Review of Kinsta: Does This WordPress Hosting Deserve Its Price?

Joanne Thompson

Feb 13, 2023 • 16 min read

What is Kinsta?

For organizations and websites of all sizes, Kinsta, a managed WordPress hosting provider, provides a high-performance hosting platform. Kinsta is renowned for its dependable and quick hosting setup, which makes use of Google Cloud Platform and other cutting-edge tools to guarantee quick website loads and high availability. To keep websites safe and secure, the company also offers cutting-edge security features like automatic backups, SSL certificates, and DDoS protection.

Kinsta's emphasis on customer service is one of its distinctive qualities. The business provides round-the-clock assistance from a group of WordPress specialists who can assist with any problem or query. Additionally, Kinsta offers a simple-to-use dashboard that enables users to easily manage their WordPress websites. This dashboard includes tools like site cloning, automatic updates, and staging environments for testing changes before going live. Kinsta is a well-liked option for companies and websites looking for a high-performance WordPress hosting solution due to its quick, dependable hosting and excellent customer support.

Kinsta Pricing

Starter — $35.
Pro — $70.
Business 1 — $115.

Kinsta has pricing plans that range from $35 to $1,650 per month, making it suitable for a wide variety of websites. This is a very broad spectrum; however, for the purpose of this comparison, we are only going to focus on the first three key consumer plans, which are Starter, Pro, and Business 1. Following the Business 1 level, the next level is Business 4, followed by the Enterprise 1–4 levels.

The most important thing to take into consideration is the fact that the prices that are shown here are for the monthly payments. When you pay for a year's worth of service all at once, you receive a discount equal to two free months.

* Prices reflect the average monthly cost. If you sign up for an annual plan, you'll get two months free.

Kinsta also offers the Business plans for hosting single sites, which are referred to as "single-site hosting." This is an intriguing alternative to consider if you only require hosting for a single high-traffic website. For example, the monthly fee for the Business 1 (Single-Site) plan is $90. When compared to the multi-site plans, you can enjoy savings of up to 25%.

How does each Kinsta plan compare to the others?

The fact that Kinsta offers such a large number of plans is obviously due to the fact that each of them is subdivided into categories based on the maximum number of websites that can be run, the number of monthly visits, the amount of storage, and the amount of CDN storage, which are factors that I don't believe many other service providers typically limit.

Nevertheless, each of the plans comes with a variety of components, such as the ones listed below:

Excellent team providing support to customers. Even though the only mode of communication is chat, the agents are of the highest caliber and are available around the clock.
Specific to WordPress website architecture (read: better and faster).
The staging environment allows you to test your WordPress website before the changes are published.
Free upgrades to premium tiers (concierge service). You get 1, 2 or 3 depending on your plan.
Using a WordPress plugin, you can perform unlimited basic migrations from other hosts.
Assurance of a full refund within 30 days.
Automatic database optimization.
Points of manual backup and daily automatic backup.

Moving on to specific plans, the names of these plans pretty much explain themselves.

They also provide disk space upgrades, which means that if your website ever runs out of storage space, you do not necessarily have to switch to a more expensive plan. On top of that, you get 20 GB for an additional fee of $20 per month. There is no limit to the number of times that you can purchase one of these $20 upgrades.

STARTER: Ideal for a personal blog or a small business website hosted on WordPress. It is important to keep in mind that if you regularly work with large files, for example as a photographer or videographer, you may need to upgrade to the next plan or select the option to update your disk space. The maximum number of visitors per month that can be accommodated is 25,000, and the maximum amount of storage available is 10 gigabytes.
PRO: better suited for websites belonging to small and medium-sized businesses. Kinsta does not actually recommend this plan for use with an online store; however, it is likely appropriate for use with a sizable blog. The maximum number of visitors per month that can be accommodated is 50,000, and the maximum amount of storage is 20 gigabytes.
BUSINESS 1: In terms of the number of monthly visitors and the amount of storage space, this is where things start to get serious. Additionally, in comparison to the previous plan, this one has twice as many PHP workers assigned to each site. According to Kinsta, this facilitates the multiple request processing that is essential for online retail. You will be limited to a maximum of 100,000 visitors per month and 30 gigabytes of storage space with this plan.

Then, don't forget that in addition to the standard numbers of monthly visitors and storage space, you also have the Business plans 2, 3, and 4 available to you. Last but not least, the Enterprise plans 1, 2, 3, and 4 all increase the numbers of everything else as well.

