MantisBT
Hosting
Install MantisBT in one click on our fast, reliable UK web hosting. Fully managed with free SSL, daily backups, and dedicated expert support.
What is MantisBT?
MantisBT (Mantis Bug Tracker) is one of the original open-source issue trackers, in continuous development since 2000. It is a focused tool: bug tracking, feature requests, project management at the issue level, and a simple workflow engine. There are no kanban boards, no agile sprint dashboards, and no enterprise PM features. Just a clean, fast, mature issue tracker that does its job and keeps doing it.
The interface is functional rather than fashionable. Issues have a numeric ID, a category, a severity, a priority, an assignee, a status, and a resolution. Custom fields, custom workflows, role-based permissions, project hierarchies, and email notifications are all built in. The plugin system covers integrations with source control, CI/CD, and team chat. The PHP codebase is straightforward to read and extend if a team wants to.
MantisBT runs on standard PHP hosting with MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MSSQL. The footprint is small and the database scales linearly with issue count.
365i’s editorial review of MantisBT
MantisBT is one of those tools that has been quietly doing its job for two decades while flashier alternatives have come and gone. I\'ve worked with software teams using it, hosted it for QA-led organisations who needed a separate bug tracker from their developers\' Jira, and run it myself for tracking platform issues internally back when I was managing larger development teams.
The pitch for MantisBT in 2026 is honestly the same as it was in 2010: it\'s a focused issue tracker that doesn\'t try to be a project management suite. If you want kanban boards, sprint planning, capacity tracking, OKRs, and AI-assisted prioritisation, look at Jira or Linear. If you want a place to log bugs, assign them, track them through to resolution, and have a permanent record, MantisBT does that better than most because it doesn\'t do anything else.
"Some software teams want a heavyweight PM platform. Some teams want a lightweight kanban. And some teams just want a clean issue list, a numeric ID per bug, and a place to write what happened. MantisBT is for the third group, and there are more of them than you\'d think."
Mark McNeece, Founder, 365i Hosting
Where MantisBT really earns its place is in QA-heavy environments. I\'ve seen it used by hardware companies tracking firmware bugs, by gaming studios with separate bug tracking from their internal Jira (which only the design and engineering teams have licenses for), and by regulated software teams who need an auditable trail of every defect from discovery to fix. The fact that issue IDs are sequential, immutable, and tied to a clear workflow matters a lot in regulated work.
From a hosting perspective, MantisBT is one of the easier PHP applications I work with. PHP 8.3 is supported, MySQL 8 works fine, and the install process is well-documented. There are no exotic dependencies and no background workers required for core functionality. A team of fifty developers can run MantisBT comfortably on shared hosting; a team of five hundred can run it on a single managed cloud server.
The thing I\'d flag for anyone evaluating MantisBT in 2026 is the look and feel. It works, but it doesn\'t look modern. There\'s a community-maintained theme that updates the visual design, and it\'s a meaningful improvement, but you should expect "competent and clear" rather than "delightful". Your developers and QA team will care more about the workflow than the visuals; your stakeholders who only occasionally log bugs may need a quick walkthrough.
For source-control integration, MantisBT has plugins for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and self-hosted Git. The integration is one-way (commits with issue IDs in the message reference the issue) rather than the deep two-way syncing of Jira and modern Linear, but for many teams that\'s genuinely all they need. Email notifications are reliable, configurable per-user, and supportable through any standard SMTP service.
For database backups, the standard daily off-server backups we run cover the issue history. For QA-led teams who need to demonstrate auditability for regulatory work, we also offer point-in-time database snapshots on managed cloud servers, retained for a configurable window.
Why Host MantisBT with 365i?
Our web hosting is built for PHP applications like MantisBT. Every plan includes everything you need to launch and grow.
One-Click Installation
Install MantisBT with a single click from your control panel. No manual configuration, no FTP uploads, no database setup.
Free SSL Certificate
Every site gets a free SSL certificate, automatically configured and renewed. Keep your MantisBT installation secure from day one.
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
Enterprise-grade data centres in the UK, US & Asia with redundant power, cooling, and network connectivity. Backed by our uptime SLA.
Daily Backups
Automatic daily backups with easy one-click restore. Your MantisBT data is always safe and recoverable.
7-Day Expert Support
UK-based hosting specialists available 7 days a week including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. Real people, real help.
SSD Storage
All plans run on fast SSD storage for snappy page loads and responsive admin panels. MantisBT performs at its best.
Where MantisBT Fits
Best for
Software teams that need a focused bug tracker without enterprise PM features. Particularly good for QA-led organisations, hardware and embedded software companies, regulated software development (medical, automotive, aerospace), and teams running parallel issue tracking alongside a separate engineering PM tool. Works well for teams of 5 to 500 developers and QA engineers, issue volumes from hundreds to hundreds of thousands, and any organisation that values a clear, auditable issue history over flashy dashboards.
