Laravel Forge transforms server management with simplicity, automation, and scalability – built for developers who demand efficiency.
Choosing the right server management tool can make or break your workflow as a developer. While cPanel and Plesk have been trusted options for years, Laravel Forge has emerged as a game-changer. For Red-Fern, it redefined how we manage hosting for our clients, enabling us to deliver more efficient, scalable, and secure solutions.
Built for modern PHP developers, Forge offers a streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective way to manage servers. Here’s why it deserves your attention.
Centralised management for developers
Managing multiple servers can become a headache with traditional tools like Plesk and cPanel. Each server requires its own admin panel, complete with unique logins and resources to run the interface.
One of the key benefits of Laravel Forge is its ability to centralise server management. Using Forge, you only need one dashboard to oversee all your servers. cPanel, on the other hand, requires you to navigate multiple admin panels with separate logins for each server. Additionally, because Forge handles orchestration within its own platform, it avoids using server resources to run admin panels, reducing unnecessary bloat.
Simplicity without compromise
Forge is simplicity at its best. While cPanel and Plesk provide a wide array of features, they can feel overwhelming for non-technical users and unintuitive for developers.
Forge is designed to cover the vast majority of hosting tasks (around 95%) in a clean and straightforward interface, with the remaining 5% (such as installing custom deployment tooling specific to one site) handled directly on the server itself; why clutter the user interface with features that aren’t universally needed?
Automated tasks for modern workflows
Laravel Forge automates many of the repetitive tasks developers face. This includes setting up SSL certificates with Let’s Encrypt, configuring queues, and scheduling backups.
It also supports integrated zero-downtime deployments through Envoyer and built-in integration with the Sentry error monitoring platform. In comparison, cPanel and Plesk often require manual configurations for these tasks, which can slow down workflows and increase the likelihood of human error.
A cost-effective solution for growth
While cPanel and Plesk are often tied to shared hosting environments and come with licensing fees ($65 USD/month for up to 100 servers), Laravel Forge offers a more cost-effective approach.
At $39 USD/month for unlimited servers, Forge allows developers to manage their own cloud servers, such as those on DigitalOcean, AWS, or Linode, at a significantly lower cost. This makes it especially appealing for scalable applications and agencies like ours that manage a large number of servers, providing both greater control and better value.
Built for Laravel and PHP
For Laravel developers, Forge is the obvious choice, as it’s built by the creators of Laravel and integrates tightly with its ecosystem.
However, this focus is also possibly Forge’s greatest weakness when compared to cPanel and Plesk.
While Forge is capable of supporting general PHP applications (we use it to manage our WordPress instances as well as all our Laravel work) cPanel’s extensive range of features can make it a better fit for other PHP-based projects that require a broader toolset.
Security made simple
Laravel Forge simplifies the configuration of essential security features, such as firewall rules, SSH key management, and automatic server software updates. While cPanel and Plesk also include security tools, they often require more manual effort to set up properly.
Additionally, their broader user base means not everyone has the expertise to fully configure and manage these features. Another important aspect is that cPanel introduces a larger attack surface by default, with an admin panel and potentially a phpMyAdmin instance on each server.
In contrast, our servers managed through Forge have just three open ports: 80 and 443 for serving sites with nginx, and 22 for SSH key-only authentication. Without admin panels or open database ports, the attack surface is significantly reduced, leaving less to worry about from a security standpoint.
Is Laravel Forge right for you?
If you prioritise simplicity, scalability, and developer-centric tools, Laravel Forge is hard to beat. While cPanel and Plesk are excellent for traditional shared hosting, especially in situations where the end-user might be tinkering with the hosting settings, Forge aligns with the needs of modern development teams working on scalable, PHP-based applications.
Why Red-Fern chooses Forge for our server management
While cPanel and Plesk remain popular choices for traditional shared hosting setups, Laravel Forge stands out as the go-to tool for modern PHP developers. It prioritises simplicity, automation, and developer-friendly workflows, all without requiring an admin panel on every server.
With its focus on Laravel and PHP applications, combined with a streamlined approach to server management, Forge proves invaluable for building and deploying scalable web applications.
We’ve been using Forge for years now. Looking back we know with certainty we made the right choice.
