Ploi vs strackt — honest comparison — strackt [ ](/ "Home") [How It Works](/how-it-works) [Pricing](/pricing) [Company](/company) [ How It Works ](/how-it-works) [ Pricing ](/pricing) [ Company ](/company) Comparison ---------- Ploi vs strackt =============== Ploi provisions your server. strackt manages it. Ploi is a fine server panel. Mature, multi-stack, with built-in monitoring that goes deeper than most of the category. We're not trying to win Ploi users who are happy with their setup. This page is for the developers who started with Ploi, hit the maintenance treadmill, and started wondering whether someone else could just handle it. Where Ploi wins --------------- We start here on purpose. ------------------------- Ploi has real strengths strackt doesn't try to match. - **Stronger built-in monitoring on paid tiers.** On Ploi's Pro tier (€13/mo) and above, you get real-time server monitoring — CPU, memory, disk, network, with threshold alerts — plus Server Insights, an automated configuration analyzer that flags issues and offers one-click fixes. The Unlimited tier (€30/mo) adds uptime monitoring across daily, weekly, and monthly windows. strackt's monitoring is lighter today; we plan proactive alerts with developer-language framing, but Ploi's existing monitoring depth on its higher tiers is a real strength right now. - **Broader stack support today.** PHP, Laravel, Node, and static deploys, plus a Docker-server option. strackt is Laravel-focused at launch — if you need Node or static-only workflows today, Ploi covers more ground. (See the Docker FAQ below for an honest read on what each side actually does with containers.) - **Mature, loyal community.** Smaller than Forge's, but Ploi users tend to be Ploi loyalists. The product has been polished over years against real customer feedback. - **Flat-rate at every scale.** Per-server panel pricing. Past around 20 applications on a server, the per-app math flips in Ploi's favor — same shape as the Forge comparison. - **An actual team behind it.** Ploi ships from a small but real team. strackt is a solo founder project — async ticketing only, smaller capacity. Smaller gap than Forge or Laravel Cloud, but it exists. If team-backed support matters to you, Ploi has more of it than we do. Where strackt fits ------------------ Ploi sets up. strackt manages. ------------------------------ A dev lead at a 5–10 person company, running on Ploi today. The setup works. They're not in crisis. But they're tired of the maintenance treadmill — the patches, the OS upgrades, the "did this server drift?" anxiety. They want to stop thinking about servers and start thinking about product. - **Ploi sets up. strackt manages.** Ploi provisions your server, deploys your app, and gives you good monitoring. After that, every patch, every OS update, every configuration drift, every recovery is on you. strackt manages the server continuously — security patches applied automatically, configuration enforced declaratively, recovery as a one-click action. - **Configuration drift goes away.** Your strackt server always matches its specification. If something has been changed manually, the next configuration cycle reverts it — or surfaces it for your review. Ploi shows you what's happening; strackt enforces what should be happening. - **Disaster recovery shrinks from hours to seconds.** On Ploi, recovering a broken server usually means a backup restore. On strackt, every change creates a checkpoint. Roll back in seconds. Or rebuild from blueprint in minutes — same configuration, clean slate. - **Long-term work is on us.** Distribution upgrades (Ubuntu LTS to LTS), fundamental service upgrades (PHP minor versions, MySQL major versions), and the slow-burning maintenance that piles up over years — strackt does that work continuously so you never inherit a five-year-old box you're afraid to upgrade. - **Opinionated depth, not feature breadth.** strackt won't add a thin Docker option to chase a feature checkmark. We chose NixOS deliberately and we go deep — declarative configuration, distribution upgrades, atomic rollback. The trade-off: narrower stack support today. We'd rather do fewer things well than many things shallowly. Side by side ------------ Numbers as of April 2026; verify on the official Ploi site linked next to every Ploi cell. Ploi strackt Primary object Server — open it to see what is on it Application — open it to see it running What it does Provisions, deploys, monitors Provisions, deploys, and manages continuously After deployment You maintain strackt maintains Configuration drift Your problem (visible in monitoring) Enforced — server always matches its specification Security updates Manual or scheduled, your responsibility Automatic, applied within 24 hours Long-term maintenance Your responsibility (distro upgrades, major service versions) Continuous (LTS-to-LTS, PHP minor, MySQL major, etc.) Disaster recovery Backup restore (hours) Instant rollback (seconds) + rebuild (minutes) Built-in monitoring Server monitoring on Pro (€13/mo) and above; uptime monitoring on Unlimited (€30/mo) Lighter today; proactive alerts on the roadmap Stack support today PHP / Laravel / Node / static, plus a basic Docker-server option Laravel-focused — deliberate depth over breadth Pricing Free (1 app, 1 server) / Basic €8 / Pro €13 / Unlimited €30 — all flat-rate per account, plus your VPS ([live](https://ploi.io/pricing)) First app free; €4/app/mo after, plus your VPS Team behind it Small but real team — broader support capacity Solo founder project — async ticketing only, smaller capacity Total cost — what you actually pay each month --------------------------------------------- Hetzner CX22 (€4.50/mo) is the VPS baseline for both columns. Ploi tier names verified on ploi.io/pricing as of April 2026; verify your specific case on the live link next to the Pricing row above. Ploi strackt 1 app (side project) **€4.50** (Ploi Free + €4.50 VPS) **€4.50** (free + VPS) 3 apps (small SaaS) ~€12.50 (Ploi Basic €8 + €4.50 VPS) **€12.50** (€8 + VPS) 8 apps (growing) ~€17.50 (Ploi Pro €13 + €4.50 VPS — adds server monitoring) **€32.50** (€28 + VPS) 20 apps (agency) ~€34.50 (Ploi Unlimited €30 + €4.50 VPS — adds uptime monitoring + team) **€80.50** (€76 + VPS) **Honest read.