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xCloud vs RunCloud: Pricing, Performance, and Features Compared
Compare xCloud and RunCloud for WordPress hosting, pricing, backups, migration, security, support, and server control to see which platform fits.
83 features compared · 45 where the two differ · Last updated Last updated: 24/08/2026
Quick verdict
Choose xCloud if…
- You want a genuinely free self-managed control panel, with no monthly floor before you can connect a server.
- WordPress is most or all of what you run, and you want blueprints, staging push/pull and incremental backups built in.
- You want an MCP endpoint and installable AI agent skills to manage servers and sites from Claude, Cursor or another agent.
- You want live chat support, white-labelling and a reseller programme included rather than gated behind a higher tier.
- You want built-in bulk site and server migration, including a dedicated cPanel migration path.
Choose RunCloud if…
- You manage a wide mix of PHP applications beyond WordPress and want a panel built around that breadth.
- You are already invested in RunCloud's workflow and integrations and see no reason to move.
- You want RunCloud's specific automated-security-update behaviour as your primary control-panel feature.
- You do not need WordPress-specific tooling like blueprints or staging push/pull, so xCloud's WordPress focus buys you nothing extra.
Still comparing providers? See the best RunCloud alternatives
At a glance
xCloud vs RunCloud at a glance
The decision criteria first. The full feature-by-feature matrix is below.
| Criteria | xCloud | RunCloud |
|---|---|---|
| What each product is | WordPress hosting and server-management platform; self-managed or fully managed | General-purpose PHP server control panel; you provide the server, RunCloud manages it |
| Pricing model | Free self-managed control panel, or a managed plan bundling the server | Tiered monthly control-panel subscription; the server is billed separately by your provider |
| Starting price | $0 self-managed; managed servers priced separately, see xCloud pricing | From $8/month per the original captured comparison — confirm the current figure on RunCloud's own pricing page |
| Infrastructure included? | Included on managed plans; separate (paid to your provider) if you bring your own server | Never included — RunCloud is control-panel-only, the server is always a separate bill |
| Supported cloud providers | Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, AWS, or any Ubuntu server via SSH | Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, AWS, or any Ubuntu server via SSH |
| WordPress-specific tooling | Blueprints, WordPress theme/plugin/core update manager, WordPress integrity checker, transactional email | No blueprints, no built-in WordPress update manager, no built-in transactional email service |
| Staging and cloning | 1-click staging with push/pull, plus clone to same or another server | 1-click staging (push/pull listed as upcoming on xCloud at capture time), clone to same or another server |
| Backups and restore | Full and incremental site backups, downloadable, plus full server backups on any S3 storage | Full and incremental site backups, plus full server backups on any S3 storage; no download for remote backups |
| Security | 7G/8G firewall, Fail2Ban, automatic security updates, vulnerability scanner built in | 7G/8G firewall, Fail2Ban, automatic security updates; no vulnerability scanner published |
| Redis / object caching | Full page and Redis cache included | Full page and Redis cache included |
| Migration | Built-in bulk site and server migration, plus a dedicated cPanel migration path | Built-in bulk site and server migration, plus a dedicated cPanel migration path |
| Agency and team features | Account/role management, plus white-labelling and a reseller programme | Account/role management; no white-label or reseller programme published |
| Support channels | Live chat support included, plus documentation | Ticket-based support; no live chat published |
| AI and agent tooling | MCP server and installable AI agent skills for Claude, Cursor and other agents | Not published |
| Refund terms | 14-day money-back guarantee | 14-day money-back guarantee, per the original captured comparison |
| Main limitations | One-click app library is WordPress/PHP/Laravel-centred, narrower than a general PHP panel built for it | No WordPress-specific tooling, no white-label programme, and the server is always a separate bill |
Feature comparison
Every Feature, Side by Side
83 features side by side, including everything xCloud has shipped since the original comparison. 45 of them differ between xCloud and RunCloud — use the filter to see only those.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
