Devilbox vs ServerPilot
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Devilbox and ServerPilot.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Devilbox
0 reviews
3.8/5
ServerPilot
0 reviews
ServerPilot is rated higher (3.8 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. ServerPilot is a cloud control panel for managing PHP applications on DigitalOcean, Linode, and other VPS providers. Automated security updates, multiple PHP versions, and app deployment.
Devilbox Docker-based local development environment for multiple PHP stacks | ServerPilot Control panel for PHP and WordPress apps on any VPS (no free tier since pricing rework) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews) | 3.8 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free | paid |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $5/mo |
| 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. | Developers and small agencies running PHP/WordPress sites on their own VPS who want managed security and SSL without giving up provider choice or data ownership |
| 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 option |
| Visit Devilbox → | Visit ServerPilot → | |
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
ServerPilot
Pros
- + Published, decoupled usage pricing: $5/server + $0.50/app entry, billed hourly
- + Security baseline on every tier: firewall default, no exposed management ports, app isolation, automated updates
- + Works on any major cloud provider — you keep root access and data ownership
- + One-click WordPress, AutoSSL via Let's Encrypt, multiple PHP versions per server
- + Migration tooling to move sites and databases between your servers
Cons
- - No free tier (the $0 freemium model is gone); card required at $5/server
- - PHP/WordPress only — no Node, Python, Docker, or Kubernetes workloads
- - Per-app fees compound on servers with many sites
- - No published control-plane uptime SLA; deep metrics gated behind higher tiers
- - Economy-tier support is deprioritized ticket-based help
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