COMPARE · FORGE
Public BetaWPShift vs Laravel Forge
Forge is an excellent server provisioner if you ship Laravel apps or custom PHP. It treats WordPress as one PHP framework among many. WPShift is built around WordPress: every screen knows about plugins, wp-config, caching presets, and migrations.
- 01 WPShift Cloud, no setup
- 02 Or bring your own cloud
- 03 AI Copilot built in
Positioning
Who wins where
▸ WPShift wins on
WPShift wins on WordPress depth: in-app plugin and theme management, the Companion migration plugin, FastCGI page cache with WooCommerce presets, magic login to wp-admin, and an AI Copilot that understands WP-CLI and wp-config.
▸ Forge wins on
Forge wins on Laravel-specific tooling: Envoyer-style zero-downtime deploys, queue worker management, and Laravel-aware deployment scripts. If your stack is Laravel first, Forge fits better.
Matrix
Every feature, side by side
Updated periodically based on each vendor's public docs. Spot something out of date? Email hello@wpshift.io.
| Feature | ▸ WPShift | Forge |
|---|---|---|
| § 01 · Built for WordPress | ||
| Purpose-built for WordPress | Yes | No |
| One-click WordPress site creation | Yes | No |
| Plugin and theme update manager | Yes | No |
| wp-config editor with validation | Yes | No |
| WP-CLI per site, in-app | Yes | Manual |
| Site cloning for staging | Yes | Manual |
| Site import via Companion plugin | Yes | No |
| § 02 · Servers and infrastructure | ||
| Bring your own cloud account | Yes | Yes |
| WPShift Cloud (no third-party cloud account) | Yes | No |
| Pricing independent of server size | Yes | Yes |
| Nginx, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis preconfigured | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-version PHP per server | Yes | Yes |
| SSH and firewall management | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time server metrics and logs | Yes | Yes |
| § 03 · Domains, DNS, and email | ||
| DNS management in dashboard | Yes | No |
| Mailbox creation per domain | Yes | No |
| IMAP, POP3, and webmail | Yes | No |
| SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured for you | Yes | No |
| Free SSL on every domain | Yes | Yes |
| § 04 · Operations, AI, and teams | ||
| AI Copilot (executes commands) | Yes | No |
| Automated off-server backups | Yes | Yes |
| One-click restore | Yes | Manual |
| Eight backup storage destinations | Yes | No |
| Uptime + PageSpeed monitoring | Yes | No |
| Team workspaces with RBAC | Yes | Yes |
| Designed for non-developers | Yes | No |
Honest take
When not to choose WPShift
We would rather you pick the right tool than the wrong one. Here is when we would point you toward Laravel Forge instead.
Case 01
You ship Laravel apps as the primary workload
Forge has Laravel-specific deploy scripts, queue management, and Envoyer integration. WPShift has none of that, by design. If Laravel is the centre, pick Forge.
Case 02
You want a generic provisioner across many PHP frameworks
WPShift is exclusively WordPress. Other PHP stacks belong on Forge or Ploi.
Other comparisons
How WPShift stacks up against the rest
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