RunCloud vs SpinupWP (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, SpinupWP grades higher than RunCloud: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
SpinupWP 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.
RunCloud
Web server control panel for PHP sites on your own cloud servers
SpinupWP
WordPress server management for servers you rent yourself
Which one is for you
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
Pick SpinupWP if
- Fits if you rent servers for WordPress and don't want to set up Nginx by hand
- Works for agencies running many servers, since extra servers get cheaper
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a free plan, as there's a 7-day trial only
- Watch out: servers are billed by your provider
- Watch out: support is 2am to 6pm Eastern, Monday to Friday, with no malware cleanup or custom server configs
- Tight if you want more than 1 snapshot a day, as that's Advanced
- Watch out: migrations from $300 a site
How we grade them
| 2.0GPARunCloudFair | 2.2GPASpinupWPFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | C$12 a month for 1 server and 1 user on Essentials, $19 on Advanced, around the category middle ($11), with server rental extra. Extra servers are $8 each on Essentials. |
| Free plan and trial | DA 7-day free trial, and the page read doesn't say whether it needs a card. No free plan. | CA 7-day trial with no card, then you pick a plan to keep the dashboard. |
| Features | 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. | CTuned server setup, snapshots, staging, Git deploys, an API and a CLI. A WordPress-only job done fully, and monitoring is a $1 a site add-on. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud provider and set up servers. | CNo store rating on record. You connect a provider and build servers before sites. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean and Cloudflare. | BWeb only, with Vultr, Akamai/Linode, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare DNS. |
| Best for | managing PHP and WordPress servers | WordPress servers you rent yourself |
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: RunCloud and SpinupWP. How we grade
Price against what you get
RunCloud starts at $9 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SpinupWP starts at $12 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, 2 score higher than RunCloud for less, and 3 score higher than SpinupWP 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
At a glance
| RunCloud | SpinupWP | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly) | $12 per month (Essentials, 1 server) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial. | 7-day free trial, no credit card required. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | RunCloud | SpinupWP |
| Price read from | runcloud.io | spinupwp.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
SpinupWP
- The server itself is billed separately by your provider; SpinupWP charges only for the panel.
- Extra servers cost $8 each a month on Essentials and $10 on Advanced for servers 2 to 3, falling to $1 beyond 60.
- After the trial ends you must pick a plan to keep access to the dashboard.
- Support hours are 2am to 6pm Eastern Time, Monday to Friday, and the vendor says it will not do malware cleanup or customize server configs.
Key features
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.
SpinupWP
- WordPress-tuned server setup
- Servers are configured with full page caching, Redis object caching, security hardening and a correctly set up WordPress cron.
- Scheduled backups
- Site snapshots can be sent to Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Google Cloud Storage or Akamai/Linode Object Storage.
- Staging sites
- Sites can be cloned to the same or another server and refreshed from live, on both plans.
- Developer tools
- Git deploys with git push, a REST API and a command line tool are listed, along with Composer, Roots Bedrock and multiple PHP versions.
- Site monitoring
- Site monitoring is a paid add-on on the Advanced plan, at $1 a month per monitored site.
- Migration service
- A paid migration service starts at $300 per site, with the vendor setting up the site for you to test before the domain is pointed.
Plans
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.
SpinupWP
Essentials$12
per month for 1 server and 1 user
Unlimited sites, 1 daily backup snapshot per site, unlimited staging sites and standard email support.
Advanced$19
per month for 1 server and 1 user
Adds up to 4 daily, 4 weekly and 4 monthly snapshots, priority support, external MySQL and extra users at $2 a month each.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, RunCloud or SpinupWP?
As of Nov 12, 2026, RunCloud is cheaper to start with: $9 a month, against $12 a month for SpinupWP. RunCloud starts at $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly), and SpinupWP starts at $12 per month (Essentials, 1 server).
Which has a free plan, RunCloud or SpinupWP?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither RunCloud nor SpinupWP has a free plan. Both have 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.