RunCloud review (2026): is it worth $9 a month?
Web server control panel for PHP sites on your own cloud servers
Black Friday: is there a RunCloud sale?
RunCloud report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for managing PHP and WordPress servers
RunCloud is a control panel for PHP sites on servers you rent elsewhere, from $9 a month. Servers are billed separately, Essentials covers one server, and the API, zero-downtime deploys and WAF are Business and above.
Who RunCloud is for
- Fits if you rent your own servers for PHP and WordPress sites
- Works for small setups that need one server on the cheapest plan
Who RunCloud is not for
- 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
Why RunCloud gets a 2.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for money$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.
- DFree plan and trialA 7-day free trial, and the page read doesn't say whether it needs a card. No free plan.
- CFeaturesUnlimited apps, caching, backups, staging, Git deploys and a firewall. A smaller job than hosting, and the API, zero-downtime deploys and WAF need Business.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You connect a cloud provider and set up servers.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean and Cloudflare.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from RunCloud's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. The pricing page showed no figures to our page reader, so the prices stand on the listing. How we review and grade.
Make RunCloud? 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/runcloud#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/runcloud.svg" alt="RunCloud: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where RunCloud stands among web hosts
RunCloud's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 20 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 (D, above 36).
Its paid plans start at $9 a month, against a middle price of $9 for the category: 25 of the 52 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 2 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. RunCloud’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 5 of 54, level with 21
- DFree plan and trialAbove 36 of 54, level with 5
- 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 RunCloud, or make your own?
Your call
RunCloud 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 $108 a year.
What you could make
- It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too.
What you could not
- Speed tests run from real browsers on a schedule.
- It plugs into other products, Vultr, Linode and UpCloud among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. RunCloud’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 RunCloud?
RunCloud is a control panel that sets up and manages web servers you rent from cloud providers such as Vultr, Linode, UpCloud, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud or DigitalOcean. Plans differ by server count, backup storage, staging environments and team features, and none of them includes the server itself. It lists NGINX caching, Git deployment, SSL certificates and a WordPress toolkit.
Worth knowing
- 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
- 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.
RunCloud pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, RunCloud is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly).
- Starts at
- $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly)
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $9per month, billed monthly | 1 server, unlimited web applications, 2 GB of backup storage, Git deployment, server-side caching and 1 staging environment. |
| Professional | $19per 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 | $49per 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 | $399per month, billed monthly | 500 servers, 100 GB of backup storage, up to 5 workspaces, 50 team seats and a higher API rate limit. |
Read from runcloud.io on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with RunCloud before you buy.
Works with
- Vultr
- Linode
- UpCloud
- Hetzner
- AWS
- Google Cloud
- DigitalOcean
- Cloudflare
RunCloud alternatives
- RunCloud vs GridPane
Free plan · from $19/mo
- RunCloud vs SpinupWP
Free trial · from $12/mo
- RunCloud vs Ploi
Free plan · from $10/mo
- RunCloud vs Laravel Forge
From $12/mo
- RunCloud vs Cloudways
Free trial · from $11/mo
Common questions
Does RunCloud have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. RunCloud is listed for Web.
Does RunCloud have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. RunCloud is listed for Web.
Is RunCloud open source?
RunCloud is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does RunCloud have an API?
Yes. RunCloud 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.