Kinsta Pros and Cons

Pros

Solid speed. When we tested Kinsta's loading speed, we found that it was very fast. It is beneficial to both your search engine optimization and the experience of your users. They also have a strong CDN, free SSL, and the most recent generation of PHP, which are all points in their favor.
Uptime. Kinsta is operational almost one hundred percent of the time, so there is no reason to complain about its performance here. You are eligible for a portion of your money back if the rate falls below 99.9%. This is not at all disappointing; nevertheless, the service level agreement for WP Engine guarantees an uptime of 99.95 percent (SLA).
Support. Even though it's only through chat, the Kinsta support team is among the most helpful I've encountered.
Locations and features of the server. More than 25 locations all over the world are available for selection.
Easy to use. Those individuals who are required to spend a little bit of time within the dashboard of their hosting provider should have easy navigation and a pleasant user experience.
Team management. You can have an unlimited number of users, and defining permissions and roles, both at the company and site levels, is a breeze.
Site backups. On the more affordable plans, you are only provided with automatic backups for a period of 14 days. In order to receive 20 days, you will need to upgrade to the Business 3 plan. Additional backup options include backing up to the cloud manually. Additionally, backups are available for download.
Designed for WordPress. This indicates that the support team knows what they are talking about, the architecture is optimized for the CMS, and you get helpful resources on plugins and other tools that are specific to WordPress.
Free transfers. You can automatically migrate a site into Kinsta with the help of a WordPress plugin that Kinsta provides. However, in addition to that, each plan includes some professional migrations that Kinsta's team will perform on your behalf; this feature is not offered by many other providers.

Cons

WordPress only. On a server running Kinsta, you won't be able to install any other content management system (CMS).
A lot of limits. There are no limits placed on storage, CDN bandwidth, or monthly visits. If you go over, there will be an additional charge for you.
Costs that are greater. Kinsta is not the least expensive company that offers managed WordPress hosting. It's true that you get what you pay for, but that doesn't mean it's right for everyone.
Some WordPress plugins are banned. Kinsta does not allow the use of the following plugins because of safety and performance concerns. This encompasses a wide variety of external caching, backup, and optimization services.

When to use the web hosting service Kinsta?

Kinsta has a lot of features that will appeal to WordPress users who run professional websites. You are able to safeguard your website (or websites), maintain an almost constant online presence, and provide users with acceptable page load times. It is very good for SEO, and it is reliable enough to host a sizable online shopping website.

On the other hand, if the number of monthly visitors is wildly unpredictable, you might want to consider looking elsewhere. You will receive warnings before you exceed any kind of limit, but you will still be charged for the notifications themselves.

When should you not use the web hosting provided by Kinsta?

There are more affordable web hosts available, and there are most definitely more affordable WordPress hosts, if you have a website that does not depend on the best possible performance. I have in mind websites such as portfolios, blogs, or personal websites in which you do not need to be overly concerned with providing the quickest possible site speed to your users (or to Google for search engine optimization).

It's possible that this is just my own personal experience, but when compared to other WordPress hosts like WP Engine or Siteground, we've seen a significant increase in the number of configuration problems. To put it another way, in the words of our developer: "I'm not sure how it works, but the server configuration on WPEngine is friendlier to WordPress and its plugins." It just works better. Less conflicts."

