Laravel Forge vs RunCloud (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, RunCloud grades higher than Laravel Forge: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
RunCloud 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.
Laravel Forge
Server management and deploys for Laravel, PHP and Node apps
RunCloud
Web server control panel for PHP sites on your own cloud servers
Which one is for you
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
Pick RunCloud if
- Fits if you rent your own servers for PHP and WordPress sites
- Works for small setups that need one server on the cheapest plan
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 7-day trial
- Watch out: servers are billed by your cloud provider
- Tight if you need more than one server: Professional starts at 50
- Watch out: the API, zero-downtime deploys and WAF are Business and above
- Watch out: only monthly prices could be read
How we grade them
| 1.8GPALaravel ForgeWeak | 2.0GPARunCloudFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | C$9 a month for 1 server on Essentials, $19 for 50 servers, $49 for Business, near the category middle of $11. Server rental is extra. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan or trial on the pricing page. | DA 7-day free trial, and the page read doesn't say whether it needs a card. No free plan. |
| Features | 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. | CUnlimited apps, caching, backups, staging, Git deploys and a firewall. A smaller job than hosting, and the API, zero-downtime deploys and WAF need Business. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud account and set up servers and sites. | CNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud provider and set up servers. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with DigitalOcean, AWS, Hetzner and a documented REST API. | BWeb only, with Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean and Cloudflare. |
| Best for | managing Laravel and PHP servers | managing PHP and WordPress 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: Laravel Forge and RunCloud. How we grade
Price against what you get
Laravel Forge starts at $12 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. RunCloud starts at $9 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and RunCloud starts $3 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 3 score higher than Laravel Forge for less, and 2 score higher than RunCloud 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
- Laravel Forge also covers workflow automation.
- RunCloud also covers page speed.
At a glance
| Laravel Forge | RunCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing) | $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Laravel | RunCloud |
| Price read from | laravel.com | runcloud.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
RunCloud
- Servers are paid separately to your cloud provider.
- Essentials covers a single server; Professional starts at 50 servers.
- The RunCloud API, zero-downtime deployments and the web application firewall are limited to Business and above.
- The pricing page has a Monthly and an Annually toggle; only monthly figures could be read. It states a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Key features
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.
RunCloud
- Server and app management
- Plans list unlimited web applications, domain management and one-click SSL certificates, with server counts from 1 to 500.
- Caching
- Server-side caching with NGINX FastCGI and Redis full-page and object cache is listed on every plan.
- Backups
- Full and incremental backups come with 2 to 100 GB of free storage by plan, with external backups to providers that widen on higher plans.
- Staging and Git deployment
- Essentials has 1 staging environment, Professional has 10 and Business is unlimited; Git deployment is on all plans.
- Security
- A 6G, 7G and 8G firewall starts on Professional, and Business adds ModSecurity with the OWASP Core Rule Set.
- Team and API
- Business adds roles, 10 team seats and the RunCloud API, at 120 requests a minute and 10,000 a month on monthly billing.
Plans
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.
RunCloud
Essentials$9
per month, billed monthly
1 server, unlimited web applications, 2 GB of backup storage, Git deployment, server-side caching and 1 staging environment.
Professional$19
per month, billed monthly
50 servers, 10 GB of backup storage, 10 staging environments, application cloning, custom NGINX configuration and 6G, 7G and 8G firewall.
Business$49
per month, billed monthly
100 servers, 30 GB of backup storage, 10 team seats, zero-downtime deployments, the RunCloud API and a WAF with the OWASP core rule set.
Enterprise$399
per month, billed monthly
500 servers, 100 GB of backup storage, up to 5 workspaces, 50 team seats and a higher API rate limit.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Laravel Forge or RunCloud?
As of Nov 12, 2026, RunCloud is cheaper to start with: $9 a month, against $12 a month for Laravel Forge. Laravel Forge starts at $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing), and RunCloud starts at $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Laravel Forge or RunCloud?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Laravel Forge nor RunCloud has a free plan. RunCloud 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.