Ploi review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Server and site management panel for PHP and Laravel apps
Black Friday: is there a Ploi sale?
Ploi report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for managing PHP and Laravel servers
Ploi manages servers and sites for PHP and Laravel apps, with a free plan for one server and one site. The free plan is 5 deployments a month, servers are billed separately, and there is no 24/7 support.
Who Ploi is for
- Fits if you run Laravel or PHP apps on your own servers
- Works for freelancers who need one free server and site
Who Ploi is not for
- Tight if you stay free: 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments a month
- Watch out: servers are billed separately
- Not for you if you need 24/7 support, as the FAQ says there isn't any
- Watch out: euro prices are converted to dollars at a rate that can move
Why Ploi gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyBasic is $10 a month for 5 servers, Pro $16 and Unlimited $36, with server costs paid to your provider. Prices are set in euros and converted.
- CFree plan and trialFree for 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments a month, plus a 5-day Pro trial with no card. 5 deployments is a cap you'll hit.
- CFeaturesProvisioning, Laravel-aware sites, queues, cron jobs, load balancing, an API and an MCP server. It does the server-panel job fully, but that's a smaller job than hosting.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You connect a provider and set up servers and sites.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with a mobile app listed, plus DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and AWS EC2.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Ploi'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 Ploi? 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/ploi#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/ploi.svg" alt="Ploi: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Ploi stands among web hosts
Ploi's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 31 of the 54 other web hosts we grade, and level with 13.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 24 of 54) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $10 a month, against a middle price of $9 for the category: 28 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. Ploi’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 5 of 54, level with 21
- CFree plan and trialAbove 42 of 54, level with 6
- 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 Ploi, or make your own?
Your call
Ploi sits between: not beyond making, and not a weekend's work either.
What you would give up is listed below. Whether that is worth the price is your call. It costs $120 a year.
What you could make
- It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too.
What you could not
- It plugs into other products, DigitalOcean, Hetzner and Vultr among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations.
What this rests on. Ploi’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 Ploi?
Ploi is a panel for provisioning and running your own servers, with site management, deployments, databases, firewall, queues and cron jobs in one dashboard. It detects Laravel apps and also handles WordPress sites, on servers at providers such as DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and AWS EC2. Pricing is flat per month by server count, and server fees are not included.
Worth knowing
- Ploi does not include server fees; you pay your server provider separately.
- The pricing page prices in euros and shows dollar figures converted at an exchange rate that can vary.
- There is no 24/7 support, according to the pricing page FAQ.
- Team management, backups, monitoring and other features are listed by plan in a comparison table; the free plan stops at 1 server and 5 deployments a month.
Key features
- Server installation
- Servers are provisioned with NGINX, PHP and Redis/Valkey by default, on providers including DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and AWS EC2.
- Laravel-aware site management
- The panel detects Laravel apps, and also lists WordPress support, deployments, queues, cron jobs and multiple PHP versions.
- Load balancing and status pages
- Traffic can be spread over several servers, and custom status pages keep customers informed.
- Teams and access
- Servers can be shared with co-workers, and the pricing table lists team management, domain aliases and tenants.
- API and MCP server
- An API and an MCP server let AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor manage servers.
- Mobile app
- The features menu lists an app for managing sites and servers on the go.
Ploi pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Ploi has a free plan, and paid plans start at $10 per month (Basic, up to 5 servers).
- Starts at
- $10 per month (Basic, up to 5 servers)
- Free plan
- 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments per month.
- Free trial
- 5-day trial of the Pro plan, no credit card required; it then drops to the free plan.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 1 server and 1 site, with 5 deployments a month. |
| Basic | $10per month, billed monthly | Up to 5 servers, unlimited sites and deployments, and 60 API requests a minute. |
| Pro | $16per month, billed monthly | Up to 10 servers, unlimited sites and deployments, and 120 API requests a minute. |
| Unlimited | $36per month, billed monthly | Unlimited servers and sites, and 240 API requests a minute. |
Read from ploi.io on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Ploi before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Annual discount10% off with yearly billing
The pricing page says yearly pricing saves 10%: Basic is $108 a year, Pro $172.80 and Unlimited $388.80 in dollars as displayed.
Stated on ploi.io - EducationStudent discount
The FAQ says Ploi offers student discounts and points to a requirements page.
Stated on ploi.io
Works with
Ploi alternatives
- Ploi vs Laravel Forge
From $12/mo
- Ploi vs RunCloud
Free trial · from $9/mo
- Ploi vs SpinupWP
Free trial · from $12/mo
- Ploi vs GridPane
Free plan · from $19/mo
- Ploi vs Cloudways
Free trial · from $11/mo
Common questions
Does Ploi have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Ploi is listed for Web.
Does Ploi have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Ploi is listed for Web.
Is Ploi open source?
Ploi is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does Ploi have an API?
Yes. Ploi 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.