 xCloud | RunCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting type | Cloud servers | No Hosting |
| Lowest plan | Starts at $0 | Starts at $8/month |
| Web Server – NGINX & OLS | Yes | Yes |
| Integrate Your Own Provider(Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, AWS or any Ubuntu) | Yes | Yes |
| Root access to server | Yes | Yes |
| Vertical Scaling | Yes | No |
| Unlimited websites creation | Yes | Yes |
| External Database | Yes | No |
| WordPress Multisite ( support for sub-domain and sub-folder ) | Yes | Yes |
| Site Disable | Yes | Yes |
| Blueprints | Yes | No |
| Custom NGINX | Yes | Yes |
| Full page & Redis cache | Yes | Yes |
| Transactional email service | Yes | No |
| Easy integration with Mailgun, SendGrid, ElasticEmail, or any SMTP provider | Yes | Yes |
| Fully WordPress focused | Yes | No |
| WordPress theme, plugin, & core update | Yes | No |
| Automatic security updates | Yes | Yes |
| 7G & 8G Firewall | Yes | Yes |
| Fail2Ban Integration | Yes | Yes |
| Firewall Management | Yes | Yes |
| Vulnerability Scanner | Yes | No |
| Accounts & roles management for team | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic FREE Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates | Yes | Yes |
| Custom SSL/TLS certificates | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Cron job | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple PHP versions in the same server | Yes | Yes |
| Compatibility & easy management for PHP 8.3 | Yes | Yes |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk site & server migration | Yes | Yes |
| cPanel Site Migration | Yes | Yes |
| Full Site Backup | Yes | Yes |
| Incremental Site Backup | Yes | Yes |
| Site Backup download option for remote backups | Yes | No |
| Full Server Backup Management | Yes | Yes |
| Remote Site Backup on any of your own s3 storage | Yes | Yes |
| File Manager | Yes | Yes |
| Reset File & Folder Permissions | Yes | Yes |
| Server & Site monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Slack Integration | Yes | Yes |
| WhatsApp Integration | Yes | No |
| Server and Site Log | Yes | Yes |
| Add existing database | Yes | Yes |
| Clone site to same & another server | Yes | Yes |
| 1-click staging | Yes | Yes |
| Staging With Pull Push | Upcoming | Yes |
| 1-click magic login | Yes | Yes |
| Magic Login Disable | Yes | No |
| Clone & deploy from GIT | Yes | Yes |
| White label | Yes | No |
| Live chat support | Yes | No |
| Moneyback guarantee | 14 days | 14 days |
| AI and agent control | ||
| MCP server — drive servers and sites from Claude, Cursor or any AI agent | Yes | No |
| Installable AI agent skills (servers, sites, WordPress, SSL, account) | Yes | No |
| AI bot blocker — block AI crawlers and scrapers at the server | Yes | — |
| Public REST API with scoped tokens | Yes | — |
| Security and WordPress integrity | ||
| Virtual patching for known vulnerabilities (Site Security PRO) | Add-on, $2/site | — |
| WordPress integrity monitor — verifies core files against checksums | Yes | — |
| Custom security headers (HSTS, CSP) from the panel | Yes | — |
| HTTP basic auth and per-site IP allow/deny | Yes | — |
| SSH lockdown — restrict SSH to trusted IPs, custom port | Yes | — |
| Performance and caching | ||
| Edge full-page cache on a global PoP network | Yes | — |
| Cloudflare Enterprise (330+ PoPs, Enterprise WAF) | Add-on, $5/domain | — |
| HTTP/3 (QUIC) and Brotli compression, one click | Yes | — |
| Per-site PHP-FPM worker tuning and PHP extension manager | Yes | — |
| Auto-healing — restarts MySQL, NGINX, Redis or PHP if it stops | Yes | — |
| MySQL/MariaDB auto-tuning and OPcache control | Yes | — |
| Monitoring and observability | ||
| Broken link monitoring with one-click 301 redirect | Yes | No |
| Site Insights — PHP, MySQL and traffic analytics per site | Yes | — |
| Scheduled PageSpeed / Core Web Vitals monitoring with history | Yes | — |
| Telegram alerts for site, server and team events | Yes | — |
| Native macOS menu-bar app (xCloud Pulse) | Yes | No |
| Developer and deployment | ||
| Browser SSH terminal and command runner | Yes | — |
| One-click deploy from Git with stack auto-detection | Yes | — |
| Docker and Docker Compose application hosting | Yes | — |
| Node.js, Laravel and Next.js hosting with queue workers | Yes | Yes |
| One-click app library | 286 apps | — |
| Supervisor process management and site snapshots | Yes | — |
| Backups, migration and agency tooling | ||
| Off-site backups to your own S3, R2, Backblaze, Wasabi, Google Drive or pCloud | Yes | — |
| Full server clone and server-to-server migration | Yes | — |
| Branded client maintenance reports (PDF) | Yes | — |
| White-label reseller programme with Stripe billing and your own plans | Yes | — |
| Business mailboxes on your own domain | Add-on, $1/mo | — |
Already on RunCloud?
