Laravel Cloud vs. Laravel Vapor
Laravel Cloud delivers autoscaling, zero-downtime deploys, and managed services without the AWS setup or maintenance Vapor requires. It's the fastest way to build, deploy, and scale Laravel apps, built for developers who want to stay in the code, not the console.
Start in Cloud with $5 in free usage credit.
Laravel Cloud
Laravel Cloud is a fully managed hosting platform built by the Laravel team for Laravel applications. It relieves developers of the burden of managing infrastructure, allowing them to ship faster and accelerate time to market.
- Deploy from Git in under a minute: just bring your repo and we'll handle the rest, from compute, databases, cache, workers, and WebSockets, to backups and SSL.
- Creating a Laravel Cloud account prevents the need for creating a separate server account. You don't have to touch IAM permissions, understand Lambda constraints, or worry about configuring supporting AWS services.
- Automatic scaling and managed replicas keep performance steady during traffic spikes, while idle apps scale to zero so you're never paying for unused compute.
Laravel Vapor
Laravel Vapor is an autoscaling, serverless deployment platform for Laravel, powered by AWS Lambda. You bring your own AWS credentials, and Vapor provides a user-friendly UI and tooling for deploying your application. It abstracts the complexity of managing Laravel applications on AWS Lambda as well as interfacing those applications with supporting services.
- Autoscaling web and queue infrastructure fine-tuned for Laravel. Vapor allows queued jobs at very high concurrency via SQS and Lambda.
- If you have an app with extremely unpredictable or “spiky” traffic, the ability to scale up (and down) almost instantly with serverless is a plus.
- If you already have an AWS infrastructure, need specialized services, or want to mix what you build with other AWS services, Vapor may provide more flexibility. Managing these services, however, comes with hidden costs, slowing down shipping.
Over 20K teams deploy faster with Laravel Cloud
Why Laravel Cloud is better than Laravel Vapor
All-inclusive managed platform, with databases, cache, SSL, and backups handled for you. No juggling AWS services and billing.
No AWS account or setup required, so you can deploy instantly without touching IAM, CloudFormation, or Lambda configs.
Users migrating from Vapor to Cloud have seen up to 50% cost savings.
“If I could do something differently, I would have left Vapor earlier, just because of cost. Our infrastructure costs on Laravel Cloud are more than 50% lower.”
Fa Perreault
Solutions Architect at PyleSoft
Compare Laravel Cloud vs. Laravel Vapor
Laravel Cloud lets you ship applications faster with zero configuration. Infrastructure, scaling, and databases are managed automatically, reducing setup time and project costs compared to Vapor's AWS-based configuration.
Built by the Laravel team, Cloud delivers an end-to-end managed experience for Laravel apps. There’s nothing to install or configure: servers, scaling, databases, and security are all handled automatically. Developers can go from commit to live app in minutes, without touching AWS or managing infrastructure.
Vapor offers serverless hosting for Laravel, but it runs entirely on your own AWS account. You’re responsible for configuring environments, connecting services like RDS and S3, and managing IAM credentials. It’s powerful but requires more setup and maintenance compared to Cloud’s zero-ops workflow.
Built by the Laravel team, Cloud delivers an end-to-end managed experience for Laravel apps. There’s nothing to install or configure: servers, scaling, databases, and security are all handled automatically. Developers can go from commit to live app in minutes, without touching AWS or managing infrastructure.
Not required, Cloud does everything
Required, you'll need to manually set up an AWS account
Not required, Cloud does everything
Laravel only (built for Laravel)
Any PHP application (Laravel, WordPress, etc.), other languages depending on OS
Laravel only (built for Laravel)
Managed servers with autoscaling and scale-to-zero compute
Serverless (AWS Lambda) and supporting managed services (RDS/Aurora, S3, CloudFront, etc.)
Managed servers with autoscaling and scale-to-zero compute
Built-in horizontal autoscaling, worker clusters, and compute that scales to zero when idle
Built-in via Lambda and related managed services; scales automatically by design
Built-in horizontal autoscaling, worker clusters, and compute that scales to zero when idle
Minimal; infrastructure management largely handled
Medium; you must still consider AWS service design, costs, resource
Minimal; infrastructure management largely handled
Multiple regions supported via Laravel Cloud infrastructure
AWS regions supported; requires AWS Lambda region consideration
Multiple regions supported via Laravel Cloud infrastructure
Cloud automatically scales up and down based on real traffic, keeping response times fast under load while minimizing idle costs. Its managed infrastructure handles concurrency seamlessly. No need to tune AWS Lambda limits or manage server pools. Apps scale smoothly, and developers never need to adjust capacity settings.