Watch for
The interface is functional rather than modern; expect "clear and competent" not "delightful". MantisBT is a bug tracker, not a project management suite, so there's no kanban view, no sprint planning, and no Gantt chart. Source-control integration is one-way (commits reference issues, not deep two-way sync). Plugin ecosystem exists but is smaller than Jira's. Real-time collaboration features are basic. For teams that want a modern feel and rich integrations, alternatives like Redmine or self-hosted GitLab Issues may fit better.
Web Hosting for MantisBT
Get MantisBT up and running in minutes with our fast, reliable web hosting. Every plan includes one-click installation, free SSL, UK, US & Asia data centres, and dedicated expert support.
- 1 website
- 10 GB SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
- 5 websites
- Unlimited SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- CDN included
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
- 10 websites
- Unlimited SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- CDN included
- Timeline Backup/Restore
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
- Priority support
All prices exclude VAT. No contract, cancel any time.
Need More Power for MantisBT?
For high-traffic sites, large catalogues, or mission-critical deployments, our fully managed cloud servers give MantisBT dedicated resources and enterprise-grade performance.
- Dedicated CPU, RAM & SSD storage
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- Fully managed by our team
- Choose 365i, AWS, or Google Cloud
Servers
Servers
Servers
A MantisBT case from our books
A small UK medical-device software company building firmware for diagnostic equipment came to us in 2023. Their development team used Jira for engineering work, but their regulatory and QA team needed a separate auditable issue tracker that could be referenced in their ISO 13485 quality management system. Jira\'s pricing model, the complexity of the workflow customisations they\'d accumulated, and the audit-trail requirements made a parallel tool the cleaner answer.
We installed MantisBT on a managed cloud server (£19.99/mo) with daily off-server backups, point-in-time database snapshots retained for 90 days, and a strict access control policy with two-factor authentication required for all accounts. Custom workflows were configured to match their CAPA (corrective and preventive action) process, and email notifications go through their corporate transactional email provider.
Eighteen months in, MantisBT holds around 4,200 closed defects and 180 active items. The hosting cost over the period was £360. The auditor\'s report on their last ISO surveillance assessment specifically noted the quality of defect traceability. The QA director told us they hadn\'t expected a free open-source tool to clear that bar.
What we would tell anyone in the same spot: get the workflow right before you import a single ticket, and document why each workflow state exists. Auditors love that.
Anonymised at the client's request. Industry, scale, and timeline preserved.
What we look for in bug tracking software hosting
Bug trackers live or die on database performance and email throughput. We tune MySQL with enough innodb_buffer_pool to keep the open-issue index in RAM, and we configure outbound SMTP properly because half the value of a tracker is the notification stream. Cron runs every minute on every plan, which matters for stale-ticket sweeps and SLA timers. For teams above roughly fifty active developers, we move the database onto a small managed cloud server.
MantisBT Hosting FAQ
Common questions we hear from people running MantisBT on our hosting.
MantisBT supports PHP 7.4 or higher (we run 8.3), MySQL 5.7+ or 8.x, PostgreSQL 9.2+, or MSSQL 2008+. Standard PHP extensions are needed: PDO, mbstring, OpenSSL, JSON. All enabled on every 365i plan. Memory needs are very modest; 128MB PHP memory limit is enough for most installs. Disk usage scales with issue count and attachment volume; a busy team logging thousands of bugs a year typically uses well under 1GB even after several years of history.
Yes. MantisBT is in our one-click installer. Pick your domain or subdomain, set the admin email and password, and the installer handles the database, schema migrations, file permissions, and initial config. The first thing you'll do after install is configure projects, custom fields, and workflows through the admin UI. We can help with email notification setup, source-control plugin configuration, and any workflow customisation as part of our standard support.
Yes. For larger software teams, regulated environments, or any organisation that needs point-in-time database snapshots beyond the standard daily backups, our managed cloud servers from £9.99/mo provide root SSH, choice of database backend, and the option to add Redis for cache and session storage. We also configure transactional email providers for reliable, high-volume notification delivery on cloud installs.
MantisBT-to-MantisBT migrations are free of charge: we copy the codebase, dump and restore the database, update the config file, and run any pending schema upgrades. From other bug trackers (Jira, Bugzilla, Trac, Redmine), we use the relevant import tools or write a CSV transform; this is quoted based on data volume and field mapping complexity. Realistic timeline is one to three weeks for a multi-thousand-issue migration with full history.
The hosting layer covers free SSL with auto-renewal, ModSecurity WAF, daily off-server backups, and PHP 8.3 with current security patches. On managed cloud servers we add fail2ban, automatic OS security updates, isolated PHP-FPM pools, and point-in-time database snapshots retained for a configurable window (typically 90 days). On the application side we recommend two-factor authentication (built into MantisBT), strict role-based permissions, IP-restricted admin access for known networks, and prompt application updates when MantisBT releases new versions. We sign DPAs and can support ISO 27001 and ISO 13485 evidence requirements where relevant.
Ready to Host MantisBT?
Get started with MantisBT on our fast UK web hosting. One-click installation, free SSL, and dedicated expert support included.