Laravel Forge review

Laravel Forge provisions and manages servers for web applications. You can use a Laravel VPS or connect a cloud provider, and Forge keeps root access available. It handles server setup and routine deployment and infrastructure tasks; it does not remove your responsibility for the server itself.

Forge’s described stack includes Nginx, PHP, MySQL, Postgres and Redis. Its tools cover site deployments, automated SSL certificates, database provisioning, backups and monitoring, plus shared real-time terminal sessions. Zero-downtime deployments let you ship updates through deployment scripts without taking the site offline.

That makes Forge a control layer between your app and its server, rather than a fully managed cloud service. You choose the underlying server arrangement and retain access to it, while Forge automates parts of setup and operation. Cloud provider charges are separate from the Forge subscription. The distinction matters when comparing Forge’s subscription price with a service that takes on more server management.

Forge’s appeal is a relatively low platform fee for teams that want direct server control. The pricing page lists Hobby at $12 per month, Growth at $19 and Business at $39. All three include unlimited sites and deployments and zero-downtime deployments. Hobby allows one external server, while Growth and Business list unlimited servers and teammate sharing. Hobby also includes unlimited Laravel VPS servers.

The included server stack and automation can cut down on setup work without hiding the underlying infrastructure. Forge lists Nginx, PHP, MySQL, Postgres and Redis, automated SSL, deployment scripts, and database provisioning, backups and monitoring. A shared terminal is also available for real-time collaboration.

The flexibility can matter more than convenience. In one Reddit discussion, a Forge user preferred it for Statamic projects that use flat files, while another commenter said Forge remained cheaper and more flexible for their needs. Those are individual reports, not a universal cost comparison. Still, Forge suits teams that want to choose their servers, keep root access and avoid paying for a more managed setup they may not need. Growth and Business also list Laravel VPS discounts of 5% and 15%, respectively; VPS prices themselves are not published.

Forge’s subscription is only part of the bill. Cloud provider charges are extra, and the pricing page does not publish their amounts or Laravel VPS prices. Hobby’s concrete cap is one external server; unlimited Laravel VPS servers do not mean unlimited external servers on that plan. Growth and Business lift the server cap, but cost $19 and $39 per month. There is no free plan listed, and annual prices are not published despite the Monthly/Annual toggle. Custom pricing requires contacting sales; a free-trial term is not published.

The other cost is operational responsibility. Forge manages server tasks, but you still own the underlying server work. In one Reddit thread, users described provisioning a replacement server and manually moving sites for OS upgrades; another long-time user said major PHP, Node and Ubuntu upgrades had been tedious, while noting PHP updates might have improved. Treat that as user experience, not a current product limitation.

If you want infrastructure operations handed off, Forge may feel like the wrong trade. Reddit commenters comparing it with Laravel Cloud cited easier scaling and less server upkeep as reasons to move, while others said Cloud was too expensive for their projects. Forge’s lower platform fee comes with more responsibility.

According to the pricing page, Forge starts at $12 per month for Hobby, rises to $19 for Growth, and reaches $39 for Business. That is a $7 step from Hobby to Growth, then a $20 step to Business. Hobby includes one external server; Growth and Business add server sharing with teammates, plus listed Laravel VPS discounts of 5% and 15%, respectively. All three plans list unlimited sites and deployments and zero-downtime deployments. Support moves from community to standard to advanced across those tiers.

The page has a Monthly/Annual toggle, but annual prices are not published. There is no free plan listed; trial availability is not published. The subscription is not the full hosting bill: cloud provider charges are separate, and their amounts are not published. Laravel VPS prices are also not published, so the Growth and Business discounts do not tell you the final server cost. Custom pricing requires contacting sales. Budget for Forge plus your server bill, and confirm the latter before comparing it with managed hosting.

Forge can provision its Laravel VPS servers or connect to a cloud provider, and it keeps root access available. That gives teams control over the server choice, but it also means a move involves more than changing a deployment dashboard: plan for the app, server configuration, database, and deployment process to be accounted for on the destination. The published material does not document a migration workflow, data-export tools, or a one-click exit, so confirm those details before committing.

Leaving Forge does not necessarily mean leaving your cloud provider: Forge manages servers, while provider charges are billed separately. If you leave, check which server and provider arrangements you want to keep, then plan the deployment and database move accordingly. The published source set contains no Reddit posts, so we cannot reliably say what users on Reddit most often cite as a reason for leaving. The clearest trade-off in the available material is control versus hands-off operations: Forge retains root access and manages deployment tasks, but it is not positioned as fully managed hosting.