Vapor uses AWS Lambda for serverless scaling, which can handle massive concurrency. However, scaling behavior and cold starts depend on AWS configuration. You’ll need to manage linked services like queues, databases, and networking. It’s great for complex AWS-centric projects, but it adds ongoing tuning and maintenance, which are hidden costs.
Cloud automatically scales up and down based on real traffic, keeping response times fast under load while minimizing idle costs. Its managed infrastructure handles concurrency seamlessly. No need to tune AWS Lambda limits or manage server pools. Apps scale smoothly, and developers never need to adjust capacity settings.
Deployments in under 1 minute, with fast Git-to-live flow & minimal setup required
Depends on Lambda build/deploy steps and AWS setup
Deployments in under 1 minute, with fast Git-to-live flow & minimal setup required
Yes, cluster autoscaling and scale-to-zero when idle (zero compute costs while idle)
Yes, inherently via serverless architecture
Yes, cluster autoscaling and scale-to-zero when idle (zero compute costs while idle)
Balanced: you get managed infrastructure but limited low-level control
Highly abstracted: you offload almost everything but accept serverless constraints
Balanced: you get managed infrastructure but limited low-level control
Cloud automatically builds, migrates, and deploys with true zero-downtime rollouts. Want more control over your deployments? Dig into deployment hooks and build commands (without AWS credentials or pipelines to maintain). You can push updates with confidence and focus entirely on shipping new features.
Vapor deployments require AWS setup and coordination with your own services. You deploy through Vapor’s CLI or dashboard, but you still manage the underlying AWS resources and credentials. It’s flexible, yet adds a layer of operational responsibility not needed on Cloud.
Cloud automatically builds, migrates, and deploys with true zero-downtime rollouts. Want more control over your deployments? Dig into deployment hooks and build commands (without AWS credentials or pipelines to maintain). You can push updates with confidence and focus entirely on shipping new features.
Yes, zero-config Git deployment via UI
Yes, via CLI and configuration, but you must setup AWS and Vapor integration
Yes, zero-config Git deployment via UI
Supported
Supported
Supported
Cloud comes with built-in monitoring, logs, and real-time performance metrics. SSL, backups, and DDoS protection are automatic, handled through Cloudflare and Laravel’s managed infrastructure. You get security and visibility by default, without managing AWS services or credentials.
Vapor provides environment, database, cache metrics, and integrates with CloudFront, S3, etc. You’re still responsible for configuring IAM roles and overall AWS security. It’s flexible for AWS experts but adds setup time and ongoing maintenance that Cloud handles automatically.
Cloud comes with built-in monitoring, logs, and real-time performance metrics. SSL, backups, and DDoS protection are automatic, handled through Cloudflare and Laravel’s managed infrastructure. You get security and visibility by default, without managing AWS services or credentials.
Yes, built-in via dashboard
Yes, via Vapor UI and AWS services (CloudWatch, etc)
Yes, built-in via dashboard
Automatic TLS, built-in CDN/edge network
Yes, via AWS CloudFront/S3; requires configuration
Automatic TLS, built-in CDN/edge network
Managed backups for databases
Backup support via AWS RDS/Aurora and Vapor UI
Managed backups for databases
Laravel Cloud charges only for active compute. Inactive apps scale to zero automatically, so you pay nothing while they're idle. This makes Cloud particularly cost-efficient for PoCs, startups, and variable workloads. Users migrating from Vapor have seen up to 50% cost savings.
Vapor offers a free tier (Sandbox) and uses your own AWS account for compute, database, and storage charges. While it can scale infinitely, costs can spike during heavy traffic, and managing AWS resources can introduce hidden DevOps overhead.
Laravel Cloud charges only for active compute. Inactive apps scale to zero automatically, so you pay nothing while they're idle. This makes Cloud particularly cost-efficient for PoCs, startups, and variable workloads. Users migrating from Vapor have seen up to 50% cost savings.
Subscription + pay only for what you use. No idle compute costs with scale-to-zero.
Subscription + AWS costs; AWS service usage can vary and may require careful cost monitoring
Subscription + pay only for what you use. No idle compute costs with scale-to-zero.
Yes, Flex compute scales your app, databases, and cache to zero.
Lambda scales down to zero (or near zero) when idle but you still pay for other AWS resources
Yes, Flex compute scales your app, databases, and cache to zero.
Start in Cloud with $5 in free usage credit.
Trial available
Start in Cloud with $5 in free usage credit.
Who should choose Laravel Cloud vs. Laravel Vapor?
