Kinsta Review: Is it really worth it?

Kinsta is a premium cloud hosting platform for WordPress websites, dedicated databases, and web apps. It offers ease of use, fast loading speeds, and Google Cloud’s superb computing performance.

You can easily install and manage WordPress sites on the platform and everything is automatically taken care of. For databases, you can host MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, and MariaDB without row count or query limits.

Kinsta also offers app hosting from Docker images using PHP, NodeJS, Ruby, GO, Scala, Python, and Java. This post shows you how easily, efficiently, and reliably you can host in the cloud using Kinsta and what it means for your business.

Web Hosting Is Complex

Hosting a website can be a complex affair – from managing the files and server applications to arranging content distribution, points of presence, scaling your system when the need arrives, and guarding it from DDoS and other security threats.

In simple terms, hosting a high-performance website can be an uphill climb, because you need to work with so many technologies to guarantee success and this can be tasking for even the most experienced web experts. A dedicated host might solve most of these problems, but it can be costly, and it costs even more when it’s time to scale.

On the lower side, hosting a website as cheaply as possible often means resorting to shared hosting. Many years ago, shared hosting was okay, but it has its poor performance problems – which include slow response speed, little CPU allocation, strangulation from other apps that share the same hosts, and susceptibility to security attacks.

Cloud Hosting Is Even More Complex

Cloud hosting solves all of these infrastructure and cost problems associated with hosting websites and applications online. However, it has one big problem – cloud hosting is even more complex. The average website owner will need a detailed course to make sense of a platform like AWS (Amazon Web Services), for instance. And while GCP (Google Cloud Platform) is simpler than AWS, the same complexity problem persists.

A few companies like Heroku and Fly have come up with different solutions to these problems, but none stands out with such a clear proposition to experienced WordPress site owners like Kinsta. Here is a look at Kinsta.

The Kinsta Solution

Kinsta is a managed cloud hosting solution that makes it as easy as possible to host WordPress websites efficiently in the cloud. Kinsta combines the power and scalability of cloud hosting with all the necessary accompanying technologies in a managed package. This allows you to maintain your website or application with ease and little time commitment, thus enabling you to channel more time and effort into your core business.

You can quickly host a WordPress site, a dedicated database, or a docker app that runs PHP, Ruby, Java, Python, Scala, GO, or NodeJS. Everything is managed and scales automatically – so you don’t need to stress yourself.

Kinsta offers unrestricted 24/7 support for all its plans and comes with a 99.9% uptime service level agreement (SLA), which is a great offer for most small and medium-sized businesses.

Pros Of Kinsta

There are many benefits of using Kinsta for website and application hosting. Here are some of them.

1. Time-Saving: Kinsta aims to free its user’s time by making it easy to install and manage a WordPress website, app, or dedicated database.
2. High Performance: Websites and apps hosted on Kinsta also perform very well with fast loading times from Google’s network and the high-performance CPUs of Google Cloud’s C2 virtual machines.
3. Intuitive Platform: The MyKinsta platform is very intuitive and enables you to manage all areas of your web property from a simple and easy-to-use interface.
4. Host WordPress, Apps, & Databases: Kinsta offers you the flexibility to host scalable databases, WordPress sites, or web apps written in either PHP, GO, NodeJS, Ruby, Python, Scala, or Java. Each package has a simple and transparent pricing system, so you can quickly calculate your monthly costs upfront.
5. Automatic & Maximum Scaling: Kinsta hosts your web apps or WordPress sites in containerized environments using Docker and Kubernetes. This setup makes it easy to automatically scale your deployments whenever there is a need. Kinsta scales automatically and charges you any extra costs later, so there’s nothing to worry about.
6. 24/7/367 Expert Support: Kinsta offers 24/7 support via chat in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The system allows a 2-way sharing of links, code, screenshots, and videos that make it easy to automatically gather information about the problems, including technical resources and customer information for fast resolutions. Kinsta’s support system is also backed by engineers who are part of WordPress core development and who use the platform every day. So, it’s little wonder the support team claims a 97% satisfaction rate.
7. Unlimited Users & Cron Jobs: You can add unlimited users to your WordPress sites and create unlimited cron jobs for your apps. Kinsta imposes no limitations, as all its features are available to all plans.
8. Free WordPress Migrations: Kinsta engineers will migrate your current WordPress site from your current host to Kinsta for free.
9. Automatic Daily Backups: The platform automatically backs up your site daily for free. But if you need hourly, 6-hourly, or external backups, then add-ons are also available for that.

Cons Of Kinsta

Kinsta also has some cons and here are the two major ones.

1. Only WP CMS: One downside with Kinsta is that you can currently only install the WordPress content management system, which is great. However, the ability to install other CMS options like Drupal, Joomla, or Magento would be a big plus.
2. No Phone Support: While Kinsta offers top-notch customer service via chat, telephone support is not available. The company maintains, however, that its unique online support system is more efficient and leads to faster resolutions of issues.

Key Kinsta Technical Features

The following are more technical aspects of the Kinsta cloud hosting platform. They show its specs and figures for those who need more detailed data on Kinsta’s offering.

