Laravel Forge alternative for teams that run more than PHP
Laravel Forge is a respected server panel, built by the Laravel team, and for a pure Laravel shop it does its job well. Teams look for a Laravel Forge alternative when their stack grows sideways: a Next.js frontend, a Django service for data work, a Go worker, a Dockerized tool. Deployment manages all of them on the same servers, from one panel, with the same release model and the same team controls.
Deployment and Laravel Forge side by side
This table sticks to what matters when you choose a server panel. Products change, so check the Laravel Forge website and its current pricing page for their latest details.
| Deployment | Laravel Forge | |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Every stack in one panel | PHP and Laravel first |
| Stacks | PHP and Laravel, Node.js, Next.js, Python (Django, FastAPI, Flask), Ruby on Rails, Go, Java, .NET, static sites, Docker | PHP and Laravel, with more limited support for other runtimes |
| Own servers | Yes, any Ubuntu or Debian server over SSH or nine cloud providers by API token | Yes, servers in your cloud account |
| Pricing model | Per organization, 49 to 1 499 USD a month, half price billed yearly | Per account, from about 12 to 39 USD a month (check their current pricing page) |
| Zero downtime releases | Built in for every stack, with health check before switch | Check their current documentation |
| Rollback | One click to any kept release | Check their current documentation |
| Teams and roles | Owner, admin, developer, viewer, per-server access, audit log (Team plan and up) | Check their current plans |
| SSO (SAML) | Enterprise plan | Check their current plans |
| Who runs the panel | Deployment, as a hosted service | Laravel, as a hosted service |
Where Deployment is different
The main difference is scope. Deployment detects the stack of each repository and sets up the runtime, process manager and deploy script for it: PHP-FPM and Horizon for Laravel, a Node process for Next.js, gunicorn and Celery for Django, a systemd unit for a Go binary, a health-checked container for Docker. Every one of them deploys into atomic release folders, switches only after a health check, and rolls back in one click. Your Laravel apps get the treatment you expect, described on laravel hosting, and the rest of your stack stops living in separate tools and shell scripts.
- One release model for every runtime, so on-call engineers learn one panel
- Encrypted environment variables per environment with a diff before each deploy
- Monitoring, uptime checks and alerts by email, Slack, Discord or webhook included
- Backups of databases and files to your own S3-compatible storage with one-click restore
Pricing that is built for teams
Deployment costs more than Forge's entry plans, and that is deliberate. It is priced per organization for teams that manage several stacks and several people: Starter is 49 USD a month (24 USD billed yearly) for 3 servers, Team is 199 USD a month (99 USD billed yearly) for 15 servers and 10 members with roles and audit log. Servers stay in your own cloud account, so there is no markup on compute. See PaaS pricing for every plan.
When Laravel Forge is the better choice
Be honest with yourself about your stack. If you run only Laravel and PHP apps, work alone or in a small team without a need for roles and audit logs, and want the lowest monthly cost, Forge is a sensible pick and fits the Laravel ecosystem closely. It is also a natural choice if you rely on other services from the Laravel team and like having them under one account. Deployment pays off when you run several stacks, when more people deploy and you need control over who can do what, or when you want zero downtime and rollback to work the same way for every app.
How to move from Laravel Forge to Deployment
You can move one site at a time, and nothing has to go down.
- Connect your existing server to Deployment over SSH. Deployment checks what is installed and works alongside your current setup, or provision a fresh server from your cloud account and migrate onto it.
- Add the site from the same repository and branch. Deployment detects Laravel, the PHP version and Horizon, and writes a deploy script you can compare with your current one.
- Copy your environment variables into the encrypted environment for production, and review the diff.
- Recreate queue workers, daemons and the scheduler cron in the panel, or accept the ones Deployment proposes.
- Run a first deploy to a staging domain, check it, then point the production domain and let Deployment issue the Let's Encrypt certificate.
- Switch the git webhook to Deployment and disable deploys in the old panel.
Laravel Forge alternative questions
Can Deployment manage a server that Forge provisioned?
Yes. Any Ubuntu or Debian server you can reach over SSH can be connected. Review the existing services first, and move sites one at a time.
Does Deployment support Horizon, Octane and the scheduler?
Yes. Horizon and queue workers restart gracefully on every deploy, Octane runs as a managed process, and the scheduler gets its cron entry with logs.
Is Deployment cheaper than Forge?
For a single developer with Laravel apps only, usually not. Deployment is priced for teams that run several stacks and need roles, audit logs, monitoring and backups in one place.
Can I try Deployment before I pay?
Yes. The home page has a free one-time demo: paste a public repository URL and see the detected stack, the server plan and the first lines of the deploy script. Plans start at 49 USD a month, or 24 USD a month billed yearly.
Manage Laravel and everything next to it
Connect a server and deploy your first app from git.
$ git push origin main
✓ build release 20261019-142210
✓ health check 200
✓ switch current 0.4 s
$