# RunCloud review (2026): is it worth $9 a month? > Web server control panel for PHP sites on your own cloud servers Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. 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. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** RunCloud - **Website:** https://runcloud.io - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 7-day trial. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, RunCloud is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $9 per month (Essentials, billed monthly). - **Pricing model:** Free trial - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** 7-day free trial. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | Read from https://runcloud.io/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with RunCloud before buying. ## 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. ## Good for - Developers and agencies who rent their own servers for PHP and WordPress sites - Small setups that need only one server on the cheapest plan - Teams that want role-based access and an API on the Business plan ## 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. 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. - **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. - **Free plan and trial: D.** A 7-day free trial, and the page read doesn't say whether it needs a card. No free plan. - **Features: C.** Unlimited 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: C.** No store rating on record. You connect a cloud provider and set up servers. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean and Cloudflare. These are ToolGPA's own grades. 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. ## Where it 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. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, 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. - You could make: It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too. - You could not: Speed tests run from real browsers on a schedule. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Vultr, Linode and UpCloud among them, and has an API. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Vultr, Linode, UpCloud, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare **Tags:** Public API, Page speed ## Alternatives - [GridPane](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gridpane): WordPress server control panel with a free core plan. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/gridpane-vs-runcloud) - [SpinupWP](https://toolgpa.com/tools/spinupwp): WordPress server management for servers you rent yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/runcloud-vs-spinupwp) - [Ploi](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ploi): Server and site management panel for PHP and Laravel apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ploi-vs-runcloud) - [Laravel Forge](https://toolgpa.com/tools/laravel-forge): Server management and deploys for Laravel, PHP and Node apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/laravel-forge-vs-runcloud) - [Cloudways](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cloudways): Managed cloud hosting on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudways-vs-runcloud) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://runcloud.io/pricing - https://runcloud.io/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/runcloud Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).