Laravel Forge review (2026): is it worth $12 a month?
Server management and deploys for Laravel, PHP and Node apps
Black Friday: is there a Laravel Forge sale?
Laravel Forge report card
Weak · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for managing Laravel and PHP servers
Laravel Forge manages servers and deploys for Laravel and PHP apps at $12 a month. There's no free plan or trial, you also pay for the servers, and Hobby includes only one external server.
Who Laravel Forge is for
- Fits if you run Laravel apps and want flat-rate server management
- Works for solo developers with many apps on their own cloud accounts
Who Laravel Forge is not for
- 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
Why Laravel Forge gets a 1.8
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for money$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.
- FFree plan and trialNo free plan or trial on the pricing page.
- CFeaturesServer 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.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud account and set up servers and sites.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with DigitalOcean, AWS, Hetzner and a documented REST API.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Laravel's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Laravel Forge? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/laravel-forge#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/laravel-forge.svg" alt="Laravel Forge: 1.8 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Laravel Forge stands among web hosts
Laravel Forge's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 9 of the 54 other web hosts we grade, and level with 10.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 24 of 54) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $12 a month, against a middle price of $9 for the category: 33 of the 52 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 55 web hosts we grade, cut by the letter each got. Laravel Forge’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 5 of 54, level with 21
- FFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 54, level with 35
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 54, level with 28
- CEase of useAbove 9 of 54, level with 45
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 24 of 54, level with 30
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 53 web hosts. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Laravel Forge, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Laravel Forge you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 35 of the 54 other web hosts grade higher. It costs $144 a year.
What you could not
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
What this rests on. Laravel Forge’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Laravel Forge?
Forge provisions and manages servers for Laravel and other PHP apps, plus WordPress, Statamic, Nuxt and Next.js. It installs Nginx, PHP, a database and Redis, handles SSL, zero-downtime deploys, queues and scheduled tasks, and lets you use either Laravel VPS servers or your own cloud provider. Pricing is a flat monthly fee that does not include what a cloud provider charges.
Worth knowing
- 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
- 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.
Laravel Forge pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Laravel Forge is a paid product, starting at $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing).
- Starts at
- $12 per month (Hobby, monthly billing)
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $12per month, monthly billing | Unlimited Laravel VPS servers, 1 external server, unlimited sites and deployments, managed databases and community support. |
| Growth | $19per month, monthly billing | Unlimited servers, 5% discount on Laravel VPS and standard support, plus the other features of Hobby. |
| Business | $39per month, monthly billing | Unlimited servers, 15% discount on Laravel VPS and advanced support. |
Read from laravel.com on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Laravel Forge before you buy.
Works with
Laravel Forge alternatives
- Laravel Forge vs Ploi
Free plan · from $10/mo
- Laravel Forge vs RunCloud
Free trial · from $9/mo
- Laravel Forge vs SpinupWP
Free trial · from $12/mo
- Laravel Forge vs GridPane
Free plan · from $19/mo
- Laravel Forge vs DigitalOcean
Free plan · from $4/mo
Common questions
Does Laravel Forge have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Laravel Forge is listed for Web.
Does Laravel Forge have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Laravel Forge is listed for Web.
Is Laravel Forge open source?
Laravel Forge is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does Laravel Forge have an API?
Yes. Laravel Forge offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.