GridPane vs RunCloud
A detailed comparison to help you choose between GridPane and RunCloud.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
GridPane
0 reviews
4.0/5
RunCloud
0 reviews
GridPane is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.0). Free Core plan covering up to 25 websites on your own Vultr server or a managed PeakFreq server RunCloud is a server management panel for deploying PHP and WordPress applications on any VPS. Nginx, Apache, and OpenLiteSpeed support. Integrates with DigitalOcean, Vultr, and any cloud.
GridPane WordPress server control panel for agencies | RunCloud WordPress server management panel | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | Free tier available✓ | From $9/mo |
| Best for | Server-literate WordPress agencies and freelancers managing 10+ client sites who want managed-hosting tooling without per-site pricing | Developers and agencies running PHP/WordPress fleets on their own VPS accounts who want a capable management panel without per-server pricing. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tiermanaged optionteam features | free tiermanaged optionapi access |
| Visit GridPane → | Visit RunCloud → | |
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
RunCloud
Pros
- + Flat panel pricing: 50 servers on the $19/month Professional plan
- + Works with any VPS provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, GCP, Linode, UpCloud, Hetzner, Azure) and keeps root access
- + NGINX or OpenLiteSpeed stacks with tuned configs, caching, HTTP/3 on OLS, and one-click WordPress
- + Backups with included storage plus unlimited external backups to S3/SFTP and other targets
- + Staging, cloning, Git deployment, log viewer, and metrics in one dashboard
Cons
- - No free plan (7-day trial only) and pricing was restructured sharply in 2026
- - Teams, API, atomic deploys, and WAF are gated at the $49/month Business tier
- - MariaDB/MySQL only — no PostgreSQL; no email hosting; stack choice locked per server
- - Concentrates root-level access in a third-party SaaS run by a small company
- - No published uptime SLA for the panel itself
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