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I’ve been looking at XenForo Cloud and wondering if it’s actually worth the monthly cost or if it’s just convenience dressed up with a price tag. On the surface, it looks like a good deal: no server setup, no maintenance, automatic updates, backups, and security all handled for you. That’s a big selling point for anyone who doesn’t want to spend their time in cPanel or fiddling with file permissions.
But here’s where I start questioning it.
You lose control. No access to your server. No FTP. No way to install third-party add-ons outside of what xenForo officially supports in their cloud ecosystem. So if your setup relies on a specific plugin or something custom-built, forget it. Same goes for tweaking server-level performance, custom caching layers, or anything fancy.
And then there’s the pricing. Last I checked, it starts at around $60/month. That adds up fast. Especially when you compare it to a one-time $195 license for self-hosted XenForo, where you can grab decent VPS hosting for under €10/month. Long-term, you’re paying a premium just to avoid admin work.
So here's what I'm trying to work out:
But here’s where I start questioning it.
You lose control. No access to your server. No FTP. No way to install third-party add-ons outside of what xenForo officially supports in their cloud ecosystem. So if your setup relies on a specific plugin or something custom-built, forget it. Same goes for tweaking server-level performance, custom caching layers, or anything fancy.
And then there’s the pricing. Last I checked, it starts at around $60/month. That adds up fast. Especially when you compare it to a one-time $195 license for self-hosted XenForo, where you can grab decent VPS hosting for under €10/month. Long-term, you’re paying a premium just to avoid admin work.
So here's what I'm trying to work out:
- Has anyone here used XenForo Cloud long-term?
- Did it actually make your life easier—or did you hit a wall with limitations?
- How’s the performance? Is it fast, stable, reliable?
- Are the backups and support actually worth the extra monthly spend?
- And if you moved from self-hosted to Cloud (or vice versa), would you recommend it?