Choosing the Right Hosting for Your Drupal Website

Drupal is a powerful, flexible CMS used by organizations worldwide to build complex, high-performance websites. But to get the most out of it, you need hosting that can handle its demands, from managing databases to delivering fast, secure user experiences.

Generic hosting doesn’t cut it for Drupal. A host explicitly built for Drupal will mean your site performs at its best, even during traffic spikes, while keeping security tight and workflows smooth. Pantheon offers optimized infrastructure with tools like automated updates, built-in caching and a global CDN, all designed to make your Drupal site run faster and scale perfectly.

But let’s not forget the other providers out there, too. 

The five best Drupal hosting providers compared

1. Pantheon

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Pantheon is a WebOps platform built for serious Drupal teams who want speed, security and scale without the annoying bumps in the road. It’s a complete workflow engine that powers your whole digital team to build, launch and manage Drupal sites faster and smarter. The reasons so many Drupal teams rely on Pantheon are: 

• Scalable infrastructure: Pantheon’s container-based platform handles everything from small traffic spikes to millions of pageviews. You won’t have to worry about your site slowing down when things get busy –  it just works.
• Speed: Powered by Varnish and Redis, Pantheon delivers content quickly through its Global CDN. This means faster load times, whether your visitors are down the street or across the world.
• Security: Pantheon takes care of your site’s security with features like automated backups, DDoS protection and HTTPS management. Your site is always protected, so you can focus on building.
• Automated workflows: Pantheon automates updates and visual testing, which means fewer complications for your team and more time spent on what matters – building great experiences.
• Developer-friendly tools: With built-in version control, Git-based workflows and automated testing, Pantheon gives developers the tools they need to move faster. You can prototype, debug and launch without getting bogged down by routine tasks.
• Multidev: Create isolated development environments for every team member or feature. Multidev lets developers work in parallel by spinning up full copies of the site – including code, database and files – so changes can be tested safely before merging.
• Upstreams: To handle your portfolio of sites, Pantheon Upstreams let you apply updates, new features, or branding changes once and push them downstream to every site automatically.
• Expert support: When you need help, you’re not talking to just any support team. Pantheon’s support is made up of actual Drupal experts, so you’ll always get answers that make sense for your site’s needs.

Pantheon offers a variety of workspace and site plans depending on your needs. 

Who should and shouldn’t use Pantheon?

✅Pantheon is perfect for Drupal teams building mission-critical, high-impact sites. It’s excellent for:

• Digital agencies managing multiple client sites with complex workflows.
• Enterprise marketing and IT teams who need agility without sacrificing control and security.
• Higher education institutions running hundreds of sites across departments.
   

❌ If you are running a brochure-type site on Drupal with a tight budget, Pantheon may be more than you need.

2. Platform.sh

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Platform.sh is a powerful Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that can integrate both your Drupal backend and decoupled frontend into one project. It’s perfect for organizations with complex technical needs who want flexibility without compromising performance. Its best features are:

• PaaS for decoupled architecture: Platform.sh supports the decoupled model, allowing you to run Drupal alongside modern frontend frameworks in the same environment. This provides a flexible, future-proof foundation that streamlines your development workflows.
• Git-driven infrastructure: With Platform.sh, your infrastructure is controlled by Git. This means you can clone your production environments, test on new branches and quickly deploy changes. It’s all about maintaining complete control over your site’s code and content.
• Containerized microservices: Platform.sh’s containerized architecture supports microservices, providing isolated environments for each part of your application. This makes it easier to scale and manage your decoupled Drupal stack while maintaining performance.
• CI/CD built-in: Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are built into Platform.sh, so you can automate testing, development and deployment without worrying about manual interventions. It ensures that new features or fixes are pushed out quickly and securely.
• Multi-technology flexibility: Platform.sh isn’t limited to just Drupal. You can run a variety of technologies and frameworks alongside Drupal, which is great for organizations that need a tech stack beyond just one CMS. This flexibility supports complex, multi-application ecosystems.
• Streamlined onboarding for teams: With unlimited staging environments (which you do have to pay for!) and Git-based workflows, Platform.sh makes it easy for teams to collaborate, test and deploy across decoupled stacks. Setting up new environments or scaling resources takes minutes, not hours.
• Scalable infrastructure: Platform.sh offers scalable hosting solutions that can handle everything from small sites to massive applications. Its infrastructure adjusts to traffic demands, so you can focus on building and optimizing your site instead of managing resources.

