Laravel//Updated
Managed Laravel hosting vs running your own VPS
What a Laravel app needs from a server, what a VPS asks of you, and what our managed hosting covers from $99 a month.
Nitish Trivedi
Web Developer
If shared hosting no longer fits, you face a clear choice. Run your own server, add a provisioning tool or pay for managed hosting. Managed hosting fits when you want nights and weekends back and one team to carry the server work.
In short
- A Laravel app needs PHP, queues, scheduler, cache, database, SSL, deploys, backups and monitoring.
- Your own server gives full control but leaves patches, backups and 3am alerts to you.
- A provisioning tool builds servers for you but leaves night cover with your team. Tools such as Laravel Forge sit in this middle group.
- Our managed hosting starts from $99 USD a month with the $49 care plan at no extra cost.
This is what each route asks of you.
| Your own VPS | VPS + provisioning tool | Managed Laravel hosting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server setup | You build it by hand | The tool builds it from your cloud account | We build it on dedicated KVM hardware in Vancouver |
| OS/PHP patching | You test each fix and pick the reboot hour | You still decide when fixes land and you test them | We apply fixes for you |
| Queues, scheduler and SSL | You set up workers, cron, cache and certs | The tool runs your setup steps but you tend them after | We set them up and tend them |
| Backups and test restores | You schedule copies and prove restores | You still prove restores with real tests | Nightly backups with copies kept off site |
| Monitoring and 3am alerts | You answer each alert | You watch the feed and answer at night | We watch around the clock and respond |
| Laravel/package updates | You update Laravel and packages and test each release | You update and test each release | Minor updates and same day patches are in the care plan |
| Best for | Teams with server skill and night cover | Teams with server skill who want faster setup | Teams who want one invoice for server and app care |
What a Laravel app needs from a server
A Laravel app is more than PHP pages. It runs background jobs, timed tasks, cache, sessions and a database behind SSL.
Plan for each of these:
- PHP with the right version, extensions and opcode cache
- Queue workers that restart after failure and after each deploy
- Scheduler fired from one cron entry each minute
- Cache and sessions in Redis or the database so they survive deploys
- Database backups you have restored in a test
- SSL that renews on its own, safe deploys and logs in one place
Miss one piece and the site looks fine while jobs pile up or reminders never send. That is why the server choice matters more than the server invoice.
Two small configs carry most of that risk. A Supervisor program keeps queue workers alive across failures and deploys:
[program:laravel-worker]
command=php /var/www/app/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3 --max-time=3600
autostart=true
autorestart=true
user=www-data
numprocs=2And one cron entry fires the scheduler each minute:
* * * * * cd /var/www/app && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1On managed hosting we set up and tend both. On your own server both are yours to configure and watch.
What managed should mean
Managed stretches far, so pin it down in writing. Ask each provider these questions:
- Who applies operating system and PHP patches and on what schedule
- Who sets up and tends queues, the scheduler, Redis and SSL
- Where backups go, how often they run and who test restores them
- Who watches monitoring day and night and what happens when the app goes down
- What uptime promise backs the service and what credit follows a miss
- Whether app care is part of the price or a separate bill
- Where the servers live and whose hardware your app runs on
- How you leave with your code, database and domain
Exact answers show the team has done this work before. Vague answers show they will improvise on your app.
What our hosting includes
Our managed Laravel hosting starts from $99 USD a month for apps with up to 10,000 tracked records. Each hosted app has the $49 Laravel maintenance care plan at no extra cost. Larger apps run on their own dedicated server and we quote them after a look at your traffic.
Each hosted app has:
- Dedicated CPU, RAM and NVMe sized to your app
- SSL, queues, scheduler and Redis set up and managed
- Nightly backups copied to a second location
- Edge DDoS protection with fast DNS
- 99.9% uptime SLA with credit on your next invoice if we miss it
- Free migration and hosting for any Laravel app, whoever built it
Our servers are our own hardware in Vancouver run with Soraxus. We only host Laravel apps, which lets us look after each one well. The first security audit tells us what we take on.
If server work eats your evenings, move to our managed Laravel hosting. Tell us where your app runs today, which Laravel and PHP versions it uses and what it tracks, and we will move it over free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I move from Forge to managed hosting?
Yes. Migration is free: we copy your code, database and files, set up SSL, queues and backups, test everything, then switch traffic over. Tell us where your app runs today and which Laravel and PHP versions it uses.
Who handles queues and the scheduler on managed hosting?
We do. Workers, the scheduler cron entry, Redis and SSL are set up and tended as part of hosting, and the care plan watches queues around the clock.
Do I keep root access to the server?
Managed hosting means we run the server, so there is nothing for you to patch or log into at night. You keep full ownership of your code, database and domain, and you can take all three with you if you leave.
What happens if the app goes down at night?
We watch every hosted app around the clock and respond as soon as something fails. Hosting carries a 99.9% uptime SLA, with a credit on your next invoice if we miss it in a month.