Moving Is Two Supported Routes, Not A Rebuild
You do not have to rebuild the site to change host. Both routes below are documented, and both bring the files and the database across together.
xCloud's built-in migration
Connect the site you are running on RunCloud and let xCloud pull it across. It is the path most people take, and it handles the files and the database together.
Read the migration guideMigrate Guru, if you prefer a plugin
A free WordPress plugin, fully compatible with xCloud. Useful when you would rather drive the move from inside the site you already control.
Read the plugin guide
Before you start: if a token migration fails, our guide's first checks are to disable 2FA and Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode on the source site. A migration that stalls is almost always a security setting rather than the data.
xCloud vs RunCloud: Frequently Asked Questions
Direct answers to what people ask before moving between xCloud and RunCloud.
Is xCloud better than RunCloud?
For WordPress specifically, xCloud is generally the stronger fit — it adds blueprints, a built-in update manager, incremental backups and MCP/AI agent tooling that RunCloud does not publish. If you manage a wide mix of general PHP applications rather than mostly WordPress, RunCloud's broader control-panel focus may suit you better. See the choose-if lists above.
What is the difference between xCloud and RunCloud?
Both are control panels that manage a server you provide, rather than hosting companies themselves. xCloud is built specifically around WordPress, adding tooling like blueprints and staging push/pull, and also offers its own managed servers. RunCloud is a general-purpose PHP server panel with no WordPress-specific tooling and no managed-hosting option — the server is always a separate purchase.
Is xCloud a hosting provider or a control panel?
Both. xCloud is primarily a control panel that connects to a server you own — Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP or any Ubuntu host — for $0 on the self-managed tier. It also sells its own managed servers if you would rather not hold a provider account. RunCloud is control-panel-only; it has no managed-hosting option at all.
Can I use my own VPS with xCloud?
Yes. xCloud connects to Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, AWS or any Ubuntu server over SSH, with a free self-managed tier. RunCloud works the same way — connect your own server — but has no free tier; its lowest published plan starts at $8/month per the original captured comparison.
Can I migrate from RunCloud to xCloud?
Yes. xCloud includes bulk site and server migration plus a dedicated cPanel migration path, at no extra cost. The usual approach is to migrate while DNS still points at the RunCloud-managed server, test on xCloud, then cut over once everything checks out.
Does RunCloud support WordPress?
Yes, RunCloud can host and manage WordPress sites, but it has no WordPress-specific tooling built in — no blueprints, no built-in theme/plugin/core update manager, no built-in transactional email service. It manages WordPress the same way it manages any other PHP application.
Which is better for agencies?
xCloud includes account and role management plus white-labelling and a reseller programme with your own billing, at no separate tier. RunCloud offers account and role management but no published white-label or reseller programme, so an agency reselling under its own brand has fewer built-in options with RunCloud.
Which is cheaper for multiple WordPress sites?
xCloud's self-managed tier is $0 with unlimited website creation on a connected server, against RunCloud's lowest published plan starting at $8/month. Neither charges per WordPress site beyond what the underlying server can handle, so the difference is mainly the control-panel fee — confirm RunCloud's current pricing on its own site before comparing totals.
Which one provides better backups?
xCloud, on one point: it lets you download remote backups directly, which the captured comparison shows RunCloud does not. Otherwise both offer full and incremental site backups plus full server backups on your own S3-compatible storage.
Which one is easier for beginners?
xCloud, mainly because of its WordPress-specific tooling (blueprints, guided updates) and included live chat support. RunCloud's broader, application-agnostic interface is powerful for someone managing varied PHP stacks, but it asks a WordPress-only beginner to make more decisions RunCloud makes for you.
Can I switch from RunCloud without rebuilding my sites?
Yes. Both platforms run standard WordPress installs on a Linux server, so switching moves the files, database and configuration rather than rebuilding the site. xCloud's bulk site and server migration tools, plus its cPanel migration path, are built for exactly this move.
Hear what people are saying about us
See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.
xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!
Brian GeovannyI've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.
Kevin PinedaI'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting
Leo KooHow Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud
Ed EllinghamxCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.
Dumitru ButucelxCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.
Waqar AhmedTrust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍
Rahul SinghCame from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.
Gerson ElI like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose
David McCanSo far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.
Massimo VillaI've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.
Tony LewisHow Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently
Kevin HeinrichsI came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.
Jared McDowellI had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.
Dan SpinozaCame from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.
Karl FanegaDear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.
Rahil MaknojiaHow Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites
Gary MoodyxCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.
Jorge de los Reyes MartínezHow Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud
Lori NewmanI too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps
John ApertureI use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.
Jay PaganoI went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.
Blaine MooreKeep comparing
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