Specifications of the Kinsta

Ease of use. Signing up is a breeze and takes very little time. You are able to use your credit card to make the payment. Kinsta comes with its very own dashboard, which is both user-friendly and attractively designed. In the extremely unlikely event that you are unable to understand something right away, the articles that they publish in their online resources are also a great help. Additionally, support has always been helpful and efficient when dealing with my questions.
Domain names. Because domain name registration is not a service that Kinsta provides, there is no way for you to register a domain name with them. You will need to point an existing domain to their servers in order to use their services. It is strongly suggested that you make use of their premium DNS services, which can make your WordPress website load much more quickly.
Email rating. Kinsta, much like a large number of other leading providers such as WP Engine, does not offer email accounts to its customers. If you require email accounts, you have the option of purchasing Google Workspace or other services that are analogous (for instance, at Namecheap).
Databases. You will be able to have one database for each site, but there does not appear to be any limit in terms of the amount of space available.
Applications. N/A. Because this hosting package is geared specifically toward WordPress, the only application that can be installed and utilized is WordPress. Check out these other options if you find that you need to use a different CMS.
Space limit. There are storage stipulations attached to each and every plan. For instance, if you go with the Starter plan, you can have up to 10 GB, if you go with the Pro tier, you can have 20 GB, and if you go with the Business 1 plan, you can have 30 GB. The highest-tier Enterprise 4 plan comes with a maximum storage capacity of 250 gigabytes. Also, keep in mind that the storage space is being shared among all of your websites.
Monthly data transfer limit. There are strict visitor quotas associated with each Kinsta package. Users on the Business 1 plan will be able to get 100,000 visits each month, and the top-tier Enterprise 4 plan will allow you to have 3 million visitors each month for a cost of $1,250 per month. The Starter tier permits 25,000 visitors each month, the Pro plan permits a maximum of 50,000 visitors, and Business 1 users will be allowed to get 100,000 visits each month. Be aware that, in general, you'll have higher visitor counts than what Google Analytics or other similar tools report. This is something to keep in mind. This is due to the fact that Kinsta does not filter out bots as effectively as Google does.
FTP accounts and secure FTP. You are free to create as many SFTP accounts as you need with Kinsta; this feature is not capped. Additionally, SSH access is permitted.
Server location. Kinsta is integrated with Google Cloud and provides customers with a choice of 24 locations across the globe. You have the option of hosting your website in a number of different countries, including the United States (such as Iowa, Virginia, or South Carolina), Taiwan, Europe (such as Belgium, Germany, or the Netherlands), Australia, Japan, Canada, or Hong Kong, amongst others.
Security features. The protection of your website by Kinsta involves a number of different steps. To begin, you will have the ability to run the most recent versions of any software (e.g. PHP and MySQL).In addition, it is possible to enable features such as two-factor authentication, block GeoIP addresses, and restrict the number of times a user can attempt to log in.
In addition to that, they perform daily backups and permit you to create your own backups if you so choose. In addition, your website will be scanned for and cleaned of any malware that may have been present.
Server speed. According to the results of our own impartial tests, the page loading time for Kinsta was an average of 1.82 seconds.
Uptime. Almost a perfect score across all of our tests. They guarantee that you will receive credit on your bill payment even if the percentage drops below 99.9%.
Backups. Kinsta gives you access to its daily backups and, depending on the plan, keeps anywhere from 14 to 30 of the most recent ones. In addition, you have the option of manually creating your own backups, for example before updating a plugin. You currently have 5 on your Kinsta account, and you can save them all on your computer in addition to downloading them as a ZIP file. It is also possible to connect your backup feature with third-party services such as Google Cloud Storage or Amazon Web Services (AWS).
CDN. Kinsta WordPress web hosting, just like other top-tier hosting providers, includes a CDN that you are free to use with any plan that you choose. Note that the amount of data that can be sent through the CDN is limited depending on the plan that you have, but the allowance that you have is still very generous.
Server features. The most recent iterations of PHP are supported by Kinsta (currently 7.4 and 8.0). Kinsta's systems come with a number of features that may be helpful to you, including staging areas for WordPress, an integrated caching system, their own content delivery network (CDN), free SSL certificates, and an integrated feature that allows you to search and replace your database.
Refunds and guarantees. The Service Level Agreement ensures that you will have 99.9% of your systems available at all times. Kinsta will give you a credit toward your hosting plan if your downtime is greater than 0.1% of the total time.
In addition, Kinsta provides customers with a money-back guarantee for a period of thirty days.
Assistance and support. Kinsta has been given the Best Hosting Provider for Support badge because their support is consistently among the best I've experienced with other hosting providers. Note that this service is only available in the form of chat, but their customer service representatives have always been helpful and efficient in resolving my issues.
They also provide a large number of high-quality online resources and tutorials, all of which are very enjoyable to read.

If you need a WordPress hosting solution that is reliable in terms of uptime, speeds, and features, then Kinsta is a strong contender for the best solution.

It is on the more expensive end of the spectrum, so you will need to keep an eye on the number of customers who come through your doors. On the other hand, when it comes to online businesses that receive consistent traffic, you undoubtedly get what you pay for.

Kinsta Backups

You should be able to save and restore your WordPress site at any time, as this is one of the most important features that your website should have. The good news is that Kinsta provides quite a few different options, including the following:

All plans, from Starter to Business 2, include automatic backups that are kept for 14 days.
On the Business 3 and 4 plans, you get automatic backups that last for 20 days.
All other plans include automatic backups that are kept for a period of thirty days.
There is the option for manual backups.
The manual backups are available for download.
Backups stored in the cloud using Google Cloud or Amazon S3 (approximately $2 per month for each website's backup, plus $1 GB for bandwidth).

I do not believe that fourteen days is sufficient time to feel truly secure about using your website, but I will leave the decision up to you. On the other hand, you can also buy and install add-ons that will save your website every hour or every six hours. These saves can be automated.

