FMPHost Alternatives: Compare FileMaker Hosting Options

Why You’re Here

You’re probably looking at FMPHost and wondering if there’s something better—or at least different. Maybe you’re comparing prices. Maybe you’ve hit a limitation. Maybe you just want to know what else is out there.

I’ll give you an honest comparison of the major FileMaker hosting options. No vendor is perfect, including us. Here’s what you need to know.

A Note on Shared Hosting and Claris Licensing

Before we dive in, there’s something important you should know: Claris changed their licensing terms starting with FileMaker 14 (2015) to prohibit multi-tenant shared hosting.

The FileMaker End User License Agreement (EULA) no longer allows multiple customers to share a single FileMaker Server instance. Each customer is required to have their own dedicated server.

Some hosting providers still advertise “shared hosting” plans. Whether these are legacy offerings for customers on older FileMaker versions (16 and earlier) or something else, I can’t say. What I can tell you is that at radFM, we only offer dedicated server hosting because that’s what the current Claris licensing requires. Every customer gets their own FileMaker Server instance.

Beyond licensing, there’s a practical reason to avoid shared hosting: one client’s poorly written script can bring down the entire server for everyone. An infinite loop, a runaway import, or a memory-hungry calculation affects all customers sharing that server. With dedicated hosting, your server’s stability depends only on your own databases.

This matters because if you’re on a shared hosting plan and want to upgrade to FileMaker 17 or later, you may find your hosting provider can’t support you—or you may be on a plan that doesn’t comply with current licensing terms.

The Major Hosting Categories

With that context, here are the main types of FileMaker hosting:

1. Dedicated Server Hosting — Your own FileMaker Server instance. Required for FileMaker 17+.
2. Claris FileMaker Cloud — The official Claris offering on AWS. Per-user pricing.
3. Linux/Docker Hosting — Containerized FileMaker Server on Linux. Each customer gets their own FileMaker Server process, but containers share the underlying host’s CPU, memory, and storage. It sounds like dedicated hosting, but it’s still shared resources—just sliced differently.
4. Legacy Shared Hosting — Multiple customers on one server. Only valid for FileMaker 16 and earlier.

Let’s look at specific providers.

FMPHost

FMPHost has been around since 1999 and is probably the most recognized name in FileMaker hosting. They offer multiple hosting tiers:

Shared Hosting: Starting at ~$19.95/month

• Limited to 1 database
• FileMaker Server license included
• Good for testing or very small deployments

Database Hosting: Starting at ~$49.95/month

• Up to 256 databases
• 4-8GB RAM depending on plan
• Admin Console access
• FileMaker license included for some plans

Server Hosting: Starting at ~$99.95/month

• Co-managed dedicated server
• Full Remote Desktop access
• More control over configuration

Strengths:

• Long track record (25+ years)
• Multiple hosting tier options
• FileMaker license included in some plans
• Good for users who want a license bundled

Limitations:

• Runs on Windows virtual machines
• Some features require higher-tier plans
• Plugin installation requires approval on shared plans
• 360Works MirrorSync/Zulu requires separate hosting plan
• Shared hosting plans are only compatible with FileMaker 16 and earlier (see licensing note above)

fmcloud.fm

fmcloud.fm (run by 1-more-thing) takes a different technical approach—they run FileMaker Server on Linux using Docker containers.

Personal Plan: $29/user/month (1-4 users)

• FileMaker license included
• All-in-one pricing

Starter/Pro Plans: Starting at ~$49/month for 5 users

• Pricing scales by user count and resources
• Choose Linux (Docker) or Windows hosting
• Multiple global data centers

Strengths:

• 15-day free trial on all configurations
• No term commitment
• Won Claris Excellence Award for Best Innovation (2021)
• Can host PHP websites on the same server
• Off-site backups included

Limitations:

• Newer provider compared to FMPHost
• Linux hosting may behave differently than Windows (font rendering, etc.)
• You need to provide your own license for some plans
• Containers share host hardware—not a dedicated VM with guaranteed resources

Claris FileMaker Cloud

The official hosting option from Claris, built on AWS infrastructure.

