Rocket Alternative: The Benefits of Choosing Kinsta

Introduction

Kinsta has been in business for 10 years and is known for top website performance, world-class support, and the powerful MyKinsta dashboard that makes website management a breeze. More than 120,000+ clients all across the world, including some of the biggest enterprises and agencies, rely on Kinsta’s hosting services.

We know that everyday WordPress and website users are looking for an alternative hosting solution to Rocket that combines better infrastructure and performance, along with faster and better support. Kinsta provides all these and much more!

How Kinsta Compares to Rocket in a Nutshell

Kinsta’s infrastructure is fully containerized and powered exclusively by the Google Cloud Platform on Google’s Premium Tier network, enabling us to provide you with a large selection of the fastest data servers, incredible performance, server-level caching, dedicated resources, and enhanced security. Gone are the days of worrying about sharing resources with other sites, including your own! 

All sites on Kinsta are protected by our enterprise-level premium Cloudflare integration, free for all customers. It includes a secure firewall, HTTP/3 support, DDoS protection, free CDN, and other benefits. You also experience transparent resource consumption, costs, and pricing. 

While Rocket also uses Google Cloud Platform, they don’t make top-tier products like C2 and C3D virtual machines and Premium Tier network available for all plans. You get access to C2 machines only if you have Premium or Dedicated custom plans.

Rocket counts all staging into their disc space allowance, while Kinsta does not. We do, however, allow you to easily purchase a cost-effective disk space add-on while keeping your current plan.

We are also proud to be the highest-rated managed WordPress host on G2, the world’s leading software review and comparison site.

Feature Comparison Overview

At this point, we want to take a moment to look at some of the biggest differences between Kinsta and Rocket:

Enjoy a 20% Faster Website Simply by Moving From Rocket to Kinsta

We measured 3,200+ migrations over the course of a three-month span. On average, client sites experienced 20% faster load times just by moving to Kinsta.

How is this possible? Our customers enjoy:

• The latest generation of virtual machines from Google’s Compute Engine general-purpose machine family C3D VMs and The fastest Compute-Optimized C2 VMs, available across all plans in supported regions.
• A stack that’s been fine-tuned for WordPress over the past 10+ years.
• Google’s Premium Tier Network to deliver website data faster
• Free CDN powered by Cloudflare’s global network of 260+ locations.
• Built-in Edge Caching that cuts the time needed to serve cached WordPress HTML by an average of more than 50%!
• Containerized sites, meaning no more shared hosting/resources at any plan level.
• Early Hints feature, a modern web standard that can help immediately improve how quickly your pages load by providing additional information on what resources to preload, resulting in faster page rendering speed.

Migrate from Rocket to Kinsta hassle-free with our free expert migration service. With our 30-day money-back guarantee, you can test out the service and improved speeds completely risk-free. You only lose if you don’t give this a try!

Kinsta vs Rocket

Let’s take a look at some of the major differences between Kinsta and Rocket:

• At Kinsta, we are transparent and clear about what kind of resources you get in any given WordPress plan. Rocket markets that all their plans come with unlimited PHP workers, but the reality is that they have a fair usage policy in place, meaning your sites will have a predefined number of workers, but unfortunately, not unlimited. Servers have physical limits, so offering unlimited workers is not possible. You are required to buy/upgrade to an enterprise plan if you need a higher number of workers – if you don’t believe, ask them for 100 workers on the smallest plan – advertised as unlimited workers – and you’ll find out. 
• Kinsta provides 14 or 30 days of backup retention on WordPress plans. Rocket provides 14 days.
• At Kinsta, all your sites, both live and staging, can run on the latest available PHP version, in this case, PHP 8.2. It provides better performance and is more secure against vulnerabilities. The latest PHP 8.2 version is not available for Rocket customers. However, the outdated PHP 5.6 version is and putting sites at risk.
• Kinsta provides for free an application performance monitoring tool (APM) for all sites for free. It is developed by us and helps you identify plugins, themes, and other WordPress-related issues in minutes. Rocket doesn’t provide an APM tool for its clients.
• Kinsta offers 37 data center options for your sites. You can pick any location depending on which serves your visitors best. On the other hand, Rocket has only 10 data center locations.
• Kinsta is SOC2 compliant. SOC2 indicates that an organization maintains a high level of information security. Strict compliance requirements (tested through on-site audits) can help ensure sensitive information is handled responsibly. Rocket is not SOC2 compliant.
• On top of WordPress, Kinsta also provides application and database hosting services. Many modern WP site enterprises extend the capabilities of their website with additional databases or connect their web applications to their website. On the other hand, Rocket is hosting only WordPress sites, so you don’t have the flexibility to extend your online presence on the same platform.
• Kinsta provides extra staging environments for your sites. You can have up to 5 extra environments to test and develop any functionality on your website. Rocket doesn’t offer extra environments. 
• Kinsta offers a disc space add-on if you need more disc space for your sites. For $20, you can easily add 20GB SSD to your account. At Rocket, you either pay the disc overage or upgrade to a higher plan.
• At Kinsta, we don’t upgrade WP core as we know the latest updates can break sites, especially when a lot of customizations are in place. Rocket automatically upgrades your WordPress core unless you opt out.
• Kinsta performs continuous automatic MySQL database optimization on all of your sites to ensure better performance. Rocket does not.
• Kinsta offers an out-of-the-box Static Site hosting solution for completely free. You can host up to 100 static sites – including WordPress – for free. Rocket doesn’t offer a free out-of-the-box static hosting solution.
• Our free Cloudflare integration will work great for most customers. If you want a little more fine-grained control or need to implement something at Cloudflare not offered by our integration, you can switch your site to use your own Cloudflare account along with Kinsta’s Cloudflare integration. Rocket also has a Cloudflare integration, but they don’t allow you to switch to your own Cloudflare account.
• Kinsta has an extensive and public blog, knowledge base and documentation in Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish languages with almost 2000 tutorials and guides available for everyone. Rocket’s help articles are hidden and available only for logged-in users.
• Kinsta’s refund policy is transparent, generous, and easy to do. In the first month, you get a no-questions-asked full refund if you decide to go that route. After the first month, we provide a prorated refund (you get the unused part back) both on monthly and annual subscriptions. Rocket also provides refunds; however, not on all plans. The 30-day money-back guarantee doesn’t apply to Enterprise plans. For annual plans, you can request a refund and get your money back only in the first 90 days after the signup. On top of that, you have to submit a notice of cancellation seven days prior to your next billing date. If notice of cancellation is not submitted at least seven days prior to the next billing date, you are responsible for payment of the next billing period. Also, at Rocket, you can not cancel your subscription on your own. Requests must and may only be submitted via their ticketing system. At Kinsta, you can cancel your subscription anytime with just a few clicks on the dashboard, and you are eligible for a prorated refund.
• Kinsta has its own custom-developed local WordPress development tool called DevKinsta. With this free tool, you can build WordPress sites locally and, if you want, push them to your Kinsta account. Rocket doesn’t offer a local development tool.
• For Agencies, Kinsta offers free hosting for their agency website. Also, they are eligible for getting listed in our Agency Directory, which is available for our entire client base, meaning this is a potential new source of new customers for them. Rocket doesn’t offer these perks for agencies.

Try it out for yourself with our risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.

Kinsta Is Safe and Secure

At Kinsta, we know that the security of your data is of the utmost importance, which is why we’re dedicated to providing the most secure hosting service by taking a variety of active and passive measures to safeguard your site.

All sites on Kinsta are protected by our free Cloudflare integration, which includes an enterprise-level firewall with a custom ruleset and DDoS protection. With our Cloudflare integration, you’ll get the benefits of enhanced security and performance without having to manage your own Cloudflare account.

Some of Kinsta’s key security measures include:

• Monitoring sites every three minutes for uptime, 480 times a day.
• Rigid software-based restrictions to stop malicious code from entering your website.
• Real-time DDoS attack detection and mitigation.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) support and automatic bans for IPs that have more than six failed login attempts in a minute.
• A dedicated Security Team to address malicious attackers, hacks, and exploits.
• Free Cloudflare integration with a secure firewall and built-in DDoS protection.
• Only support for encrypted SFTP and SSH connections (no FTP).
• Completely isolated containers (LXC), using LXD to orchestrate them so there’s no chance of cross-infection from other clients.
• Free Cloudflare SSL certificates with wildcard domain support.
• 100% Malware Security Pledge if your site is infected with malware while hosted on Kinsta.
• Automatic security checks for every plugin installed to discover vulnerabilities and/or security issues.
• We allow you to use only supported and secure PHP versions.

In the rare event that something were to happen to your site, our Malware Security Pledge means you will get hands-on assistance from our engineers free of charge. We’ll restore your site and make sure it’s free of backdoors that hackers can take advantage of.

Agency Partner Program

Kinsta has an Agency Partner Program specifically designed for agencies looking for a powerful and secure hosting platform with minimal overhead. After joining our Agency Partner Program, your agency will be able to focus on developing client projects and expanding your business while we handle the hosting side of things.

