Kinsta Review
This review covers various aspects such as price, support, speed, features, and more. Kinsta charges a substantial fee for its premium managed hosting.
If you have high expectations for your website, Kinsta’s cloud-based managed WordPress hosting offers exceptional performance on a global scale. It also provides valuable hosting tools and an easy-to-use dashboard. It’s an excellent option for extensive and ever-evolving websites, though its high cost may not be suitable for everyone.
4.7
Pricing
Web Hosting ₹2490 – ₹311330
Reseller Hosting ₹23575 – ₹46736
Server locations
Iowa City ✓
Oregon ✓
Los Angeles ✓
Virginia Beach ✓
Montreal ✓
Ranked 9 from 3859
Web Hosting
Performance: |4.9| 
Kinsta delivers exceptional performance with lightning-fast load times, thanks to its use of Google Cloud Platform. Sites hosted on Kinsta typically load in about 2 seconds, even under heavy traffic conditions. The platform’s built-in CDN further enhances speed, making it a strong contender for high-performance hosting.
Uptime: |4.9|
Kinsta guarantees impressive uptime with continuous monitoring and regular checks. Their proactive approach ensures that sites remain operational, with a track record of reliable uptime performance. Daily uptime checks and rapid response to potential issues help maintain a stable online presence.
Customer Service: |4.8|
Kinsta offers 24/7/365 live chat support, providing quick and knowledgeable assistance. However, it lacks phone support. The customer service experience is generally positive, though initial response times can vary. The custom dashboard is intuitive, making it easier for users to manage their hosting environment.
Pricing: |4.7|
Kinsta is priced higher than many shared hosting and some managed hosting options, starting at ₹2490 per month for the basic plan. Despite the cost, Kinsta’s pricing is transparent with no hidden upsells. The plan includes one WordPress site, 5 GB of SSD storage, and other essential features. While it may be pricey, the performance and features offered are often seen as worth the investment.
Kinsta Hosting
| ⭐ Rating: | 4.7 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ |
|---|---|
| 💵 Price: | Starts From $35/mo | 📑 Uptime guarantee: | 100% |
| ⚙️ Hosting types: | Managed WordPress, Application, and Database hosting | 🌎 Server locations: | The Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia |
| 👨💻 24/7 live support: | Yes | 🔥 Coupons: | Kinsta coupon 25% OFF! |
| Money back guarantee | 30 Days | Free Domain | ❌ No |
OVERVIEW
Premium Hosting at Premium Prices
Kinsta sets itself apart from other hosting providers by offering managed hosting on Google’s enterprise-level network instead of operating its own servers. While it specializes in managed WordPress hosting for websites, it also provides application and database hosting.
Unlike typical shared hosts that bundle numerous optional add-ons, Kinsta focuses on features that offer more control and an improved hosting experience.
However, this premium service comes at a cost. While Kinsta is not outrageously expensive for the value it provides, it certainly isn’t cheap.
I wanted to determine if Kinsta’s service justifies its price or if you’d be better off choosing a cheaper host and spending the savings elsewhere. To find out, I conducted over two weeks of thorough testing and research. The verdict? Although not the most affordable option, Kinsta’s fully managed WordPress hosting is definitely worth the investment.
Kinsta is an ideal choice for small-to-medium businesses, web development clients seeking high-end hosting, or individuals with ambitious plans for their personal sites. However, it may be excessive for smaller passion projects.
Kinsta’s service is offered in Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. Is it the right choice to elevate your website? Read on to find out.
Popular Web Hosting Provider
Performance of Kinsta WordPress Hosting
When evaluating a WordPress host, performance is crucial, just after reliability. While site speed’s importance is often debated in terms of SEO, there’s no denying that a fast-loading site is vital for user experience.
Naturally, we had high expectations for Kinsta’s performance.
Initially, we encountered some issues, as our blog was not particularly optimized, with outdated code and numerous manual tweaks over the years. Despite these challenges, Kinsta still managed to deliver impressive results, loading everything in just 2 seconds. Even with less-than-perfect scores from Pingdom, Kinsta’s performance remained strong. Notably, our Time to First Byte (TTFB) improved by 50%, even considering the increase associated with switching to SSL.
Features |4.8|
Focused Exclusively on High-Performance Hosting, Without the Usual Extras
Kinsta doesn’t include many of the popular features offered by other hosting providers. You won’t find a proprietary website builder, search engine optimization (SEO) analysis, or extensive marketing tools. It doesn’t even offer domain name registration, whether free or paid. Does this mean Kinsta’s offerings are limited? Not really – it’s just more specialized.
Instead of cluttering its service with a variety of nice-to-have add-ons that you could better obtain from third-party services, Kinsta focuses on delivering top-notch performance.
