Devilbox vs GridPane
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Devilbox and GridPane.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Devilbox
0 reviews
4.2/5
GridPane
0 reviews
GridPane is rated higher (4.2 vs 3.6). Devilbox is a free, open source Docker PHP development environment for local WordPress and PHP development. Pre-configured with Nginx/Apache, MySQL, PHP, and email testing. Free Core plan covering up to 25 websites on your own Vultr server or a managed PeakFreq server
Devilbox Docker-based local development environment for multiple PHP stacks | GridPane WordPress server control panel for agencies | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free | freemium |
| Starting price | Free | Free tier available |
| Best for | WordPress and PHP freelancers, agencies and plugin shops running many projects across multiple PHP versions who want one reproducible, zero-config local environment. | Server-literate WordPress agencies and freelancers managing 10+ client sites who want managed-hosting tooling without per-site pricing |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen source | free tiermanaged optionteam features |
| Visit Devilbox → | Visit GridPane → | |
Devilbox
Pros
- + Completely free and MIT-licensed with public source — no paid tier or account required
- + Automatic vhosts, DNS and browser-trusted SSL for unlimited projects with zero manual configuration
- + Per-project PHP version switching across 5.2 to 8.2, plus five database engines and profiling tools
- + Reproducible environments that eliminate drift between developers and between local and production
- + Nightly automated image builds with CI tests on both amd64 and arm64 architectures
Cons
- - Upstream maintenance has slowed — last recorded push April 2024, PHP images stop at 8.2
- - Requires Docker and Compose literacy; debugging container issues is on you
- - Resource-hungry: a full stack wants 6-8 GB of free RAM plus disk for images and data
- - No managed option, no vendor, no support contract behind the project
- - PHP-centric despite extra language backends — wrong shape for non-PHP stacks
GridPane
Pros
- + Genuinely free Core plan for up to 25 websites
- + One dashboard across multiple cloud providers
- + Tuned Nginx/OpenLiteSpeed stack with page and object caching
- + Strategic investment from Automattic backs long-term viability
- + Agency features: cloning, staging, per-site PHP control
Cons
- - Support tickets excluded from the free tier
- - Requires server and DNS literacy — steep for beginners
- - VPS costs are separate on the Core plan
- - No datacenters of its own; SLA and DDoS questions fall to your provider
- - Pricing churn — older plans retired before add-on replacement shipped
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new hosting and infrastructure providers, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.