Coolify vs Kinsta Comparison
Compare Coolify vs Kinsta features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Coolify
5.9/10
Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable platform that deploys apps, databases and services onto servers you own. It is aimed at developers who want a self-run alternative to Heroku or Vercel.
Kinsta
7.1/10
Premium managed WordPress hosting on Google Cloud, with Cloudflare CDN, daily backups, staging and an API, sold to businesses, agencies and enterprises.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.9/10 | 7.1/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 9/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 3/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Security | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $5/mo Cloud | $35/mo Single 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Self-hosted | $35/mo Single 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| Features | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Automatic Backups | ||
| Free SSL Certificates | ||
| Git Deployments | ||
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
Coolify vs Kinsta cost by team size
Coolify costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Coolify | Kinsta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeSelf-hosted | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 5 users | FreeSelf-hosted | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 10 users | FreeSelf-hosted | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 25 users | FreeSelf-hosted | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 50 users | FreeSelf-hosted | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Coolify
- Has a free plan (Kinsta does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $35/mo
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Kinsta
- Higher Support score (9/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Security score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for agencies (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Includes Content Delivery Network, which Coolify lacks
Pros & Cons
Coolify
Pros
- The self-hosted edition is free with no feature limits, so the only cost is the VPS.
- Git push deploys, pull request previews and one-click rollback give a Vercel-like workflow on your own servers.
- A catalog of more than 280 one-click service templates plus managed provisioning for Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB.
- No vendor lock-in, because apps run as standard Docker containers on servers you control.
- Coolify Cloud is cheap, at $5 per month for two servers, for teams that do not want to host the control panel themselves.
Cons
- You are responsible for OS patching, disk space, security updates and checking that backups restore.
- No auto-scaling, so capacity has to be added by hand.
- No built-in CDN, and application volume backups require manual snapshots.
- Only admin and member roles, which is too coarse for larger or regulated teams.
- Reviewers report thin documentation for advanced setups and occasional proxy problems that need manual fixes.
Kinsta
Pros
- Every plan includes Cloudflare integration with a 300-location CDN, edge caching and DDoS filtering.
- Reviewers praise the 24/7 support from WordPress engineers, available in five languages.
- Holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, plus GDPR and CCPA compliance.
- A REST API covers sites, environments, backups, caching, domains and DNS, which helps agencies automate their work.
- Migrations are free and handled by Kinsta's team, and every plan includes staging and daily backups.
Cons
- Plans start at $35 a month for a single site, far more than shared hosting costs.
- Single-site plans include only 10 to 15GB of storage.
- Users on Reddit and Trustpilot often complain about visit-based billing, which counts unique IPs per day.
- Some plugins are not allowed on the platform.
- Hosts only WordPress; application, database and static site hosting have moved to Sevalla.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Kinsta scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.1/10 against 5.9/10 for Coolify. The largest gap is in Cost: 10/10 for Coolify and 3/10 for Kinsta.
Coolify costs less for 10 users: free on its Self-hosted plan, against about $35/mo on its Single 35k (or Single 20GB) plan for Kinsta, billed monthly.
Coolify has a free plan; Kinsta does not list one.
Kinsta is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 3/10 for Coolify.
Kinsta has Content Delivery Network, which Coolify lacks.
