Reasons to choose Laravel Forge
Mature, battle-tested, and everywhere. Forge has run production Laravel servers since 2014 — the edge cases are caught, the integrations are deep, and the Laravel community lives there, so there is an answer for every question. If your setup works and you don't want to migrate, that alone is a good reason to stay.
Managed Valkey and object storage. Since June 2026 Forge offers managed Valkey caches and managed object storage as first-party add-ons. strackt runs the same services on the box you own and you bring your own S3 and CDN — coherent for owning your infrastructure, but Forge's bundled convenience is real.
Side by side
Comparison recorded October 2026. Check the linked official pages for current plans and availability.
| Compared | Laravel Forge | strackt |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Provisions, deploys and applies security updates weekly; health checks and heartbeats on all plans, server monitoring on Business |
Provisions, deploys, and manages continuously |
| Configuration drift | Not reconciled; Forge warns that manual and OS-level changes can break its management (docs) |
Recorded configuration reapplied during managed operations |
| Security updates | Automatic OS security updates, weekly (docs); reboots, PHP and MySQL upgrades and OS release upgrades are yours — Forge does not reboot servers automatically (docs) and recommends a new server over an OS release upgrade (docs) |
Security fixes rolled out within 24 hours; routine restarts in a maintenance window you pick, with notice; actively exploited flaws within 24 hours, on four hours notice (reboot policies); kernel and OS release upgrades done in place |
| Disaster recovery | Code rollback to the last 4 releases, zero-downtime deploys on all plans (docs); database backups on Business (docs) |
Code and configuration rollback; available backups recover data |
| Stack detection | Manual selection |
Automatic from your Git repository |
| Pricing | Hobby $12, Growth $19, Business $39 per month; Hobby is one external server, Growth and Business unlimited (live) |
First app free; €5/app/mo excl. VAT after, plus your VPS |
| Stack support today | Vanilla PHP, Laravel, WordPress, Statamic, Node.js, Nuxt, Next.js and static sites (pricing FAQ); managed Valkey + object storage add-ons |
Laravel, plus WordPress, plain PHP, Symfony, Node.js, Next.js and Nuxt in beta |
| Team behind it | Taylor Otwell's Laravel team — full support capacity, first-party framework backing |
Solo founder project — async ticketing support only, smaller capacity |
What changes the bill
A control panel charges per server; strackt charges per application. With more apps on one box, the panel can cost less. The difference buys ongoing management.
- 1 app
- €5.49 vs €15.78
- 3 apps
- €15.49 vs €15.78
- 8 apps
- €40.49 vs €15.78
- 20 apps
- €100.49 vs €15.78
Per month, one shared VPS, every figure excluding VAT and sales tax. Crossover is the fourth application. Hetzner CX23 (€5.49, Germany or Finland, excluding IPv4) is the VPS baseline for both — Hetzner raised cloud prices on 15 June 2026 and retired the CX22 this table previously used. Forge Hobby is $12 and carries unlimited sites on one external server, which is why its column does not climb; Forge Growth is $19 and Forge Business $39. Converted at the ECB reference rate of 25 August 2026, €1 = $1.1662. Re-verified 3 October 2026; prices unchanged.
Before moving an application
Start with a fresh VPS. Deploy the repository, migrate the database and uploads, then verify the application before switching DNS. Your existing panel-managed server is not adopted in place. Cutover is in your hands; we cannot promise zero downtime during migration.
Does strackt support non-Laravel applications?
Yes, in beta: WordPress (as an operated site), plain PHP, Symfony, Node.js, Next.js and Nuxt. A Laravel API and a Next.js or Nuxt frontend can deploy from one repository as two applications. Forge's list is broader today and includes static sites.
What happens to my server if I leave strackt?
Detach the server through a verified handover: strackt activates a standalone configuration and checks the services before releasing management. You keep the server, provider account and running applications.
Can I still SSH into my server?
Yes, with sudo. Use SSH to inspect, debug or run one-off commands. Managed settings come from the recorded configuration; the next managed operation can replace conflicting manual edits.
What does "manage continuously" actually mean?
strackt handles security patching, version updates and reapplying recorded configuration after setup. Routine reboots follow your maintenance window; actively exploited issues can require an urgent reboot with notice.
Who's behind strackt, and what's your support capacity?
strackt is built by Jan Peter, a solo developer. Support is async and hands-on while capacity allows; there is no published SLA during beta. If guaranteed response times are essential, weigh that limit when choosing a provider.