Note, some of the following links are affiliate links. This means I may receive a commission (at no cost to you) if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me create useful articles like this one. Thanks for your support!
What is Kinsta?
Kinsta is modern, managed WordPress hosting built on the Google Cloud platform. It’s designed for speed and security, running on the latest infrastructure. Kinsta is different than standard shared hosting or managing your own VPS.
The common problem with shared hosting is that servers are not always state of the art, and as the name implies, resources are shared between users. At some point, you will likely run into the problem of a server not responding or going down for an extended period.
Running your own VPS means setting up the server properly to begin with, constantly monitoring the server, and applying security and software updates as soon as possible. Most people running a WordPress site are not server administrators, and should not try to set up or manage a VPS.
With Kinsta managed WordPress hosting, you get a modern server environment on the Google Cloud Platform, and you don’t have to worry about the underlying software. Instead, you get to focus on running your WordPress site which is what you should be spending your time on.
Technical Overview
Kinsta is different than shared hosting or a VPS environment. Built on the Google Cloud Platform, each WordPress website exists in its own isolated container. The required resources (Linux, Nginx, PHP, and MySQL) are private and not shared between hosting accounts, or even between different websites on the same account. The container-based architecture helps keep websites secure, and isolates any potential problems.
As Kinsta is a modern WordPress host, you will have access to all the good stuff, including:
- A CDN (content delivery network) to speed up your site
- SSL (secure sockets layer) with Let’s Encrypt to serve your site over https and improve SEO (search engine optimization)
- The latest versions of PHP 7 (Including PHP 7.4)
- Automated daily backups
- A staging environment to test changes and updates
- Page caching at the server-level
- SSH access, Git, and WP-CLI for developers
- A beautiful site dashboard that provides some analytics and usage insights
- Multi-user account access with fine-tuned permissions
- Choice of 20 worldwide data centers
- Free site migrations
- Hack cleanup guarantee
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Learn more about Kinsta’s features
Dashboard and Features Overview
The Kinsta dashboard is modern, well-designed, and easy to use. The dashboard is your main control panel for all things hosting-related. Kinsta’s dashboard is really the best I’ve seen in terms of modern design, and making it easy to do WordPress site related tasks.
Kinsta now has a new demo of their control panel so you can try it out even if you’re not a customer. Very cool!
Traffic stats
You have a clear overview of your sites, resource usage, and even some traffic stats. Once you select a site from the dashboard, you have access to more tools. You have easy access to frequently used tasks such as setting up SSH access or phpMyAdmin.
Daily Backup
You have access to daily backups and a simple one-click restore. The length of daily backup storage will depend on your plan. Starter, Pro, and Business 1 & 2 plans retain backups for 14 days. Business 3 & 4 plans retain backups for 20 days, and Enterprise plans give you 30 days of backup retention.
Developer Tools
The most useful area of the Kinsta dashboard is the Tools section. From there, you can clear the cache, restart PHP, enable debugging, set up an SSL certificate, and more.
Kinsta includes a very useful Search and Replace feature. If you’ve used WP-CLI, this is basically a front-end interface for that. If you’re someone that uses search and replace infrequently and would rather use a visual interface instead of the command line, this makes it really easy.
You can also manage your site redirects from the Kinsta dashboard, keeping them in one place. You don’t have to edit any nginx.conf or .htaccess files, or use any WordPress redirect plugins. Yay!
Other handy features include the ability to view your site logs right from the dashboard and deny a problem IP address.
Other Highlights
Kinsta allows you to set up multiple users for the same account so you can collaborate with account administrators, website developers, and others. Your client can create an account, and then invite you as a developer. Once you log in, you can easily switch between sites.
Kinsta provides one free site migration. You can migrate other sites as well for a fee. We used the site migration just to avoid the hassle of doing it ourselves. It worked without issue, and we were able to review the site on staging before going live. The folks at Kinsta will let you know if you have an incompatible plugin or other site issue.
Pricing
Starting at $30, the pricing is reasonable. It’s not inexpensive, but you get what you pay for in this case. And you start to get a break the more sites you add. A five website account will run $20 a site or $100 monthly. Check out Kinsta pricing.
Limitations
One limitation to be aware of is that pushing from staging to live replaces the live database. Being familiar with Pantheon, I’m accustomed to pushing only the files from staging to live. This is handy as it allows you to test out a new design or feature before deploying it.
With Kinsta, you’ll have to deploy both the files and the database from staging to live. This workflow is not going to work for everybody, and it may limit the staging server to just a testing server.
Recommendation
Kinsta will work well for businesses looking for an upgrade from shared hosting. If you are just starting out and don’t have much traffic, you may be able to get away with shared hosting in the beginning.
As your business grows, a host such as Kinsta will allow you to handle greater traffic with ease and keep your site running at peak performance.
FAQs
What is Kinsta?
Kinsta is a modern WordPress host built on the Google Cloud platform. Designed for speed and security, Kinsta is different than standard shared hosting or running your own VPS. With Kinsta managed WordPress hosting, you get a modern server environment on the Google Cloud Platform, and you don’t have to worry about the underlying software. Instead, you get to focus on running your WordPress site which is where you should be spending your time.
What is the best hosting for WordPress?
The best hosting for WordPress is going to depend on your individual needs. If your website is a small informational site for your business or a personal site, high-quality shared hosting may be fine just starting out.
With higher traffic sites, e-commerce sites, or mission critical business sites, investing in a managed WordPress host is a good idea. Higher quality hosts will give you more resources to handle traffic spikes and optimize your site performance.
Do I need managed WordPress hosting?
If you are just starting out and don’t have much traffic, you may be able to get away with shared hosting. As your business grows, a host such as Kinsta will allow you to handle greater traffic with ease and keep your site running at peak performance. Kinsta will work well for businesses looking for an upgrade from shared hosting.
