Laravel Cloud vs. Laravel Forge

A hosted Laravel platform that delivers managed compute, storage, and data services in a single product, with automatic scaling and optional hibernation to save costs.

A server provisioning and management service that sets up and maintains servers at your chosen provider while giving you full control of the machine and its configuration.

Built specifically for Laravel apps

Works for Laravel and other PHP apps, along with Nuxt and Next.js support

Fully managed; you do not manage OS or server instances

You retain SSH/root access and manage OS updates and customizations

Focus on convenience and predictable operations

Focus on control and deep customization

Cloud adjusts capacity based on actual traffic and can automatically add or remove replicas to match demand. Environments can be configured to hibernate when unused and wake on request, which reduces costs for intermittent workloads.

Forge provisions servers sized to your needs and lets you scale by resizing instances or adding new machines at your provider. This model gives consistent performance for long-running processes but requires manual scaling or custom automation to handle spikes.

Fast Git-to-live with platform builds and managed rollouts

Quick to provision via provider APIs but you manage scaling and OS maintenance

Runs on managed EC2 classes for predictable runtime

You control VM types and runtimes so long lived processes are supported (only if using Ubuntu)

Connect your repository, choose a branch and settings, and Cloud runs builds, migrations, and traffic shifting to new replicas so updates deploy without downtime. The platform manages build agents and orchestration.

Forge connects to your Git provider and uses deploy hooks and commands you specify to publish releases to the server. You get fine-grained control over the deployment lifecycle and can run custom provisioning or maintenance steps on the server itself.

Built into the platform via rolling updates and replicas

Supported out of the box, but depends on your configuration (cannot be enabled retroactively for existing apps)

The Cloud dashboard exposes runtime metrics, request logs, and database telemetry without extra configuration. Security features, including TLS provisioning, edge protections, and backup automation, are managed for you by the platform.

Cloud is SOC2 Type 2 compliant.

Forge provides server metrics, deploy logs, and basic firewall configuration. It automates SSL issuance and can apply recommended firewall rules, but you are ultimately responsible for patching, IAM, and provider-level security controls.

Cloud bills for resources you consume and supports hibernation so compute can pause when idle, reducing baseline costs for spiky workloads (2-3x higher than your average sustained levels). The cost of engineering hours spent managing infrastructure will also be significantly lower.

Calculate your usage and pricing.

Forge charges for the Forge control panel, and you pay your chosen provider separately for server instances, storage, and bandwidth. This model can be cost-effective when you need predictable, always-on instances, but you are responsible for provisioning, infra management, and ongoing server costs.

Usage based with hibernation to lower idle spend

Forge subscription plus provider bills (flat-rate pricing); provider costs depend on server sizes and region

Platform controls autoscale and hibernation settings

You control instance types and autoscaling via your provider tools