 2.2 GPA and Rocket.net a 2.0, 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.
Kinsta
Managed WordPress hosting priced by sites, visits or bandwidth
Rocket.net
Managed WordPress hosting served through Cloudflare Enterprise
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKinstaFair | 2.0GPARocket.netFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts. Starter is $25 a month billed yearly, so two years cost $600, about $25 a month, the middle of that group. Monthly is $30 after a $1 first month, and it says renewals aren't raised. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | FNo free plan and no trial. The first month on monthly billing is $1, which is cheap but not free, and there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Features | 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. | BCloudflare Enterprise CDN and firewall, a real-time malware scanner, daily backups kept 30 days, staging, automatic updates, free WP Rocket and WP Umbrella licenses and free migrations. Nothing in the managed WordPress job is missing. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo app store rating to go on. Caching and security come set up, so there are fewer plugins to fiddle with, but you're still moving and running a WordPress site. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BA web dashboard with no app on record, plus an official MCP server covering the whole API, and Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT connected from its AI panel. |
| Best for | managed WordPress with an API and monitoring | fast WordPress sites with visitors worldwide |
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: Kinsta and Rocket.net. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kinsta starts at $30 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Rocket.net starts at $25 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Rocket.net starts $5 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, none scores higher than Kinsta for less, and none scores higher than Rocket.net 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
- Kinsta starts at $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly). Rocket.net starts at $25 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 monthly, first month $1).
At a glance
| Kinsta | Rocket.net | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) | $25 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 monthly, first month $1) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | First month free on Launch, Single and WP 2 plans for new customers, then a 30-day money-back guarantee | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Kinsta Inc. | Rocket.net |
| Price read from | kinsta.com | rocket.net |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Rocket.net
- WordPress sites with traffic spread across many countries
- Site owners who want caching and security handled without plugins
- Developers who want to run hosting from an AI agent or their IDE
Worth knowing
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.
Rocket.net
- It hosts WordPress only and does not include email; the pricing page points to Google Workspace for mail.
- Storage beyond the plan is billed at $2 per GB and bandwidth at $0.08 per GB, unless you move up a plan.
- Enterprise plans with dedicated CPU and RAM start at $649 a month through sales and are excluded from the 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Visitors are unmetered, but each plan caps the number of WordPress sites, storage and bandwidth.
Key features
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.
Rocket.net
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and firewall
- Every site is served through Cloudflare Enterprise with its web application firewall switched on, and a server-side scanner checks files for malware in real time.
- Daily backups and staging
- Backups run automatically each day and are kept for 30 days. Free staging environments let updates be tested before they reach the live site.
- Bundled plugin licenses
- Plans include WP Rocket for caching and WP Umbrella for monitoring and maintenance at no extra charge.
- AI panel and MCP server
- Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT can be connected to any site for content, SEO and code work, and an official MCP server covers the whole Rocket.net API.
- Automatic updates and activity log
- WordPress core, plugin and theme updates can run automatically, and an activity log records changes made on each site.
- Free migrations and support
- Sites are moved over free from any host, and support by live chat and tickets is open 24/7 on every plan.
Plans
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.
Rocket.net
Starter$25
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth and unmetered visitors. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $30 a month.
Pro$50
per month for 3 sites, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
20 GB storage and 100 GB bandwidth. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $60 a month.
Business$83
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
40 GB storage and 300 GB bandwidth. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $100 a month.
Expert$166
per month for 25 sites, billed annually ($200 billed monthly)
50 GB storage and 500 GB bandwidth for people managing several client sites. First month $1 on monthly billing.
Agency Tier 1$83
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
50 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth and the Agency Toolkit. Nine higher tiers run up to 200 sites at $1,333 a month, billed annually.
Ways to pay less
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.
Rocket.net
- Other savings
First month for $1 on monthly billing
Every plan billed monthly costs $1 for the first month, then its regular rate, such as $30 a month for Starter. Rocket.net says renewals are not raised.
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
Paying yearly gives two months free on any plan: Starter drops from $30 to $25 a month and Pro from $60 to $50.
