Summary
Kinsta is a cloud-based host that provides managed WordPress solutions with unparalleled server power and optimization. It revolutionizes managed WordPress hosting performance, speed and security.
Kinsta is an excellent option for WordPress-based professional websites. To provide your users with a good experience, you don’t have to sacrifice security, availability, or speed. It is excellent for SEO and trustworthy enough to run a large Ecommerce site.
For
- Use the Google Cloud Platform
- WordPress-centric security (including DDoS detection, hardware firewalls, etc.)
- Free server-side caching and backups (no need for separate caching plugins)
- A speedy and reliable server stack (HTTP/2, PHP 8, MariaDB, Nginx)
- 30-day refund guarantee
- Unlimited free website migrations from WP Engine, Flywheel, Pantheon and DreamHost
- Free SSL and CDN solutions (KeyCDN integration)
Against
- Not everyone can afford premium rates
- WordPress only
- There is no email hosting service
- Some WordPress plugins banned
- Missing phone assistance
Introduction
Kinsta was founded in 2013 as the world’s most unique WordPress hosting platform.
They formed an in-house team of skilled WordPress engineers that have made it their mission to ensure that their clients’ sites are fast, secure, and stable.
They provide high-performance cloud-based hosting services on the Google Cloud platform for organizations of all sizes.
It is one of several WordPress hosts that have entered the market with features that claim to tackle the usual difficulties website owners face: downtime due to excessive traffic, long load times, etc.
Let’s see if that’s the case!
Plans and pricing
Kinsta offers monthly plans ranging from $35 to $1,650 for various types of websites. This makes it easy to scale up your strategy without spending money on needless resources.
We must be honest and acknowledge that the Kinsta service is not the cheapest solution for WordPress hosting. There are, of course, certain benefits to this!
Kinsta is different because they exclusively provide WordPress Hosting plans, which means you cannot run other website software on their cloud services.
Managed WordPress Hosting
It is essential to remember that the costs shown here are for the monthly payments. Buying a year’s subscription gets you two months for free, which I believe is a good bargain.
Starter – $35/mo
- 1 WordPress website
- 25,000 visits
- 10 GB storage
Pro – $70/mo
- 2 WordPress websites
- 50,000 visits
- 20 GB storage
Business 1 – $115/mo
- 5 WordPress websites
- 100,000 visits
- 30 GB storage
Business 2 – $225/mo
- 10 WordPress websites
- 250,000 visits
- 40 GB storage
Business 3 – $340/mo
- 20 WordPress websites
- 400,000 visits
- 50 GB storage
Business 4 – $450/mo
- 40 WordPress websites
- 600,000 visits
- 60 GB storage
Enterprise 1 – $675/mo
- 60 WordPress websites
- 1,000,000 visits
- 100 GB storage
Enterprise 2 – $1,000/mo
- 80 WordPress websites
- 1,500,000 visits
- 150 GB storage
Enterprise 3 – $1,350/mo
- 120 WordPress websites
- 2,000,000 visits
- 200 GB storage
Enterprise 4 – $1,650/mo
- 150 WordPress websites
- 2,500,000 visits
- 250 GB storage
Since Kinsta offers so many options, it’s no surprise that there are so many plans. Each one is differentiated by the number of websites you may host, the number of monthly visitors you receive, and the amount of storage you can access.
Despite this, every single one of the plans comes with a variety of perks, such as the ones listed below:
- Google Cloud Platform
- Free website migrations. Depending on your plan, you’ll receive 1, 2, or 3.
- Hack and malware removal
- Excellent customer service staff. They only offer chat support; however, their employees are top-notch and available 24/7
- Staging environment for testing your WordPress sites before releasing them live
- WordPress-specific server architecture (optimized, faster, and more secure)
- SLA-backed 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Automatic database optimization
- 30-day refund guarantee
- Multi-user environment
- Daily automated backups and manual backup option
- Performance monitoring tool
- A WordPress plugin that allows for unrestricted migrations from other hosting providers
They also provide storage upgrades, so you do not necessarily need to move to a higher plan if you run out of web space. For $20 per month, you receive 10GB of additional storage space.
Here’s a quick rundown of plans that we’d recommend:
Starter: Ideal for a basic WordPress-hosted company website or blog. If you work with large files, such as a photographer or filmmaker, you may need to move to the next level or purchase a storage upgrade.
Pro: More suitable for small- to medium-sized company websites. Kinsta does not suggest this plan for e-commerce websites; however, a large blog should likely be on this plan.
Business 1: At this point, things get substantial regarding monthly visits and storage. It also has twice as many PHP workers per website as the prior plan, which, according to Kinsta, enables many more requests necessary for E-commerce.
Then, remember that business plans 2, 3, and 4 also have increased monthly visitor and storage capacities. Last but not least, Enterprise plans 1, 2, 3, and 4 increase the numbers of everything else.
Core features
Customers who go for a $25 or more hosting plan will likely switch from another provider, and Kinsta is aware of this. People become frustrated with their existing host’s weaknesses and want to move to more performant service.
The website transfer services offered by Kinsta hosting are just what you need in this situation. Each hosting package has a predetermined amount of free premium website migrations, ranging from 1 to 5, based on your level.
Kinsta will require you to submit a form for this premium transfer in your dashboard. Then Kinsta experts will transfer the website for you, ensuring that everything is stable and your site is migrated without downtime.
Furthermore, all plans provide unlimited basic migrations, which are adequate for most WordPress sites.
Nonetheless, some limits exist.
In addition, you’ll receive the following:
- Included caching: Kinsta has developed a caching plugin specifically for its servers. You no longer need to play with third-party cache plugins to find the most efficient one.