Platform.sh offers flexible pricing tiers based on your needs. Whether you’re starting with a small-scale solution or need enterprise-grade features like custom app templates and advanced security compliance, there’s a plan that scales with your business. For detailed pricing, reach out to Platform.sh’s sales team to get a tailored quote.

Who should and shouldn’t use Platform.sh?

✅Platform.sh is ideal for organizations with complex, multi-technology environments, especially those running decoupled Drupal alongside other frameworks. It suits development teams familiar with Git workflows who need advanced infrastructure management, flexibility and scalability. 

❌However, if your focus is on straightforward Drupal hosting with integrated WebOps workflows, Platform.sh may be more complex than necessary.

3. Acquia

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Acquia positions itself as a full Digital Experience Platform (DXP) built around Drupal, offering multi-version support from Drupal 7 through 10, enterprise-grade security with SOC 2 compliance and cloud-based developer tools like Acquia Cloud IDE. Their global, scalable infrastructure claims high availability and supports complex, high-traffic sites.

But the thing is, Acquia’s platform is expensive, opaque on pricing and heavily tied to a legacy Drupal multisite model that struggles with scalability and flexibility. Their acquisition spree added marketing tools, but it also bloated the platform with complexity that many organizations don’t need.

Acquia sells a product – a packaged suite aimed at enterprises willing to trade agility for vendor lock-in and a steep price tag. Their Site Factory multisite offering inherits Drupal multisite’s notorious limitations, forcing users into rigid workflows that hamper innovation.

If you want flexible, modern Drupal hosting that empowers your team with true WebOps workflows, scalable Git-based Upstreams and containerized infrastructure – without the overhead of a bloated DXP – Acquia isn’t the answer.

Pantheon’s focus on evolving practices, developer productivity and open, flexible architecture offers a better path for organizations serious about building and managing Drupal sites at scale.
 

Acquia offers a range of pricing plans tailored to different business needs. Starting with the Standard plan, Acquia provides fully managed hosting for a single site, with options for increasing resources and adding additional features like enhanced backups and advanced security at higher tiers. 

Who should and shouldn’t use Acquia?

✅Acquia is geared toward enterprises willing to pay a premium for an all-in-one Drupal platform packed with marketing tools and complex migration support. 

❌For many organizations, it’s an overly complex, expensive solution that locks you into a rigid ecosystem. If you want straightforward, flexible Drupal hosting without vendor lock-in and bloated features you don’t need, look elsewhere.

4. Cloudways

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Cloudways offers a user-friendly, high-performance managed hosting platform designed for businesses of all sizes. With flexible pricing plans and optimized servers, Cloudways makes sure your website performs at its peak while providing excellent customer support, so you can focus on growing your business. It offers:

• Flexible hosting solutions: Choose from top cloud providers such as DigitalOcean, Google Cloud and AWS. 
• Optimized performance: Cloudways makes sure your website runs fast with an optimized stack, built-in advanced caching and a Global CDN (which you will have to pay for). These features provide excellent website performance, even during traffic spikes.
• Effortless scaling: As your website grows, Cloudways makes it easy to scale your resources. With vertical scaling and flexible server management, you can focus on your business while Cloudways handles the infrastructure.
• 24/7 expert support: Cloudways’ dedicated support team is available around the clock to assist with any issues. With an average response time of just 90 seconds, you’ll always have access to expert help when needed. But remember, for priority support, you will have to pay a premium. 

