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Kinsta
Kinsta WordPress Hosting is a premium hosting solution.
In this Kinsta Managed WordPress hosting review, Ill test Kinstas features to understand its benefits and shortcomings.
Based on my evaluation, youll be able to determine if its the right fit for your hosting needs!
What is Kinsta WordPress Hosting?
Kinsta runs on theGoogle Cloud Platform.
This explains its high performance and ability to scale for high-traffic blogs.
It offers excellent uptime with low site load time.
During my research, I discovered that Kinsta offers secure hosting.
It utilizes isolated container technology and Cloudflare integrations with Enterprise-level firewall security and DDoS protection.
Kinsta follows themalware security pledge, where they take full responsibility if a WordPress site gets hacked.
Theyll remove malware and undo damage free of cost.
The platforms custom MyKinsta dashboard simplifies the user experience.
Note: Kinstas managed service handles setup, administration, management, and support.
In this section, Ill cover 8 reasons why you should use Kinsta for your WordPress needs.
Googles Top CPU Servers
Kinstas infrastructure is powered by Googles fastest servers, the C3D and C2 VMs.
Edge caching is included in all Kinsta plans and is enabled by default.
Kinsta offers other types of caching, including:
3.
High-Performance CDN
Kinstas CDN utilizes high-performance Cloudflare CDN integration free of cost.
Each Kinsta site gets Kinsta CDN enabled by default.
Like Edge Caching, you’re free to turn itON/OFFby going toMyKinsta > Caching > CDN.
There, you might erase the CDN cache, exclude files from CDN, and change image optimization options.
Kinsta also supports third-party CDN providers, including KeyCDN, Sucuri, and Amazon CloudFront.
MyKinsta Dashboard
I found the MyKinsta dashboard to be highly intuitive.
It provides access to recent activity, notifications, and WordPress analytics for all your sites.
Additionally, it gives you direct access to a plethora of options, including:
5.
The APM tool helps you understand why your site is slow by identifying the root cause.
It monitors and analyzes slow transactions, hooks, WordPress plugins, database queries, or external requests.
Keeping it active all the time might impact the sites performance.
Security
Kinsta provides a highly secure WordPress hosting environment.
It uses an enterprise-level firewall to protect the site against third-party intruders.
Automatic Daily Backups & Uptime Monitoring
For complete peace of mind, Kinsta performs automatic daily database backups.
It simplifies adding developers to sites as well.
Additionally, you’re free to monitor users via theUser activitytab, as shown below.
To test their services, I signed up for their 1-month free trial for the plan Single 35K Monthly.
Note:Youll need a credit card to sign up for the trial.
Once logged in, youll notice the easy-to-use and navigable MyKinsta Dashboard.
It gives you a glimpse of your sites.
For new owners, you’re free to request a migration or create a site yourself.
Migrating/Creating a WordPress site
I went ahead and created a site.
It gave me three options.
Each of these has its own use cases.
For example, an empty environment is great for developers who want to manually install WordPress.
you might also do it fromWordPress Sites > Add Site > Request Migration.
I went ahead and chose the first option, Install WordPress.
As Kinsta is security- and performance-focused and manages WordPress hosting, they use updated PHP and WordPress versions.
When testing, it installed the latest PHP 8.2 version and WordPress 6.6.2 version.
Some of these are tagged as Boosted, which are faster infrastructures that are available at no extra cost.
For test purposes, I selected the Mumbai (Boosted) data center.
Here, CDN and Edge Caching are enabled by default.
Next, youll need to set up a WordPress site.
Kinsta took 30 seconds to create the site.
Once the site was created, it opened the WordPress sites section and shared the Go Live Checklist.
Configuring the Site/Adding Domain
Kinsta lets you manage your site by providing tons of options.
After a couple of tries, I was able to verify and redirect my domain to Kinsta.
The best part is that Kinsta guided me through the whole process and helped me troubleshoot whenever needed.
For example, ourgeekflarelabs.comdomain has multiple redirects.
Kinsta Performance Test
Kinstas unique selling point is its performance.
To see if the claims are right, I performed some performance tests.
This signifies the importance of choosing the right server location for your business.
Note: I asked support to change the region to a new server.
This is expected behavior, as choosing a server near your audience is always the best strategy.
The LCP was 222ms.
Thats the expected result for a demo site.
After this, I retested the site with a Los Angeles server.
I found similar results as shown below.
To test real-world scenarios, I installed theNeve WordPresstheme with templates by Themeisle.
