Why Developers Choose Pantheon Over Platform.sh
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Choosing the right platform to host your website is a big decision, especially when you're working with complex CMSs like Drupal or WordPress. With so many options out there, it can be tough to know which one will give you the best performance, scalability and ease of use.
Pantheon and Platform.sh are two popular choices, each offering powerful features, but they each take a different approach to hosting, development and workflow.
So, which one is the right fit for your project? Do you go with Pantheon’s seamless integration with Drupal and WordPress or Platform.sh’s flexible, high-powered infrastructure?
The answer depends on what matters most to you. That's why, here, we’ll break down the key differences between Pantheon and Platform.sh, giving you a side-by-side look at everything. Whether you’re a developer, IT manager or business owner, we’ll help you decide which platform will best meet your needs and make your next project smoother, faster and more reliable.
Core philosophies and ICP: Pantheon vs. Platform.sh
Before diving into workflows, it’s worth stepping back to understand the philosophies and audiences each platform serves – because those fundamentals shape everything else.
Pantheon takes a WebOps approach – a core philosophy that emphasizes the seamless integration of development, operations and collaboration. It’s purpose-built for high-value WordPress or Drupal websites with cross-functional teams – developers, marketers and IT leaders – who want a structured, best-practice workflow that minimizes risk and frees them from infrastructure headaches.
On the other hand, Platform.sh follows a “polyglot” PaaS philosophy, supporting over 70 languages and frameworks with infrastructure-as-code flexibility. It’s aimed primarily at DevOps-mature, developer-led teams that want maximum control over their stack and workflows, even if that means more configuration and management overhead.
Why teams choose Pantheon
Pantheon is built for teams who want a proven, best-practice workflow that keeps projects moving smoothly, reduces risk and brings developers, marketers and IT onto the same page.
With its Dev, Test, Live workflow, Pantheon emphasizes a clear, structured approach to deployment that helps mitigate common issues such as content or code conflicts. New changes can be safely built and tested in separate environments before going live. This prevents experiments and fixes from accidentally breaking the live site
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Among its many beneficial features for developers, Pantheon’s Multidev allows individuals to create isolated environments for each Git branch, so they can test new features without worrying about breaking anything. Each environment has its own URL, so team members can easily review changes, leave feedback and collaborate. This makes it super simple for developers to work in parallel while still keeping everything organized.
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And, with the creation of their GitHub Application (now in private beta), Pantheon offers developers the ability to manage Multidev environments directly from pull requests, making collaboration between development and marketing teams even smoother.
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Developers can deploy code changes and monitor site performance in real time, ensuring that projects stay on track without the friction that often comes with managing deployment pipelines.
I like developing sites on Pantheon. Being able to spin up a copy of the site from a git branch, having git integrated with each sandbox so I don't have to set up any devops or deployment scripts myself...it's all so easy to use…I've been building websites for 20 years and it's my favorite hosting environment.”
There’s also Terminus, Pantheon’s command-line interface, which makes automating repetitive tasks like site creation, backups or deployments easy.
As you can probably tell, Pantheon ensures that developers can focus on building new features and solving business problems, rather than spending time managing infrastructure. And for content teams, Pantheon Content Publisher extends this efficiency beyond code to the editorial side. It lets teams publish straight from Google Docs – no more copy/pasting or confusion over whether edits have gone live.
The result: developers keep control over technical quality, marketers maintain control over timing and messaging and the whole team moves in lockstep without last-minute scrambles or downtime.
How Platform.sh approaches hosting
On the flip side, Platform.sh follows infrastructure-as-code principles, where everything (code, deployment, environments) can be defined in YAML configuration files. This means developers can customize everything about the environment and how it runs.
Also, developers can spin up an unlimited number of environments from any Git branch to create as many test environments as they need. One reviewer on G2 commented, “Really easy to setup new environment.”
However, this high degree of flexibility can come at a cost, particularly when managing multiple environments across large teams or when trying to integrate non-technical team members into the workflow. It can also introduce complexities for developers who would prefer a more structured, guided workflow that minimizes the overhead of manual configurations and management.