Laravel Cloud
Choose Laravel Cloud for a fully managed, Laravel-native platform that eliminates infrastructure work. Cloud automatically scales to handle traffic spikes and scales to zero when idle, providing smart scaling and cost efficiency. With minimal configuration, built-in security, and managed services, Cloud is ideal for teams that want to ship faster and avoid the hidden costs of managing their own infra.
Laravel Vapor
Choose Laravel Vapor if you need near-infinite scaling and already work comfortably in AWS. Vapor runs entirely on your own AWS account and uses AWS Lambda for serverless deployments. It's powerful for large-scale or AWS-integrated apps, but requires managing IAM, configuring services, and handling AWS costs directly.
Deploy now with Cloud
Start in Cloud with $5 in free usage credit.
Launch in under a minute from Git to live with fully managed infrastructure.
Build and ship faster with native Laravel integration across your stack.
Scale and save costs automatically with built-in scale-to-zero.
Trusted by developers, startups, and enterprises
Join thousands of developers and companies around the world.
“Laravel Cloud makes it easy to demo projects to clients. I can deploy a fresh app in seconds. You only pay for what you use, letting you focus on business value instead of infrastructure.”
Peter Steenbergen
Search & GenAI Specialist, Elastic
“Laravel Cloud has saved us thousands of dollars per month and eliminates the need for a dedicated engineer to monitor our server.”
Sam Pizzo
CEO, CMS Max
“Laravel Cloud is the next generation platform for powering Laravel applications. This is the future of infra for PHP devs.”
Rafael Lunardelli
CTO, Devsquad
“Onboarding was smooth. UI is eye candy. Tinkering with scaling, replicas and resources is seamless.”
Bradley Bernard
Software Engineer, Snap
“Selected my repo, hit deploy, and boom. 60 seconds later my site was ready! I didn't even have to configure anything.”
Duncan McClean
Software Developer, Statamic
“Wow, Laravel Cloud is very smooth! Took almost no time to deploy a Filament app with database and custom domain.”
Silvan Hagen
Developer & Consultant
“The first deployment is as easy as possible: connect your git, and boom, your page will be online.”
Tim Geisendoerfer
CEO & Founder, Innoge
FAQ: Laravel Cloud vs. Laravel Vapor
Laravel Cloud is a fully managed platform built by the Laravel team for Laravel applications: it automates servers, databases, caching, scaling, WebSockets, and SSL. Laravel Vapor is a serverless platform for Laravel on AWS Lambda: you still need an AWS account and manage some AWS services, though Vapor simplifies the interface.
Yes. Laravel Cloud runs on AWS infrastructure managed by the Laravel team. You get AWS reliability without needing an AWS account or configuring services yourself.
Not strictly “faster” in all cases: Laravel Cloud runs on optimized EC2 infrastructure with autoscaling and managed services. Vapor uses a serverless architecture that may introduce cold-start latency but scales extremely well. The best choice depends on traffic patterns and needs.
Yes. With Laravel Cloud, you do not handle the underlying server provisioning, OS/PHP updates, or infrastructure scaling.
Yes. Vapor uses serverless architecture (AWS Lambda, autoscaling databases, etc), so scaling is inherent.
It depends on your usage patterns, but users migrating from Vapor to Cloud have seen up to 50% in cost reductions. Laravel Cloud's usage-based pricing means apps scale to zero when idle, so you pay nothing during quiet periods. Vapor scales compute to zero via Lambda, but other AWS service costs continue when idle, which can make your total bill harder to predict.
Laravel Cloud offers the most seamless experience for Laravel developers who just want to focus on building. Vapor is better for developers who are comfortable with AWS architecture and need serverless scale.
Yes. Laravel Cloud offers managed MySQL, Postgres, and Redis-compatible key-value stores that can automatically scale up when traffic increases and to zero when idle. MySQL scale-to-zero support will arrive in July 2026.
Yes. Vapor enables you to create and manage AWS RDS/Aurora databases, ElastiCache Redis clusters, and S3 storage from the UI or CLI.
Laravel Cloud is designed for one-click Git integration and a very minimal setup. Vapor requires you to install the Vapor CLI and configure your vapor.yml file and AWS account.
Laravel Cloud builds on the ideas behind Vapor while offering simpler configuration, more predictable performance, and usage-based pricing without direct AWS management. The migration guide explains the benefits of migrating and outlines what changes when moving from Vapor to Cloud.
Yes. Every new organization gets $5 in free usage credits, and your first month on the Starter plan is free. Credits top up automatically each month, and you only ever pay for usage beyond them. Your apps and databases scale to zero when idle, so you're never charged for compute time while they're not in use. View detailed pricing here.
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