- Daily automated backups with 14-30 day retention: There’s also the option of hourly backups. And perhaps most crucially, you can quickly recover data from any backup with just the press of a button.
- Auto self-repair technology: WordPress is powered by PHP, which occasionally experiences bugs. Kinsta analyzes the status of its infrastructure every minute and makes any necessary adjustments.
- Automatic database optimization: WordPress is notorious for bloating the database over time, and this is not one of its most extraordinary qualities. Every week, Kinsta does a database tune-up to ensure it’s running smoothly.
- Malware and hack cleanup: As impressive as it is, WordPress is also one of the most frequently attacked website technologies. If, for any reason, your website is compromised while being hosted by Kinsta, they will rectify the issue at no cost to you.
- Staging area: A staging area, sometimes known as a staging site, essentially duplicates your primary website. You can use this copy to test new functionality or plugins before integrating them into the primary website version. Because of this, you will be able to recognize possible issues early. You may build staging websites with a few clicks and then effortlessly deploy them to the live environment.
- SSH access, SSL certificates, and PHP 8 functionality are free in the package.
- Except for the most basic one, every plan supports WordPress Multisite.
- Multi-user environment: You can use this if more than one person is responsible for maintaining the site. You can implement different user profiles for your organization and provide those users access permissions to particular parts of the configuration.
- Free CDN connectivity: A Content Delivery Network is the best way to speed up a website, and your price plan determines the available bandwidth.
Considering all of these functionalities makes it easy to see why Kinsta bills at its rates, which are astounding. Regarding WordPress hosting, Kinsta is a great option if you’re a power user who uses staging sites, has multiple users, or needs the most recent PHP versions.
Interface
Customers aren’t typically pleased with the change if a hosting company deviates from the standard cPanel or Plesk panel for controlling their hosted websites.
The MyKinsta dashboard may alter your opinion if you’re one of these folks.
Not only is the MyKinsta dashboard easy to use, but it also gives you access to the 24/7 support staff, the ability to add additional WordPress sites, the ability to perform migrations, the ability to check for plugin updates, the option to take a backup, and even the ability to clear the cache. Additionally, you can effortlessly switch between staging and production environments, adjust your DNS settings, and monitor your WordPress plugins.
Dashboard features include:
- A Kinsta caching plugin
- SSL certificates
- New Relic monitoring
- The ability to switch between several PHP engines
The MyKinsta dashboard is also mobile-friendly, so you can use it on the move from your smartphone or tablet without any problems.
Finally, we’d be shocked if you ignored this unique interface like many others before.
In reality, it’s a breeze to use, contains all the information you need in one location, and looks great.
Support options and quality
Ideally, your objective should be to never to have to speak to anyone from the customer service. However, we all understand that things go wrong from time to time.
If you ask Kinsta, they will tell you that their customer service team comprises only the most qualified individuals. This ensures that a support staff member will never have to forward your question to another professional hoping that one of them would know the solution to your problem.
They instead have a dedicated group of WordPress and Linux experts on hand to answer any questions you may have about your site’s functionality.
In addition, they promise a ticket response time of fewer than five minutes and will contact you as soon as an issue is detected.
Intercom, a sophisticated chat tool that allows you to navigate your dashboard without being confined to a specific window, enables you to access live chat in the MyKinsta dashboard around the clock.
Also, you may always contact their customer service department to get your issue handled.
Why don’t they provide live phone support?
Ticket systems make it easy for them to identify you and your plans. To help troubleshoot issues more precisely, the messaging platforms allow users to attach images, links, videos, and code snippets. During a chat, there can be automatic linkages to the Knowledge Base.
All support tickets and conversations are archived if you or the support staff ever require them again.
Kinsta plans to devote all of its attention to improving its online assistance. So it seems logical that they don’t offer live phone assistance since they claim they can contact you quickly and don’t want any distractions.
The competition
Kinsta really is one of the best. However, you should still be aware of the considerable downsides that might sway your decision away from them:
- Unlike other major web hosting services, they do not currently provide domain name registrations.
- To make things easier, it’s usually a good idea to have your hosting provider host your email accounts. As a result, you can send and receive emails using your domain and control your emails from your hosting account. Unfortunately, the hosting of email accounts is not something that they provide.
- To ensure that Kinsta’s clients have the best hosting experience, the company restricts specific plugins from being used.
If you need all these features, we’d recommend the following alternatives:
Skystra, which emphasizes high performance, speed, and support for WordPress and WooCommerce websites, is an excellent alternative. Prices for hosting 1 WordPress website begin at $4.95 per month, and all hosting plans include free SSL, free CDN, free emails, and advanced features such as premium caching to increase website speed by up to 125%.
The primary distinction between Skystra and Kinsta is their superior service and performance. Learn more about Skystra by reading our review.
With shared hosting options beginning at $2.75 per month and a website builder accessible for $4.95 per month, HostGator is another excellent option for those on a tight budget. HostGator plans include free SSL, a free domain in the first year, and live help around the clock. Read our HostGator review to learn more.
Final verdict
Anyone looking for high performance, ease of use, built-in optimizations, and top-notch customer service can’t go wrong with Kinsta, which is priced somewhat more than the competition but delivers on all counts.
It’s possible to find hosts with comparable performance to Kinsta at a lower price, but the trade-off is typically inferior support, features, and a less-than-average experience.
That’s why Kinsta is the ideal solution for those who want a fast-loading site and don’t want to deal with the complexities of web hosting.
You will obtain a fast-loading site and various helpful features, such as auto backups and staging sites, even without any work on your side. Additionally, you are provided with assistance available around the clock and can assist you with virtually any issue.
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