Question 1

My sites are on shared hosting. Can I use Fleet?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but not on the shared hosting itself. Fleet runs on servers you control, so a site on shared hosting moves onto one of them. That is part of setup: we bring it across with you and check it before anything is switched.

Question 2

Can I use servers I already have?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Paste one line on a Linux server you already run and it joins your fleet. What is already on it can be brought in without rebuilding it.

Question 3

Does it do WordPress?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with its MariaDB database, backed up every night and movable to another server like anything else.

Question 4

What about apps, not just websites?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Fleet runs apps built from code, with a Postgres database beside them. Connect a repository on your own git server and every push builds and deploys. Plain websites made of files work too.

Question 5

Do I need to know about servers?

Accepted Answer

No. Setup brings your businesses in with you, and day to day you work with businesses: a site, a domain, a mailbox, a backup. When something needs attention, the alert says what is wrong and comes with the button that deals with it.

Question 6

Which providers does it work with?

Accepted Answer

Any Linux server you rent, from anyone: Hetzner, Contabo, Hostinger, DigitalOcean, Vultr, OVHcloud and others. You can mix them in one fleet.

Question 7

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

$39 a month for the whole fleet, however many businesses and servers you run.

Question 8

What is the setup fee for?

Accepted Answer

A one-time $250. During setup we bring your businesses in with you: sites, databases, domains and email, each checked before anything is switched.

Question 9

What do I pay other people for?

Accepted Answer

Your servers, which you pay your provider for directly. Fleet does not resell servers. Your domains stay with whoever you registered them with. If you use an assistant, its own subscription or key is paid to whoever provides it.

Question 10

Is there a contract?

Accepted Answer

No long contract. It is paid month by month, and if you stop, your sites keep running on your servers.

Question 11

What if you disappear?

Accepted Answer

Your servers are rented on your own accounts, and your sites run on them, not on us. If Fleet went away tomorrow your websites, databases and email would keep running. You would lose the watching, the nightly backups and the buttons, not the businesses.

Question 12

Can you get into my servers?

Accepted Answer

Fleet asks your servers for named jobs from a fixed list, not commands. A terminal on a server only opens when you open it, with a code from your authenticator app, and it closes itself. Every command in it is written down.

Question 13

Who owns what?

Accepted Answer

Your servers are on your accounts with your providers. Your sites, databases, email and backups live on those servers. Your domains stay where you registered them. Fleet keeps track of what is where and gives you the buttons.

Question 14

What happens if I cancel?

Accepted Answer

Your sites, databases and email keep running on your servers. The watching, the nightly backups and the buttons stop. Download any backup you want to keep first; each one has a single-use download link.

Question 15

How often are backups taken?

Accepted Answer

Every night by default. Databases are dumped properly rather than copied mid-write, and mail and its signing keys are included. Fleet also backs itself up every hour.

Question 16

Where does the copy go?

Accepted Answer

To a second of your servers, which fetches it. The first server holds no key to that copy, so if a provider loses a server, or somebody breaks into one, the other copy survives. Archives are checked every 14 days.

Question 17

How do I restore one?

Accepted Answer

Pick the backup and Fleet puts it back on the right machine. It checks the backup first, and it asks for a code from your authenticator app before it starts.

Question 18

How long does a site pause during a move?

Accepted Answer

Seconds, while the last changes are copied across. About twenty seconds on a real move between providers. Not zero, and we will not pretend otherwise.

Question 19

What if a move goes wrong?

Accepted Answer

Most problems show up before the switch. The copy is built while the old server keeps serving, and you can look at it at its real address, in your browser only. Postgres databases are compared table by table. Cancelling before the switch changes nothing anyone else can see.

Question 20

Do I have to use Fleet for email?

Accepted Answer

No. Fleet can run mailboxes and aliases on your own mail server, but it is optional.

Question 21

Will my email land in the inbox?

Accepted Answer

Nobody can honestly promise that, and we will not. When the domain is on Cloudflare, Fleet writes the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records that receiving servers check. Whether a message lands in the inbox is still decided by whoever receives it.

Question 22

Can I keep the email I have?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Plenty of people keep their existing email and use Fleet for everything else.

Question 23

What can an assistant touch?

Accepted Answer

One business: the one you allowed, at the level you picked, which is look, build, or everything. It cannot see your other businesses. Everything it does is in your log.

Question 24

How do I let one in, and take it out?

Accepted Answer

The assistant asks, and you type its four-digit code in Fleet. A request you do not answer expires in 10 minutes. Access ends within eight hours on its own, and one button takes every assistant out at once. Using one is optional.

Question 25

Can I run my clients’ businesses on it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A client is a business: its sites, database, domains, email and backups kept together, on your servers. The $39 covers the whole fleet, however many clients are in it.

Question 26

Can my team or my clients log in?

Accepted Answer

Not yet. Team logins and client logins are not built. Today the fleet is run from your own login. We will say so here when that changes.

Straight answers, before you bring anything in.

Not sure it fits what you run?