Cloudways provides flexible, scalable pricing based on your chosen cloud provider. Plans start from $11 per month for basic hosting and can be upgraded as your needs grow but expect to pay $308-$967 for enterprises. With additional features such as Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and automated backups, you can customize your plan to suit your business requirements.

Who should and shouldn’t use Cloudways?

✅ Cloudways is ideal for businesses that want to choose their own cloud provider – like AWS, DigitalOcean or Google Cloud – and need flexibility over their infrastructure setup. It’s a solid choice for agencies managing multiple CMSs or tech stacks, and for teams who want to avoid server admin tasks but still maintain hands-on control over deployments and configurations.

❌ Cloudways may not be right for enterprises needing SLA-backed uptime guarantees, SOC 2 compliance or deeper security controls. It also lacks native Drupal WebOps features like Git-based workflows, Multidev environments or automated visual testing, which may be essential for more structured or high-scale development teams.

5. Scalahosting

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ScalaHosting offers powerful and optimized hosting solutions tailored specifically for Drupal websites, delivering top performance, security and expert support. Its features include: 

• Drupal-optimized hosting: ScalaHosting’s servers are designed for Drupal, featuring quad-core CPUs (for their Business VPS tier and above) and optimized configurations to ensure smooth, fast performance for even the most demanding sites.
• Free migration: Moving your Drupal site to ScalaHosting is simple with their free, hassle-free migration service. It guarantees no downtime and a quick setup, so your site stays live and running smoothly throughout the transition.
• Automated updates & 1-click installer: Enjoy automated updates for hassle-free maintenance and a 1-click installer for quick Drupal setup.
• Malware scans & removal: ScalaHosting includes regular malware scans and removal, protecting your site from common security threats.
• Powerful servers: With quad-core CPUs and high-performance configurations, ScalaHosting ensures your Drupal site runs with maximum power and reliability.
• Firewall & custom security rules: ScalaHosting includes a firewall and custom security measures specifically designed for Drupal to keep your site safe.
• Daily backups: ScalaHosting offers daily backups, so your data is always safe and recoverable if needed.

ScalaHosting offers flexible hosting plans to suit different needs. Their shared hosting starts at $2.65/month for smaller sites, with the Start Plan priced at $5.35/month, including 50 GB SSD storage. The Advanced Plan, at $8.95/month, adds 100 GB SSD, a free domain and priority support. For those needing more power, their Managed Drupal VPS begins at $14.95/month, though renewal rates are higher.

Who should and shouldn’t use Scalahosting?

✅ ScalaHosting is ideal for small businesses, agencies and eCommerce sites that need straightforward, Drupal-optimized hosting without the complexity or cost of enterprise platforms. It’s a solid option for teams looking for strong performance, built-in security features and responsive support at an accessible price point.

❌ ScalaHosting may not be right for large organizations managing multiple Drupal environments or high-traffic sites that require container-based scaling, Git-based workflows or enterprise-grade automation. If you need structured Dev, Test, Live environments, compliance features or workflow governance, you’ll likely outgrow what ScalaHosting offers.

Essential Drupal hosting requirements

To run Drupal efficiently, your hosting environment must meet certain technical requirements. Drupal 10 and Drupal 11 have different baselines, so it’s important to check that your infrastructure is up to date:

Other important considerations:

• Caching: Use server-side caching like Redis, Memcached and Varnish to improve response times and reduce database load.
• HTTPS support: An SSL certificate is essential for data security and SEO.
• Composer: Drupal relies heavily on Composer. Your server needs to support modern PHP CLI usage with sufficient memory for dependency resolution.
   

Drupal 10 will continue to receive community support until late 2026. Drupal 11 is now the active version, so if you're planning a new project or a major upgrade, it’s worth aligning your stack with its requirements.

Specialized vs. shared hosting: Performance differences for Drupal sites

Drupal’s database-heavy architecture requires optimized hosting to perform at its best.

Traditional, shared hosting often struggles to meet these needs, especially with MySQL/MariaDB configurations like query caching and innodb_buffer_pool_size, which are essential for managing large volumes of data efficiently. These configurations are typically under-optimized or missing entirely on shared hosts.