True Managed WordPress Hosting
When Kinsta advertises managed WordPress hosting, it truly means managed. Right after you sign up, Kinsta handles the entire WordPress installation for you. From there, you can manage multiple WordPress sites, activate or deactivate plugins and themes, and adjust your site’s settings, all from your dashboard.
If security is a concern, Kinsta offers state-of-the-art firewalls and DDoS protection. You can also customize security rules, such as banning specific IP addresses. To prevent data loss, Kinsta autosaves daily backups of your site. If something does go wrong, Kinsta promises to fix your site.
I also appreciated the option to enable edge and mobile caching. Edge caching duplicates your site’s assets across over 260 data centers worldwide, using the copies stored closest to each site visitor to improve performance. You can also create cached versions of your site specifically for mobile devices to enhance loading speeds.
Although Kinsta doesn’t offer domain registration, it provides its own domain name system (DNS) for managing all your domain settings directly. Additionally, you get a limited number of free SSL certificates.
Specialized Plans for Application and Database Hosting
While this review focuses on managed WordPress hosting, it’s important to highlight Kinsta’s specialized plans for application and database hosting. The application hosting plan includes unlimited, concurrent builds on a single account, scalable resources, and access to Kinsta’s proprietary API.
For database hosting, Kinsta supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, and Redis. It also provides automatic daily backups and up to five manual backups per day.
Kinsta Features at a Glance
| Free domain name? | ❌ |
| Free SSL? | ✔ |
| Money-back guarantee | 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Uptime guarantee? | 99.9% |
| Managed hosting features? | ✔ |
| Data centers | 30+ across the globe |
Why Choose Kinsta Hosting?
1. Exceptional Performance: Kinsta leverages Google Cloud Platform to deliver top-notch performance with fast load times and scalability. Sites typically load in under 2 seconds, and their built-in CDN ensures speedy delivery across the globe.
2. Reliable Uptime: With continuous monitoring and daily uptime checks, Kinsta maintains a high level of reliability. Their proactive approach minimizes downtime and ensures your site remains accessible.
3. User-Friendly Dashboard: Kinsta’s custom dashboard is designed for ease of use, offering a clean and organized interface. This makes managing your hosting environment straightforward, even for beginners.
4. Comprehensive Security: Kinsta provides robust security features, including state-of-the-art firewalls, DDoS protection, and daily backups. Their proactive security measures help safeguard your site from threats.
5. Excellent Support: Kinsta offers 24/7/365 live chat support with knowledgeable representatives. Although they lack phone support, their live chat service is efficient and helpful, providing timely assistance.
6. Free Migrations: The platform includes free WordPress site migrations, making it easier to switch to Kinsta without incurring additional costs.
7. Scalable Solutions: Kinsta’s scalable servers can handle traffic spikes and growth, ensuring your site performs well even during high-traffic periods.
8. Transparent Pricing: Kinsta offers clear and upfront pricing with no hidden fees. Their plans are designed to reflect the premium service they provide, and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for added reassurance.
9. Advanced Features: Kinsta supports various advanced features, including SSH, WP-CLI, Git, and premium DNS management. These tools are ideal for developers and tech-savvy users who need more control over their hosting environment.
10. Global Data Centers: With over 30 data centers worldwide, Kinsta allows you to choose a location closest to your target audience, improving site speed and performance.
PROS AND CONS
Pros of Kinsta
Exceptionally Fast Load Times
Easy Setup for Few WordPress Sites
Free Site Migrations
Scalable Servers for Traffic Spikes
User-Friendly Custom Dashboard
Automatic Daily Backups
Reasonably Priced for Managed Hosting
Helpful24/7/365 Live Chat Support
Cons of Kinsta
More Expensive Than Shared Hosting and Some Managed Hosts
No Phone Support
No Included Themes
List of Prohibited Plugins
Easy of Use |4.7|
Excellent Overall Ease of Use, With Some Room for Improvement
Kinsta goes above and beyond to make setting up and running your website as easy and fast as possible, and the results speak for themselves. It offers one of the smoothest hosting experiences I’ve encountered.
However, since Kinsta doesn’t provide domain name registration, I found it a bit frustrating to point my domain to Kinsta’s servers. Despite offering a comprehensive DNS service, it’s surprising that such a user-friendly service lacks one of the most basic web hosting features. Most of my difficulties, though, were due to my own confusion, so I can’t place all the blame on Kinsta.
Creating a New Account with Kinsta
Creating an account with Kinsta is extremely straightforward. Simply go to Kinsta’s homepage, choose the plan that suits you best, and click “choose.”
Next, enter your billing information and select any add-ons you want (you can also add these later). Then, choose a name for your site and select your data center location. Once your payment is processed – which took less than a minute for me – you’ll have a ready-to-use Kinsta account.