Additionally, Platform.sh’s CLI and API allow you to fine-tune everything (environment settings, scaling and automation), but they require more upfront configuration and a deeper understanding of infrastructure management.
Developers who prefer complete control will appreciate this, but it can be a steeper learning curve for those who would rather focus on building sites than managing the technical details of deployment and scaling.
TL;DR If your site is managed solely by developers, Platform.sh can be a great choice. But if you need non-technical teams to easily update content, launch campaigns and navigate the platform without relying on a developer, Pantheon’s ease of use will win out. |
Out-of-the-box performance, scalability and security for WordPress and Drupal
Pantheon offers a highly specialized hosting environment for Drupal and WordPress websites, going beyond basic hosting solutions by optimizing performance, security and developer efficiency specifically for these CMS platforms.
That’s because Pantheon’s container-based architecture provides fast provisioning, high availability and consistent performance across all environments. Containers ensure isolated environments, improving both security and scalability as site needs grow.
For caching, Pantheon integrates a multi-layer architecture that is specifically optimized for WordPress and Drupal. Key features include Varnish reverse proxy caching, global content delivery network (CDN) with 40+ points of presence (POPs) and object caching with Redis.
Even better, Pantheon:
- Integrates New Relic monitoring, offering real-time performance insights and application-level visibility.
- Includes free SSL certificate management.
- Provides DDoS protection and web application firewall (WAF), offering robust defenses against common attacks.
Conversely, Platform.sh doesn’t specialize in WordPress and Drupal to the same extent as Pantheon, although it offers a flexible, multi-technology hosting environment.
One of its key advantages is infrastructure choice. Unlike Pantheon, which runs exclusively on Google Cloud Platform, Platform.sh lets customers choose from multiple providers, including AWS, Azure, GCP, Orange and OVHcloud. This flexibility can be valuable for organizations with specific compliance, regional performance or multi-cloud strategies.
Platform.sh requires scaling to be done manually and some users report encountering limitations during extreme spikes. For Drupal and WordPress projects specifically, its tools are more generic, with fewer out-of-the-box solutions for Drupal content staging or configuration management. Likewise, WordPress developers may need to configure caching and CDN integration manually, which Pantheon handles automatically.
Pricing structures and support
Pantheon’s pricing is designed to cater to a wide range of users – from individual developers to large enterprises – while focusing on performance and scalability for WordPress and Drupal projects. Its dual pricing model separates Workspace Plans for organizations and Site Plans for individual sites. Also, custom pricing is available for businesses requiring enterprise-level performance and additional support.
On the other hand, Platform.sh offers a more resource-based pricing model, which may be appealing to developers looking for flexibility across various technologies. Pricing for high-traffic sites or enterprise-level support can increase significantly.
In terms of support, Pantheon is known for being developer-friendly and offering extensive documentation, especially tailored to WordPress and Drupal. Not to mention, 24/7 support via a highly responsive customer service team.
Additionally, Pantheon offers Enterprise support with enhanced SLAs and dedicated technical account management for businesses with critical uptime requirements, ensuring faster resolutions for complex issues.
As for Platform.sh, it offers a range of support options, including 24/7 support for higher-tier plans and dedicated technical account management for Enterprise clients.
Platform.sh also provides documentation and community-driven support, but the platform’s broader focus on multiple technologies means that its resources are not as CMS-specific as Pantheon’s.
For developers working with WordPress or Drupal, Pantheon’s support team tends to have more specialized expertise in these platforms, ensuring that more technical issues related to CMS performance, caching and configuration are handled faster.
Pantheon vs Platform.sh: Which one should you choose?
Choosing the right platform for your WordPress or Drupal project can make a huge difference for your team’s productivity, site performance and overall success.
Here’s a quick rundown to help you make your decision:
As you can see, Pantheon stands out for its specialized optimizations, robust performance and developer-centric features tailored specifically to the needs of these two popular CMS platforms.
Don’t just take our word for it – experience Pantheon’s power firsthand. Learn more about how easy it is to migrate to Pantheon or, start with Pantheon for free today and unlock the full potential of your WordPress or Drupal site!