Why agencies look for a Kinsta alternative
Kinsta is a strong host. It runs on Google Cloud, its dashboard is one of the best in WordPress hosting, and its support team knows WordPress well. Agencies that leave usually are not unhappy with the platform. They are unhappy with how the bill scales with the portfolio.
Kinsta's multi-site plans are sold as bundles: WP 10 for 10 installs, WP 20 for 20, WP 40 for 40. WP 20 includes 500,000 visits (or 250 GB of bandwidth, depending on the metric you pick), 50 GB of storage and 14 days of backups. Those limits are shared across all 20 sites. An agency's clients are rarely even, though. Fifteen brochure sites use almost nothing, while one ecommerce client and one client running paid campaigns can eat most of the pooled allowance.
The second trigger is storage. Fifty GB across 20 sites is 2.5 GB per site on average, which is tight for a client with a large media library or a store with thousands of product images. Kinsta sells extra disk at 20 USD per month for each 20 GB, and an extra site at 30 USD per month, so the 21st client adds 360 USD a year before you change plans.
The third is backup retention. Fourteen days is fine until a client tells you on day 20 that a page they edited three weeks ago is wrong.
Kinsta vs Rocket.net vs Pressable vs WP Engine vs NowHosted for 20 sites
The table uses list prices and limits published on each host's pricing page in October 2026. WP Engine shows multi-site prices only inside its plan configurator, so check its current figure for your tier.
| Host and plan | Price for about 20 sites | Monthly visits | Storage | Overage policy | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta WP 20 | Price for about 20 sites340 USD per month, or 284 USD per month billed yearly | Monthly visits500,000 | Storage50 GB | Overage policyPlan upgrade, extra site 30 USD per month, extra disk 20 USD per 20 GB | Best forAgencies that value the dashboard, analytics and Google Cloud infrastructure |
| Rocket.net Agency Tier 2 | Price for about 20 sites200 USD per month, or about 166 USD per month billed yearly | Monthly visitsUnmetered | Storage75 GB, 500 GB bandwidth | Overage policy2 USD per extra GB of storage, 0.08 USD per extra GB of bandwidth | Best forAgencies with traffic-heavy clients that want no visit counting |
| Pressable Signature 5 | Price for about 20 sites1,550 USD per year, about 129 USD per month | Monthly visits400,000 | Storage80 GB | Overage policy1.20 USD per 1,000 extra visits, 1 USD per extra GB | Best forAgencies with small, predictable sites on a tight budget |
| WP Engine, up to 30 sites | Price for about 20 sitesShown in WP Engine's configurator | Monthly visits400,000 | Storage50 GB | Overage policyOverages may apply | Best forAgencies that want the best-known brand and mature dev tooling |
| NowHosted Agency | Price for about 20 sites149 USD per month, or 74 USD per month billed yearly | Monthly visits600,000 | Storage150 GB | Overage policySoft limits, no overage fees | Best forAgencies that resell hosting under their own logo and want a fixed bill |
Where the others win: Rocket.net does not count visits at all, which suits agencies with one or two very busy clients. Pressable gives every install its own staging site and has been in managed WordPress hosting for years. WP Engine has the deepest developer tooling and the brand many enterprise clients already approved. NowHosted is the newer platform; its edge is storage per site, 30-day backups and no overage fees.
What to check before you move 20 client sites
Visit counting. Kinsta, Pressable and WP Engine count visits and pool them across the account. Rocket.net counts bandwidth and storage instead. NowHosted counts visits but treats the limit as soft. Pull last year's traffic per client site and model the busiest month, not the average one.
Storage per site. Divide the plan's storage by your site count and compare it with your largest client's media library. A store with 4,000 products and three image sizes per product can pass 10 GB on its own.
Backup retention. Kinsta keeps 14 days on its WordPress plans. NowHosted Agency keeps daily off-site backups for 30 days, which gives your team time to find an error a client reports late.
White-label and billing transfer. If you resell hosting, check whether the client sees your logo, whether you can hand billing to the client when a retainer ends, and whether a freelancer can get developer access without the owner login. On NowHosted reseller hosting for agencies includes all three, plus bulk plugin and theme updates across client sites.
Support response. Ask each host for its first-response target on your plan, in writing. Agency plans differ more on support than on servers.
How to move client sites off Kinsta with zero downtime
Move in batches, starting with two or three low-risk brochure sites. Lower the DNS TTL to 300 seconds a day ahead, copy each site to the new host, test it on a temporary address, then switch DNS. Keep the Kinsta plan active until every site in the batch has run cleanly for a few days.
Test what clients care about: submit each contact form, place a test order on stores, and log in as an editor. Moving hosts usually changes the server IP that sends form notifications, so check that the new mail server IP is not blacklisted before a client notices their leads going to spam.
On NowHosted the move is free on every plan. We build a staging copy, you review it, and DNS switches only after your approval. The full process is on the free website migration page.
Which Kinsta alternative fits your agency
Choose Rocket.net if one or two clients drive most of your traffic and you never want to count visits again.
Choose Pressable if your sites are small, traffic is steady, and the lowest yearly price from an established host matters most.
Choose WP Engine if your team relies on its developer workflow and your clients already know the brand.
Choose NowHosted if you resell hosting under your own brand, your clients' traffic is uneven, and you want room per site with a fixed bill. Agency covers 20 sites, 600,000 monthly visits, 150 GB and 30-day backups for 888 USD per year. Every plan is on the WordPress hosting plans page. If you are also weighing a move off WP Engine, our WP Engine alternatives for agencies comparison uses the same 20-site portfolio.
Stay on Kinsta if its dashboard and analytics save your team hours every month and your sites fit inside WP 20 comfortably. A host that works is worth something, and switching costs time.