Connecting a Domain Name and Installing WordPress
After creating your account, you’ll be introduced to the Kinsta dashboard. To set up your WordPress site, just click on the “create site” button under the WordPress Site option. If you have .zip files for plugins and themes, you can add them directly from the Kinsta dashboard without needing to access your WordPress dashboard.
Connecting my domain name was a bit more complex.I began by changing the nameservers to direct to Kinsta’s servers. Once I saw the “nameservers point to Kinsta” message, I went to the Domains tab on my dashboard and clicked “Add a Domain.” Then… nothing happened.
Even though my domain was pointing to Kinsta, it didn’t recognize it as a valid address for my WordPress site. I spent some time trying to fix this issue before realizing I needed to add an “A” DNS record from Kinsta.
Although that was a rookie mistake, I was a bit frustrated that Kinsta didn’t provide enough guidance to help me identify and resolve the problem.
Easy-Access Tools to Enhance Your Hosting Experience
From the Tools tab on your dashboard, you can access a range of useful features for managing your WordPress site. These include options to clear your cache, debug your site, change PHP versions, and more. The best part is that using these tools is straightforward—just click a button to activate or deactivate any of Kinsta’s features without complicated installations.
Develop WordPress Sites Locally with DevKinsta
DevKinsta offers a downloadable environment for hassle-free WordPress site development. While it might not seem as impressive as Kinsta’s other premium features, the ability to design and develop your WordPress site locally can be a significant time-saver, especially if you’re not just migrating your site. Once you’re happy with your local development, DevKinsta integrates smoothly with Kinsta’s staging environment, allowing you to go live whenever you’re ready.
Performance |4.9|
Kinsta Delivers Exceptional Performance
Kinsta operates over 30 data centers globally, allowing you to choose a location close to your target audience, no matter where they are. However, thanks to its built-in CDN, fast loading speeds are assured almost everywhere.
To determine if Kinsta lives up to its claims, our team created a fully-featured landing page, complete with HD images, scrolling effects, and all the modern elements you’d expect. We hosted this page on Kinsta’s base plan and conducted continuous tests for just over two weeks. For a detailed look at our testing methodology for hosting providers, you can read the full breakdown.
The Short Answer: Kinsta Delivers Top-Tier Performance and Reliability
In short, Kinsta is built to provide the best performance and reliability, and it certainly lives up to that promise.
What I discovered: Kinsta’s performance is indisputable. During two weeks of testing, it achieved flawless uptime, with average fully-loaded times of around 0.9 seconds and impressive loading speeds globally.
GTmetrix
To evaluate our site’s local performance, we conducted hourly tests over two weeks using GTmetrix, with a testing source located near our site’s data center in Columbus. The results were outstanding. Our site achieved an average loading speed of about 0.9 seconds, and even the slowest measurements were impressive, at around 1.4 seconds.
To provide the most accurate representation of what users can expect, we made minimal changes to the site while testing Kinsta’s hosting performance. Kinsta was no exception to this approach.
It’s worth noting that during my initial test with GTmetrix, Kinsta’s Performance score was 100%. This was likely because Kinsta had automatically installed the Yoast SEO plugin on my site, which disabled some scrolling effects on the test site.
After disabling the plugin, the site’s typical loading speeds remained nearly unchanged. Even without additional optimization plugins, Kinsta’s Performance scores consistently exceeded 95%.
Support |4.8|
Good Support, but I Expected More
My experience with Kinsta’s customer support was somewhat disappointing. Kinsta offers live chat and email support for all paid customers, and phone support for sales inquiries. To evaluate the quality of their support, I contacted them through all available channels, though “contacted” is a bit of a stretch.
Initially, I experienced a long wait time on live chat without receiving a response. When I finally got a reply, it was a request for my hosting address, which I missed.
Fortunately, my second attempt yielded a quicker and more detailed response. However, I found the advertised 24/7 support hours to be misleading, as the actual support hours are Monday to Friday, from 5 AM to 10 PM UTC.
I also sent an email to test that support channel, but received no response. My experience with the sales phone line was much better. Calling from a Mexican number, I was connected to a Spanish-speaking support representative who was both fluent in my language and knowledgeable about my inquiries.
Overall, support was a mixed experience. When I did receive answers, they were satisfactory, but I expected more given Kinsta’s pricing.
Pricing |4.5|
Kinsta Requires a Significant Investment
There’s no denying that Kinsta is quite costly. They offer 10 different WordPress hosting plans alone. Even the entry-level Starter plan costs ₹2490 per month, or slightly less if you opt for annual billing. This is more expensive than the mid-range plans of most other hosts, even after renewal. The plans are structured based on functionality: the Pro plan includes multi-site tools, the Business plans offer e-commerce features, and the Enterprise plans cater to large company sites with extensive resources.
Additionally, Kinsta offers paid add-ons that can enhance your site’s performance but also increase your monthly costs. Like the main plans, these add-ons are worthwhile if you have the budget.