In addition, I'd like to point out that backing up and restoring data is a breeze with Kinsta, thanks once more to its superior user experience (UX) and great online resources. In contrast to WP Engine, it also possesses blisteringly quick speeds. What can be accomplished in a few seconds using Kinsta can take up to five minutes using WP Engine. This is due to the fact that Kinsta only creates an incremental backup, much like Siteground does.

This has one significant drawback: if the core files on your computer become corrupted, you will be in for some serious trouble.

WordPress & Kinsta

Kinsta was developed specifically for the purpose of hosting WordPress websites, and this is evidenced by the following features:

Free WordPress security patch: an interesting component of the security system that gives you priority in the event that something catastrophic goes wrong. Kinsta gives you the option to put your website into maintenance mode, after which they will perform a free malware removal service for you.
Free upgrades to premium accounts: they are done by their team of WordPress experts who specialize in the platform. It is not unlimited, but it is a nice freebie if this is the first time you have moved your sites to Kinsta.
Serving-level caching: full page caching along with a complimentary content delivery network (CDN) and their very own Kinsta cache plugin. Caching is made completely automatic based on a variety of activities, such as the publication of a new post.
Optimization for WooCommerce: the caching system is designed differently for WordPress online stores. For example, caching shopping cart pages is disabled, which speeds up the checkout process and reduces the likelihood of errors.

Developer Features & Kinsta

For developers, the news that Kinsta also includes staging, integration with WP-CLI, Composer, and Git, and cloning with a single click should come as a pleasant surprise.

As you can see in the screenshot that follows, the staging environments have a particularly thoughtful layout:

When pushing changes back to the live version of the site, use common sense and remember that each environment works by creating a copy of your site with a single click. For example, you should create a backup, double-check wp-config.php, and so on.

Conclusions of the Kinsta Review

Now that we've covered everything, let's sum everything up and discuss Kinsta in this area.

The most important thing that I've learned is that Kinsta is dependable, quick, and suitable for use with WordPress business sites. This applies to physical and virtual stores alike. Both software developers and business owners will appreciate how simple it is to use while still maintaining a high level of security throughout the system.

However, it is not something that I would recommend to everyone. You might want to consider the following options if you don't require all the bells and whistles:

SiteGround: to accommodate an unlimited amount of traffic and bandwidth. It is less expensive overall and it operates at breakneck speeds. The only disadvantage (or possibly an advantage) is that they don't concentrate as much on WordPress as Kinsta does.
WP Engine: probably one of Kinsta's most formidable rivals. You get a few WordPress extras such as free themes, phone support in higher plans, and a guaranteed uptime of 99.95% (compared to 99.90% at Kinsta), but their pricing and feature sets are extremely comparable to one another.
DreamHost: one of the most inexpensive web hosts, with performance that is surprisingly good for users in the United States. They skimp on support times and advanced features, but the product is still interesting enough to warrant consideration.

FAQ

What Methods of Payment Does Kinsta Accept?

Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are, of course, the usual suspects. You also have the option of making wire transfers; however, PayPal is not supported.

How does Kinsta determine the total number of user visits?

The total number of IP addresses that were detected within a single day and recorded in the Nginx logs is equivalent to the number of monthly visits. A few things deserve your attention:

If a person visits your website, that counts as one visitor.
They move on to the next page: +0 (still the same visit).
They arrived at your website using a different browser, specifically: +0 (still the same IP).
When viewed from a different device, the following appears on your website: +1 (different IP address).
There is also the possibility that bots are counting as visitors, which is why your Google Analytics numbers could be off.
Analytics or Cloudflare Analytics may display numbers that are marginally distinct from one another.
This is all explained in great detail in the helpful resource that they provide here.

What are the costs associated with exceeding my limits, and how much will they be?

To begin, you will receive notifications when you have reached 80% and 100% of your limits, respectively. Then, roughly speaking, it is:

$1 per extra 1000 visits.
$2 per extra 2 GB of disk space.
$0.1 of extra GB per content delivered via CDN.

Extreme overages, as Kinsta refers to them, will result in significantly higher fees. The methods that are used to calculate all of these statistics are somewhat complicated, but each step is, once again, thoroughly explained on their knowledge base.

Is It Possible to Cancel My Plan?

Yes. You will need to create a ticket with their team and proceed through a few steps from your dashboard in order to get this issue resolved. Take note that all of your data will be erased, and it will not be possible to retrieve it (but you can of course perform a manual backup before you go nuclear on your site). After that step is completed, the total amount due on your bill will be determined.