In contrast, specialized hosting like Pantheon ensures critical PHP settings (e.g., memory_limit ≥256M, max_execution_time ≥60) are pre-configured, enabling better performance for Drupal’s resource-intensive processes.

Container-based infrastructure in specialized hosting ensures isolated resources, preventing the common resource contention seen in shared hosting environments. This results in faster performance, with specialized hosting achieving  approximately TTFB under 200ms, compared to 500-800ms on traditional hosts.

Advanced multi-layered caching (Redis, Varnish) offloads database and dynamic content handling, further speeding up Drupal’s performance.

Specialized hosting also addresses common pain points with traditional hosting – MySQL connection limits, PHP memory exhaustion and file system I/O bottlenecks – by optimizing resources and streamlining caching mechanisms.

Optimizing performance with Drupal hosting

People expect websites to load fast. In fact, 40% of visitors abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Even small delays can cost you sales, sign-ups and repeat visits.

Drupal includes helpful caching features like page and block caching to speed up load times. But as your traffic grows, these built-in tools often aren’t enough to keep your site running smoothly.

That’s where smart hosting makes a real difference. Technologies like Redis cache your content outside of Drupal’s database, reducing the work your server has to do thereby speeding up delivery to visitors.

A CDN also plays an important role by serving static assets (images, CSS, JavaScript) from servers close to your users around the world. This reduces delays, handles traffic spikes and improves the experience for every visitor, no matter where they are.

Database tuning is equally important. Optimizing MySQL or MariaDB specifically for Drupal helps speed up queries and keeps data flowing efficiently.

Managing all these optimizations yourself can be a bit tricky. That’s why choosing a specialized Drupal host like Pantheon matters. They come with these performance improvements pre-configured and maintained, so your team can focus on building great digital experiences instead of troubleshooting slowdowns.

Plus, with built-in performance reporting and monitoring, you’re always in control and can catch issues before your visitors notice.

Fast, reliable hosting isn’t just about technology – it’s about keeping your visitors engaged, protecting your brand and driving growth.

Why Pantheon stands out for Drupal hosting: Developer workflows and enterprise security

Pantheon transforms Drupal development with its Dev, Test, Live environments that bring clarity and control to every stage of your release cycle. Developers can work independently on features or fixes without risking production, accelerating delivery and reducing costly errors.

Automated workflows cut out tedious sysadmin chores (think automated updates, visual regression testing and Git-based version control) freeing your team to focus on crafting rich, reliable Drupal experiences.

Designed for scale and security, Pantheon’s enterprise-grade infrastructure combines automated patching, continuous monitoring and containerized hosting to keep your sites fast, secure and resilient, even under sudden traffic surges. Backed by a 99.95% uptime SLA, Pantheon ensures your Drupal sites stay online and perform when it matters most.

Managing dozens – or even hundreds – of Drupal sites is simple with Pantheon’s centralized dashboard, which gives IT and marketing teams unified governance and streamlined operations, saving time and reducing complexity.

And when you need expert help, Pantheon’s 24/7 support team is staffed by Drupal professionals who understand your platform inside and out, so you get fast, accurate answers tailored to your needs.

Pantheon isn’t just hosting Drupal. It’s empowering teams to innovate faster, operate smarter and deliver exceptional digital experiences at enterprise scale.

Start your Drupal site migration today

Specialized Drupal hosting, like Pantheon, offers superior performance and a smooth developer experience.

By migrating your Drupal site to Pantheon, you’ll benefit from faster load times, more efficient workflows and enhanced security features. Pantheon simplifies the migration process with automated content transfer, database optimization and configuration preservation, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal downtime.

Don’t delay your migration to better hosting. The longer you wait, the more technical issues and long-term costs can accumulate.

Watch our demo today to see how your site could work in our environment and see firsthand how specialized Drupal hosting can set your site up for future growth and success!