We talk to new agency owners every day and know how frustrating it can be when you are overpaying for dedicated servers, while your sites are still sharing resources with each other. This leads to performance issues. We hear you and we have the solution!

Our container-based hosting stack is a game changer for your agency and for your clients. Each website gets dedicated resources and we deliver better performance and uptime in a cost-efficient way. No upsell, just upgrades: transparent plans for Your Growing Agency. 114,000+ WordPress sites already enjoy the Kinsta difference. Contact us and get your first month free today!

Our Agency Partner Program also comes with a number of perks:

• Free hosting for your agency site on a Kinsta Pro plan (a $70/month value).
• Unlimited free migrations for your client sites.
• White-label our cache-clearing plugin with your agency’s logo and branding.
• One month of free hosting, so you don’t have to worry about paying for two hosting plans while migrating your client sites to Kinsta.

As a member of our Agency Partner Program, all your client sites will receive the same level of support, features, and tooling offered on our normal plan tiers!

Kinsta API

Say goodbye to the limitations of the past and enjoy a revolutionary era where machines can seamlessly interact with our services. Kinsta API (Application Programming Interface) allows you to perform tasks on your Kinsta site without logging in to the MyKinsta dashboard.

What’s possible with Kinsta API?

• Reporting: seamlessly integrate Kinsta Services into your internal tracking systems and retrieve Kinsta analytics data effortlessly.
• Scheduled Tasks: create applications to schedule tasks, ensuring minimal disruption to your visitors. 
• WordPress Site Creation: create a new WordPress site installation automatically and take control of your site’s functionality. You can also create WordPress Multisite installations.

Enjoy more automation than ever before on the Kinsta platform by taking advantage of Kinsta API.

Free Performance Monitoring Tool

All Kinsta plans come with a free custom-built APM tool that can be easily accessed in the MyKinsta dashboard. Kinsta APM provides you with key WordPress performance insights and metrics without the need to pay for third-party subscriptions to other APM services.

With Kinsta APM, you can debug the following and more:

• Slow WordPress plugins and themes.
• Long calls to external APIs and domains.
• Unoptimized MySQL database queries.
• PHP execution time.

On the other hand, Rocket plans do not come with a free custom-built APM tool. This means if you’re on a Rocket plan, you won’t be able to collect insights about your site’s performance.

Develop Locally With DevKinsta

With DevKinsta, you can launch WordPress sites with a full hosting stack and SSL support on your local computer (macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu) with just a few clicks.

DevKinsta is fully integrated with MyKinsta and Kinsta’s hosting platform, so you can join the 60,000+ community members using DevKinsta to develop locally and push updates directly to a staging environment on Kinsta!

If you’re a busy freelance or agency developer, DevKinsta’s advanced features (including multisite support) and MyKinsta integration can be a huge time saver.

Free Migrations From Real People

Whether you want to move one site or 100, Kinsta provides hassle-free migrations that are handled by our skilled WordPress experts. You won’t have to deal with complex technology or risk losing critical data.

If you’re interested in moving your site to managed WordPress hosting, we offer unlimited free migrations from Rocket! Our migrations are performed by an expert migrations engineer.

My experience with migrations has been excellent – I didn’t wait days for this to happen – migrations happened within a few hours. When I tried to migrate sites myself and there were errors, I received instant emails from support suggesting the issues I should look at. Extremely helpful!

To get started, simply complete our site migration request form, and our experts will reach out to schedule a time. Then you can track the migration’s status directly from your MyKinsta dashboard.

Affiliate Program With Recurring Commissions

Kinsta is constantly exceeding our client’s expectations. Our satisfied customers are eager to spread the word about our products and services, which has helped us become one of the fastest-growing hosts in the industry. 

For every referral of Managed WordPress Hosting, you earn both:

• An initial one-time bonus, between $50 and $500, is calculated based on the plan of the customer.
• A 10% monthly recurring commission is paid every month for the lifetime of the customer. The 10% is calculated out of the plan’s monthly fee (discounts applied). Add-ons are not included.

For every referral of Application Hosting and/or Database Hosting, you earn a 5% recurring commission every month for the lifetime of the customer. The 5% is calculated out of the customer’s monthly invoice (discounts applied).

This is a powerful opportunity to earn a passive income! 

To make the Kinsta affiliate experience even more enjoyable, we custom-built our own easy-to-use affiliate dashboard. Therefore, you won’t have to deal with complicated or confusing third-party platforms.

Rocket offers $150 per new customer. Since Rocket doesn’t pay recurring commissions for the lifetime of a referred customer, their affiliate program doesn’t allow you to build a passive income stream.