Pricing: Approximately $19-43/user/month (varies by tier and region)

• Essentials: ~$19/user/month
• Standard: ~$39-43/user/month
• Annual billing required

For a 5-user team: ~$95-215/month (license included) For a 50-user team: ~$950-2,150/month (license included)

Strengths:

• Official Claris product with integrated support
• FileMaker license included
• Managed updates and maintenance
• Simple setup through Claris console

Limitations:

• No server-side plugins — This is a dealbreaker for many
• No OttoFMS support
• Per-user pricing gets expensive fast with larger teams
• Limited server location choices
• Can’t download backups directly
• One-year minimum commitment
• If you convert your license to FileMaker Cloud, you can’t convert back

radFM (That’s Us)

I’ll be upfront: this is our service, so I’m biased. But I’ll try to be honest about trade-offs.

Pricing:

• Tier I: $175/month — 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD (5-10 users recommended)
• Tier II: $275/month — 6 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD (15-20 users recommended)
• Tier III: $495/month — 8 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD (up to 30 users)

Strengths:

• Truly dedicated resources — Your own VM with guaranteed CPU and RAM, not a container sharing host resources with other customers
• Fully compliant with current Claris licensing
• 40+ global data center locations
• OttoFMS pre-installed
• Full FileMaker Server features (plugins, ODBC, Data API, etc.)
• Daily backups stored separately
• No per-user pricing — flat monthly rate
• Works with all current FileMaker versions (17+)

Limitations:

• Bring Your Own License — You need your own FileMaker license
• Higher entry price than shared hosting options
• We’re a smaller operation than FMPHost or Claris

Price Comparison: Real Numbers

Let me compare what you’d actually pay for common configurations:

Team Size	FMPHost (Database)	fmcloud.fm	FileMaker Cloud	radFM
5 users	~$50-85/mo	~$49-145/mo*	~$95-215/mo	$175/mo
10 users	~$95/mo	~$64-179/mo*	~$390-430/mo	$175/mo
20 users	~$130/mo	~$99-249/mo*	~$780-860/mo	$275/mo
50 users	~$205/mo	~$179-399/mo*	~$1,950-2,150/mo	$495/mo

*fmcloud.fm pricing varies by platform (Linux/Windows), plan tier, and data center location.

Important notes:

• FMPHost and fmcloud.fm include FileMaker license in many plans
• FileMaker Cloud includes license
• radFM requires you to bring your own license (add ~$20-50/user/month)
• Actual costs depend on specific configurations and features needed

The Honest Trade-Offs

Choose FMPHost if:

• You want FileMaker license bundled with hosting
• You’re comfortable with Windows-based hosting
• You want a provider with a long track record
• You’re using their dedicated Server Hosting tier (for FileMaker 17+)

Choose fmcloud.fm if:

• You want to try Linux-based FileMaker hosting
• You need flexible month-to-month commitment
• You want license + hosting bundled at competitive prices

Choose FileMaker Cloud if:

• You have a small team (under 5 users)
• You want official Claris support
• You don’t need server-side plugins or OttoFMS
• Simplicity is worth paying more for

Choose radFM if:

• You already own FileMaker licenses
• You need OttoFMS for deployments
• You want dedicated resources, not shared hosting
• You have 10+ users (cost-effective at scale)
• You need a specific geographic server location

What About Other Providers?

There are other FileMaker hosting providers I haven’t covered in detail:

• Productive Computing — FileMaker development firm that also offers hosting
• Soliant.cloud — Enterprise-focused hosting from Soliant Consulting
• Triple8 Network — Another established FileMaker hosting provider
• 360Works — Known for plugins, also offers hosting

I don’t have detailed current pricing for all of these. If you’re evaluating them, ask for quotes and compare carefully.

My Honest Recommendation

There’s no single “best” option. It depends on:

1. Do you already have FileMaker licenses? If yes, providers that charge separately for hosting (like radFM) might be more cost-effective. If no, bundled options (FMPHost, fmcloud.fm, FileMaker Cloud) simplify things.

2. How many users do you have? Per-user pricing (FileMaker Cloud) hurts at scale. Flat-rate hosting (radFM) helps larger teams.

3. Do you need plugins or OttoFMS? FileMaker Cloud is out. You need traditional hosting.

4. Is server location important? If your users are far from available data centers, latency will affect performance.

Do your research. Ask for trials. Test with your actual databases. The right choice depends on your specific situation.

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We offer a 7-day free trial if you want to test radFM. No commitment, no credit card required. Start your free trial and see if it works for your team.