** Ploi's flat-tier model means it's cheaper than strackt on raw price at every scenario shown — even Ploi's free tier covers a single app on a single server. strackt's per-app €4 adds up faster than Ploi's per-account flat rate. We're not the cheap option. The strackt price includes continuous management Ploi doesn't (automatic patching, configuration enforcement, instant rollback, distribution upgrades). If your team has the bandwidth for ongoing maintenance and you can absorb upgrade work in-house, Ploi is genuinely cheaper. If you'd rather buy back the hours your team would otherwise spend reconciling servers, strackt's higher per-app price is paying for the management, not for cheaper hosting. When Ploi is the right pick --------------------------- We mean this. ------------- - You want full control of the server day to day, and you enjoy that work. - You're running mixed stacks today — PHP, Node, or static-only deploys — that strackt doesn't support yet. - Built-in monitoring depth is a non-negotiable feature for your team. - You're past 5–8 applications and the per-app math favors Ploi's flat tiers. Any of those — pick Ploi. We're not trying to change your mind. When strackt is the right pick ------------------------------ You started with Ploi. The maintenance is starting to add up. ------------------------------------------------------------- - You started with Ploi, the maintenance is eating into product time, and you're looking for the next step. - You want someone else to handle patches, drift, recovery, and long-term distribution upgrades — without giving up your VPS or your provider relationship. - Configuration enforcement matters: your servers should always match their specification. - You'd rather ship features than reconcile infrastructure. - You don't need Docker, and you're happy on Laravel + a couple of services. How does moving from Ploi to strackt actually work? We can't promise zero downtime — strackt doesn't control your Ploi server, its DNS, or its routing. The path is honest and predictable: you keep your provider relationship, strackt provisions a new VPS at that provider, and we deploy your existing applications onto it. You verify everything on the new machine, then cut DNS over when you're ready. The cutover is in your hands. Your old Ploi box stays exactly as it was until you decide to retire it. Does strackt support Docker like Ploi does? No, and we don't plan to. Two honest things to know. First: strackt is built on NixOS and configures whole servers declaratively — different bet, deliberately made. Second: Ploi's Docker offering is fairly thin. They install Docker on a server type and expose an API to start containers (with optional Compose). It's not a Docker-native orchestrator — the documentation itself is sparse. If your apps are genuinely Docker-first — multi-container stacks, Compose-driven workflows, registry integration as a first-class concern — a dedicated Docker-native platform like Coolify is a better fit than either Ploi or strackt. If you can be served by Laravel-on-NixOS, strackt is the better managed experience. We won't add a thin Docker option to chase a feature checkmark; we'd rather do fewer things well. Can I still SSH into my server? Yes — full SSH with sudo. Change anything you like. The honest part: strackt enforces the server's specification continuously. If you change something that conflicts with what we manage, the next configuration cycle puts it back. This is the feature, not a limitation — it's how we keep the server from drifting into a broken state. SSH stays open for inspection, debugging, and one-off ops; the source of truth for configuration is the spec, not whatever you typed at 2am. What does "manage continuously" actually mean? Short term: security patches applied within 24 hours. Configuration enforced — your server always matches its specification, no drift. Proactive monitoring with developer-language alerts on the roadmap (Ploi already has stronger monitoring today; we plan to close that gap). Instant rollback and blueprint rebuild as first-class operations. Long term: distribution upgrades (Ubuntu LTS to LTS), fundamental service upgrades (PHP minor versions, MySQL major versions), and the slow-burning maintenance work that normally piles up over years on a Ploi server. We do that work continuously. Who's behind strackt, and what's your support capacity? Honest answer: strackt is a solo founder project today. One developer (Jan Peter), pre-launch, building toward the first cohort. Support is async ticketing — developer-to-developer, no 24/7 phone lines. Ploi ships from a small but real team; that team has more capacity than we do. The gap is smaller than against Forge or Laravel Cloud, but it's still real. If support volume or response-time guarantees are a hard requirement for your business, weigh that. Early access is invite-based and small on purpose so the support load stays manageable while we grow into it. Your Laravel apps. Less of your time. ------------------------------------- If Ploi has gotten you this far and the maintenance is starting to add up, strackt is the next step. Same provider, same SSH access — but a new VPS, provisioned by strackt and ready for us to deploy your existing applications onto. You keep your provider relationship; we take care of everything that comes next. Join the Waitlist Join You're on the list! [What to expect](/early-access) Early access opens mid-2026. Invite-based, small cohort, hands-on onboarding. Get started ----------- Your servers. Your provider. Your data. Our problem. Deploy your first app in minutes. Early access opens mid-2026. 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