Fly.io vs Kinsta: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Fly.io and Kinsta to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Fly.io
5.9/10
Fly.io is a developer cloud that runs containerized apps as fast-booting Machines in regions worldwide, billed by usage, with managed Postgres and object storage.
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 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 3/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Reliability | 4/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $2/mo Pay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/mo Single 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $2/mo Pay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/mo Single 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Automatic Backups | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
Fly.io vs Kinsta cost by team size
Fly.io costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Fly.io | Kinsta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 5 users | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 10 users | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 25 users | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) | $35/moSingle 35k (or Single 20GB) |
| 50 users | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) | $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 Fly.io
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $2/mo vs $35/mo
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Kinsta
- Higher Reliability score (9/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Support score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
Fly.io
Pros
- Very low entry cost: a small shared Machine is about $2.19 a month, and invoices under $5 are waived.
- Apps can run in many regions with Anycast routing and global load balancing included at no extra cost.
- Per-hour billing and one-year reserved blocks that save 40 percent give flexible ways to manage cost.
- Managed Postgres plans include high availability, automated backups and connection pooling.
- A HIPAA package with a pre-signed BAA costs $99 a month on any paid plan.
Cons
- Status trackers show recurring network and API incidents through 2025 and 2026, and the CEO admitted reliability problems in 2023.
- The 99.9% uptime SLA is available only with Enterprise support, which starts at $2,500 a month.
- Bills spread across Machines, volumes, egress, IPs and support, which makes costs harder to predict.
- Apps need a Dockerfile and a fly.toml, which adds setup work compared with buildpack-style PaaS products.
- Compute costs more in some regions, up to 1.615 times in Sao Paulo.
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 Fly.io. The largest gap is in Reliability: 4/10 for Fly.io and 9/10 for Kinsta.
Fly.io costs less for 10 users: about $2/mo on its Pay-as-you-go (Machines) plan, against about $35/mo on its Single 35k (or Single 20GB) plan for Kinsta, billed monthly.
No, neither Fly.io nor Kinsta lists a free plan.
Kinsta is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 5/10 for Fly.io.