• Runs On GCP: Kinsta runs exclusively on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which offers a premium-tier network with a reliable computing infrastructure. Focusing on Google Cloud also enables Kinsta to offer better-streamlined products with deeper knowledge and integration of GCP’s different services.
• C2 Virtual Machines: All vCPU or virtual central processing units are not the same. Depending on the underlying infrastructure, some will deliver more performance than others. Kinsta runs on the Google Cloud Platform, whose C2 VMs run on Intel Xeon chips with up to 3.9GHz sustained core frequencies.
• Docker & Kubernetes Support: Kinsta supports Docker and Kubernetes. Both containerization technologies are used to manage and deploy cloud applications and services. Docker helps in the packaging, while Kubernetes handles scaling.
• Cloudflare Included: All Kinsta plans come with advanced Cloudflare-powered DDoS protection.
• 99.9% Uptime SLA: Kinsta offers a 99.9% uptime service level agreement, which breaks down to a maximum downtime of 1 minute 26 seconds a day, about 10 minutes a week, 43 minutes a week, or 8.8 hours a year.
• 35 Data Centers & 260+ PoPs: Kinsta’s network allows you to choose from 35 data centers across the globe and 260+ points of presence for the best performance for your site’s visitors.
• HTTP/3 Support: HTTP/3 is the third major version of the protocol used in exchanging information across the World Wide Web. It comes after HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 and aims to fix major shortcomings of the HTTP/2.
• A Staging Environment: If you develop, build, or update software, then you will appreciate cloud staging environments. They provide an exact replica of a production environment in the cloud and are intended for final testing and quality control of an application before it is deployed live.
• Git & Auto Deployments: Kinsta supports the Git version control system that helps developers track changes over time. It can also build updated code once a repository changes and deploys the new code to a live environment.

Kinsta Hosting Packages

Kinsta offers many different packages for all types of developers and projects. This makes it easy to choose the right plan for your needs, based on your type of business and operation’s size. The packages are grouped into 3 – WordPress hosting, app hosting, and database hosting. Following is a quick run-through of them.

1. WordPress Hosting

Kinsta specializes in managed WordPress hosting, making the platform the perfect destination for any business looking to host its WordPress site in the cloud. Here are some of Kinsta’s pricing information for WordPress hosting.

• Starter: Offers 1 WordPress instance, 10GB storage, 100GB CDN, and 25K visits for $35/month
• Pro: Offers 2 WordPress instances, 20GB storage, 200GB CDN, and 50K visits for $35/month
• Business 1: 5 WordPress instances, 30GB storage, 400GB CDN, and 100K visits for $35/month
• Business 2: 10 WordPress instances, 40GB storage, 600GB CDN, and 250K visits for $35/month
• Business 3: 20 WordPress instances, 50GB storage, 800GB CDN, and 400K visits for $35/month
• Business 4: 40 WordPress instances, 60GB storage, 1.2TB CDN, and 600K visits for $35/month
• Enterprise: 60 WordPress instances, 100GB storage, 2TB+ CDN, and 1M visits for $35/month

2. App Hosting

Here are some of Kinsta’s pricing information for its different application hosting plans.

• Standard 1: Offers 0.5 CPU and 1GB RAM for $20 per month
• Standard 2: Offers 1 CPU and 2GB RAM for $40 per month
• Standard 5: Offers 8 CPUs and 16GB RAM for $320 per month

• Memory Optimized 1: Offers 0.5 CPU and 2GB RAM for $35 per month
• Memory Optimized 2: Offers 1 CPU and 4GB RAM for $70 per month
• Memory Optimized 5: Offers 8 CPUs and 32GB RAM for $480 per month
  
• Persistent Storage: 10 GB for $3 per month, 20GB for $6, and so on
• Build Machines: Offers 1 CPU and 4GB RAM for $0.02 per minute
• Bandwidth: Internal is free, external is $0.14 per GB

3. Database Hosting

Here are some of Kinsta’s pricing information for database hosting.

• Database 1: Offers 0.25 CPU, 0.25GB RAM, and 1GB storage for $18 per month
• Database 2: Offers 0.5 CPU, 2GB RAM, and 5GB storage for $34 per month
• Database 3: Offers 1 CPU, 4GB RAM, and 10GB storage for $65 per month
• Database 4-8: goes from 2 to 30 CPUs for $1,850 per month
• Database 9: Offers 60 CPUs, 240GB RAM, and 100GB storage for $3,250 per month

Frequently Asked Questions

Following are frequently asked questions regarding the Kinsta cloud hosting service and its features.

Q: What kind of website can I host on Kinsta?

A: You can currently host a WordPress site, a dedicated database, or a scalable application running on PHP, GO, Scala, Ruby, NodeJS, Python, or Java.

Q: Does Kinsta offer domain registration?

A: No, it currently does not.

Q: Is Kinsta really fast?

A: Yes, Kinsta is fast. The only platforms that might beat it in speed are major cloud platforms like GCP and AWS.

Q: Does Kinsta support Git?

A: Yes, Kinsta supports Git.

Q: Can I host my email on Kinsta?

A: No, Kinsta does not offer an email hosting solution.

Q: How many users does Kinsta support?

A: Kinsta supports unlimited users.

Q: Can I try Kinsta for free?

A: Yes, you can try the Database and Application hosting offers free for one month. The WordPress hosting package comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Conclusion

As you have seen, Kinsta stands out as a cloud hosting platform for WordPress sites and web applications, with its emphasis on ease of use, security, scalability, and speed.

Whether you are an individual starting off in your web journey or you are a seasoned website owner looking for the best cloud hosting platform for your WordPress-based business, Kinsta definitely offers you the tools you need to succeed.