On the plus side, Kinsta is transparent about its pricing. Unlike some other hosts, Kinsta does not increase prices after the initial renewal period or charge extra for advertised features. There are no hidden upsells—everything is straightforward and transparent. Kinsta also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans, giving you ample time to determine if it’s the right fit for your needs.
Kinsta User Interface
Kinsta’s user interface is sleek, modern, and well-organized, with a minimalist color scheme. It presents features and options in a clear and intuitive manner.
The top panel gives you access to account settings and notifications. The left column allows you to switch between different services such as Applications, Databases, WordPress Sites, Static Sites, and DNS.
Here’s a closer look at what Kinsta WordPress hosting entails:
Fully Managed Hosting: Unlike many hosts that use the term “managed,” Kinsta truly emphasizes handling all management tasks for you. For instance, their admin panel is designed without traditional management options, focusing instead on essential functionalities.
Powered by Google Cloud Platform: Kinsta leverages Google’s infrastructure for enhanced performance and reliability.
Flexible Hosting Solutions: Kinsta offers Business, Enterprise, and Custom hosting plans tailored to different needs.
The main screen displays your services, recent activity, analytics, documentation, and includes a convenient live chat button. The UI has recently been updated with additional user-friendly features.
In the WordPress Analytics section, you can monitor resource usage, bandwidth, website visits, and CDN usage through colorful graphs and charts.
Overall, Kinsta offers a smooth and user-friendly hosting experience, making it easy for even beginners to navigate the dashboard.
What Is Kinsta WordPress Hosting?
So, what exactly is Kinsta and their WordPress hosting package? And how does it stand out from other WordPress hosting options available?
In short, Kinsta offers a high-performance WordPress hosting solution powered by Google Cloud Platform, designed to be user-friendly and accessible.
To give you a brief example of what sets Kinsta apart, they don’t use the traditional cPanel for managing your hosting account. Instead, they provide their own custom interface, which simplifies the process and focuses on key metrics and details.
What Hosting Survey Data Reveals About Kinsta
In a comprehensive WordPress hosting survey we conducted, Kinsta received a modest number of responses, all of which were overwhelmingly positive. We investigated these responses to ensure their authenticity, and everything checked out.
Kinsta Web Hosting
| Plan Name | Storage | Free SSL | Number of Sites | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 10 GB SSD | ₹2490 | More details | ||
| Pro | 20 GB SSD | |
₹4898 | More details | |
| Business 1 | 30 GB SSD | |
₹7969 | More details | |
| Business 2 | 40 GB SSD | ₹15606 | More details | ||
| Business 3 | 50 GB SSD | ₹23575 | More details | ||
| Business 4 | 60 GB SSD | ₹31130 | More details |
Kinsta Reseller Hosting
| Plan Name | Storage | Number of Sites | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency 1 | 50 GB SSD | |
₹23575 | More details |
| Agency 2 | 100 GB SSD | ₹31130 | More details | |
| Agency 3 | 150 GB SSD | |
₹46736 | More details |
Frequently Asked Question.
We offer daily automatic WordPress backups and system-generated backups for all sites on your account. Additionally, we have several backup add-on options available.
Yes, Kinsta provides live expert support 24/7/365. We also offer support in five languages during specific time periods.
Kinsta monitors the uptime of all WordPress sites on our platform, checking your site every three minutes (480 times a day). If a site isn’t loading, our engineers respond quickly to restore service.
Yes, Kinsta has a Security Pledge. If your WordPress site gets hacked while hosted at Kinsta, we’ll collaborate with you at no cost to repair the damage.
No, Kinsta does not offer shared hosting. We offer premium Managed WordPress Hosting services utilizing Google Cloud’s fastest C2 and C3D machines, along with Cloudflare integration.
Yes, our Pro Plans and higher include a MultiSite option. However, this feature is not available on the Starter plan.
Our integration with Cloudflare protects against code and SQL injection, Layer 7 DDoS attacks, and generic malware/vulnerability scanners.
There are no hidden fees with Kinsta plans. Each plan includes over $300/month in additional value, such as enterprise-level DDoS protection, high-performance HTTP/3 CDN, edge caching, and C3D machines. Additional excellent add-ons are available from your MyKinsta dashboard when needed.
Yes, we have a dedicated page detailing our security roles and responsibilities, outlining how we handle security and performance optimizations for WordPress.
Yes, with our Edge Caching, C3D machines, and high-performance CDN, you can achieve up to 200% faster page speeds.
We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. For thirty days, you may test Kinsta risk-free. If you cancel your subscription within this period, we will refund the full amount of your plan. For more details, check our WordPress Hosting Money-Back Guarantee documentation.
Upgrading is easy and can be done anytime from your MyKinsta dashboard with just a few clicks. There is no downtime required, and everything is automatically prorated down to the second.
