Compare / Laravel Cloud vs Unkey
Laravel Cloud vs Unkey
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Laravel Cloud checked 2026-08-06, Unkey checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Unkey wins more of our comparison points, but Laravel Cloud still fits if laravel teams that want the framework, database, queues, scheduler, cache, and deploy workflow managed as one platform describes you.
Price Unkey
Unkey is cheaper at most of the stages we model.
Ease Laravel Cloud
Laravel Cloud is easier to get running: connect a Git repository or run cloud ship; Laravel Cloud builds the supported runtime and deploys every push with zero downtime.
Control Unkey
Unkey gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Free tier Laravel Cloud
Laravel Cloud has a free tier; Unkey doesn't.
Features Unkey
Unkey comes out ahead on 5 of the 15 features we track, versus 4.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Laravel Cloud | Unkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Laravel teams that want the framework, database, queues, scheduler, cache, and deploy workflow managed as one platform. | Production APIs that want hosting, gateway policies, API keys, rate limits, and request analytics in one place. |
| How deploys work | Connect a Git repository or run cloud ship; Laravel Cloud builds the supported runtime and deploys every push with zero downtime. | Connect GitHub for automatic builds and branch previews, or deploy a Docker image from the Unkey CLI. |
| The tradeoff | The excellent Laravel experience comes from an opinionated runtime, so arbitrary containers and server-level access are out. | It is a young, API-specific platform with metered billing, ephemeral storage, and no managed database. |
| Free tier | New Starter subscriptions get their first month free; after that, Starter costs $5/month and includes $5 in monthly usage credit. | None |
What you'd realistically pay
Laravel Cloud Unkey
| Project stage | Laravel Cloud | Unkey | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$5/mo Starter — The $5 subscription includes $5 of monthly usage credit; a small app and database that scale to zero can stay inside it. | ≈$5/mo Starter — The $5 minimum includes $5 of usage, enough for a small, lightly used API. | ≈ Tie |
| Steady traffic | ≈$12/mo Starter + always-on Flex 1GB — One always-on Flex 1GB app instance reaches a $12 monthly compute cap; the $5 usage credit offsets the $5 Starter fee. | ≈$18/mo Starter + usage — About 0.5 active vCPU and 1 GB of memory running continuously before egress or active-key charges. | Laravel Cloud |
| Growing | ≈$68.90/mo Growth + medium SaaS resources — The official medium-SaaS example is about $53.90 in usage; add the $20 Growth fee and subtract its $5 usage credit. | ≈$50/mo Business — The $50 minimum becomes usage credit and raises per-instance limits to 16 vCPU and 32 GB of RAM. | Unkey |
Laravel Cloud pricing notes
- Every paid plan includes $5 in monthly usage credits, which reset each billing cycle.
- Flex compute bills per second while awake, scales to zero when idle, and is capped at 28 days of runtime per billing cycle.
- Each compute size earns a data-transfer allowance; overage is $0.10/GB.
- Managed databases, caches, queues, object storage, and WebSockets have separate usage charges.
Unkey pricing notes
- Usage rates are $0.000006944 per vCPU-second, $0.000003472 per GB-second of memory, $0.00000006 per GB-second of ephemeral disk, and $0.05 per GB of egress.
- API-key authentication through the gateway adds $0.002 per active key each month. The plan minimum is included usage credit rather than an extra charge on top.
- Log retention is 3 days on Starter, 7 days on Pro, and 14 days on Business.
Our ratings
Ease of use Laravel Cloud
Pricing clarity Unkey
Free tier Laravel Cloud
Scaling Unkey
Control Unkey
Feature by feature
Laravel Cloud wins 4, Unkey wins 5, with 6 even.
Deploy workflow
| Laravel Cloud | Unkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes Connect a Git repository and every push to the configured branch deploys automatically. | Yes Connect GitHub; pushes to the default branch deploy production automatically. |
| Preview deploys | Partial Starter includes one preview environment; broader preview workflows are available on higher plans. | Yes Non-default branches and pull requests receive isolated preview deployments. |
| Official CLI | Yes The cloud CLI deploys apps and manages environments, resources, logs, and commands. | Yes The Unkey CLI deploys local build contexts or pre-built container images. |
| Instant rollbacks | Partial You can redeploy an older Git commit, but there is no documented one-click rollback workflow. | Yes Rollbacks atomically switch traffic to a previous immutable deployment. |
Platform
| Laravel Cloud | Unkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains and automatically renewed TLS certificates are included on every plan. | Yes Custom apex domains and subdomains include automatic TLS; plan limits apply. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Yes A Cloudflare-powered global edge network caches static assets and cacheable responses automatically. | No The global gateway routes API traffic but is not a static-asset caching CDN. |
| Serverless functions | No Laravel Cloud runs server-based application compute rather than serverless functions. | No Applications run as container instances rather than per-request functions. |
| Docker containers | No The platform builds its own optimized images and does not accept arbitrary Docker images. | Yes Build from a Dockerfile or deploy a pre-built image from a registry. |
| SSH / shell access | No There is no SSH shell; use one-off commands, Tinker, logs, or the CLI instead. | No The documented workflow exposes logs and metrics, not an interactive SSH shell. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Frankfurt, Ireland, and London regions are available alongside North America and Asia Pacific. | Yes European deployment regions are available; Starter includes three regions and paid upgrades unlock all. |
Runtime & operations
| Laravel Cloud | Unkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Partial Growth can autoscale up to 10 replicas; unlimited scaling requires Business or higher. | Yes Horizontal autoscaling adjusts instance count from configured minimums and maximums based on CPU load. |
| Scale to zero | Yes Flex app compute scales to zero when idle and wakes in under 500 milliseconds. | Partial Preview environments sleep automatically when idle; apps can also be stopped and started manually. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Laravel scheduled tasks are supported and automatically wake sleeping environments. | No There is no documented first-class scheduler for cron jobs. |
| Managed database | Yes Managed Laravel MySQL and serverless Postgres are provisioned directly from the platform. | No No managed database is included; connect an external database service. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Application logs and CPU and memory metrics are built in, with retention tied to the plan. | Yes Runtime logs, CPU and memory metrics, request analytics, and gateway decisions appear in the dashboard. |
Watch out for
Laravel Cloud
- Starter costs $5/month plus usage, although its $5 monthly usage credit can cover a tiny app that frequently scales to zero.
- Autoscaling and dedicated worker clusters require the $20/month Growth plan or higher.
- The platform supports a defined set of frameworks and runtimes; it is not a general-purpose Docker host.
- Databases, caches, object storage, and WebSockets bill separately from app compute.
Unkey
- Unkey only launched public app hosting in 2026, so its production track record is much shorter than established platforms such as Heroku, Render, or Railway.
- The monthly plan price is a minimum with matching usage credit, not a compute bundle: CPU, memory, ephemeral disk, egress, and active keys are metered separately.
- Storage is ephemeral and there is no managed database, so persistent data must live with another provider.
Read the full reviews: Laravel Cloud and Unkey. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.