The KeyCDN tests with loaded content are shown in the screenshot below.
And GTMetrix results are as follows.
The results are impressive.
In conclusion, Kinsta is fast!
It is a capable WordPress hosting provider that can deliver top-notch load times for a seamless user experience.
This makes Kinsta best for high-traffic sites, eCommerce sites, and fast-growing sites.
For Business Websites
Kinsta is a great pick for a business website with high traffic.
It can handle high-traffic sites through a managed WordPress hosting environment.
Furthermore, Kinsta ensures that each site performs reliably and with minimal interference.
Plus, Kinstas online grid offers excellent online grid bandwidth with flexible resource allocation for traffic spikes.
You also get a non-negotiable 99.9% uptime guarantee, DDoS protection, and free SSL certificates.
For WooCommerce Stores
Kinsta offerseCommerce optimized configurationand WooCommerce support out of the box.
Even its basic WordPress plan can handle decent eCommerce traffic with an easy scalability option.
For Agencies and Freelancers
Kinsta is a high-performance hosting platform that enables freelancers and agencies to handle multiple sites.
They use container technology to ensure that each site has access to dedicated resources all the time.
For Developers
Kinsta gives developers the right set of developer tools, such as DevKinsta.
It lets developers create a local environment for easy development and debugging, streamlining their workflow.
Furthermore, Kinsta also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans.
You get multi-tier pricing divided into Single-site, Multiple-site, Agency, and Enterprise plans.
To summarize, Ive listed Kinstas hosting plans in the table below.
For example,5 WordPress installswill cost you$96 per month.
Backup retention for plans differs based on your needs.
The base backup retention period is 14-days, up to 30 days, depending on your chosen plan.
Kinsta also offers Enterprise WordPress hosting at custom pricing.
If you need customized plans, you might contact their sales team.
Overall, I think Kinsta plans offer value for money for the performance/features they have to offer.
However, small businesses with tight budgets might not find Kinsta to be the right fit.
Kinsta Support
Kinsta offers 24/7 support via live chat and email.
From my experience, I learned that Kinstas customer support agents are very knowledgeable and responsive.
I was not able to connect my domain, www.geekflarelabs.com, to Kinsta.
Thats when I thought of getting Kinstas support to see how they can help via their 24/7 live chat.
After selecting a few options, I got to connect with human support.
He (Issac) assured me that theyd help me.
Throughout the process, Isaac guided me, and I was able to connect my domain successfully.
Their email support can take up to 30 minutes to reply.
Kinstas support is very friendly.
They dont miss the chance to remind you that theyre there whenever needed!
I found similar sentiments from Reddit users.
Most users recommend Kinsta thanks to its stability, flexibility, and tech stack.
SiteGround
SiteGround is a perfect choice for users with a limited budget.
Their hosting services provide cheap yet feature-rich WordPress-managed hosting, but in a shared virtual environment.
However, this has its disadvantages, including compromised security, speed, and accessibility.
Like Kinsta, SiteGround also uses Google Cloud Platform.
Bluehost
Bluehost Managed Hosting offers a cheap alternative to Kinsta.
They also offer AI site creation tools, a free 1-year domain, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
It offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card requirement.
Cloudways charges users only for the resources they use, making it an ideal choice for startups.
However, this approach also means no 30-day money-back guarantee.
Overall, Cloudways is a better pick if you want a more versatile approach to hosting.
Its pricing starts at $14 per month.
$30
$40
$3.99
$1.99
$14
Who Should Use Kinsta WordPress Hosting?
Ive covered this in detail in theUse Cases of Kinsta WordPress Hostingsection.
Only Kinstas Enterprise solutions offer dedicated servers.
I dont recommend Kinsta WordPress hosting for businesses with tight budgets.
Its also not beginner-friendly and has no access to site builder features.
Kinsta Verdict
Kinsta is a strong contender in the WordPress-managed hosting space.
It meets many businesses requirements with its high-performance focus, ease of use, and responsive customer support.
Additionally, Kinsta offers a strong data policy.
Overall, Kinstas pros outweigh its cons.
Its a reliable hosting provider with 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Although Kinstas service comes at a premium price, it is worth it.
Kinsta uses Google Cloud Platforms premium tier servers to host sites.
Kinsta is secure as it utilizes state-of-the-art infrastructure coupled with enterprise-level Cloudflare integration.
It ensures DDoS protection.
You also get a free SSL certificate via Lets Encrypt and daily automatic backups with one-click restorations.
