Key Stats
| Metric | Cloudways |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $14/mo (DigitalOcean) |
| Uptime | 99.97% (tested over 6 months) |
| TTFB | 267ms |
| Support | 24/7 chat + tickets |
| Money-Back | 3-day free trial, no long-term contract |
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Choose your cloud provider (DO, AWS, GCP, Vultr, Linode)
- Excellent speed (267ms TTFB)
- Free SSL and CDN included
- Staging environments for every application
- Pay-as-you-go billing — no annual commitment
- SSH/SFTP access for developers
- Auto-healing servers
- Free website migration
Cons
- No email hosting
- No domain registration
- Steeper learning curve than shared hosting
- No traditional cPanel
- Support slower on basic plans
- Some features cost extra (premium support, backups)
Plans & Pricing
Cloudways is unique — you pick your cloud provider and they manage it for you. Pricing depends on which cloud you choose:
| Cloud Provider | Starting Price | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | $14/mo | 1GB | 25GB | 1TB |
| Vultr | $14/mo | 1GB | 25GB | 1TB |
| Linode (Akamai) | $14/mo | 1GB | 25GB | 1TB |
| AWS | $38/mo | 1.7GB | 20GB | 2TB |
| Google Cloud | $36/mo | 1.7GB | 20GB | 2TB |
Performance
Cloudways delivered 267ms TTFB in our tests — second only to WP Engine (198ms) among our reviewed hosts. The difference is Cloudways gives you cloud-level infrastructure at a fraction of the cost.
Built-in Redis and Memcached caching, free Cloudflare CDN, and PHP 8.x optimization all contribute to excellent speed. You can also choose your server location from 60+ data centers worldwide.
Features
- 1-click WordPress install — plus support for PHP, Laravel, Magento, WooCommerce
- Free migration — Cloudways migration plugin moves your WordPress site for free
- Staging — clone your site to a staging URL for testing
- Git deployment — push code changes directly from your repository
- Free SSL — Let's Encrypt SSL with auto-renewal
- Automated backups — daily backups with on-demand snapshots
- Redis/Memcached — server-level caching for database-heavy apps
Customer Support
- Live chat: 24/7, decent response times on DigitalOcean plans
- Tickets: For complex server-level issues
- Premium support add-on: $100/mo for white-glove service and faster response
- Community: Active community forum and documentation
Security
- Free SSL certificates with auto-renewal
- Two-factor authentication for panel access
- IP whitelisting for SSH and admin access
- Bot protection and malware scanning
- Automated backups with easy restore
- OS-level firewalls configured automatically
Who Should Use Cloudways?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cloudways better than shared hosting?
For performance, yes — significantly. Cloud servers outperform shared hosting by a wide margin. But Cloudways requires more technical knowledge and costs more than budget shared hosting.
Can I use Cloudways for email?
No. Cloudways doesn't offer email hosting. You'll need a separate email provider like Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, or your domain registrar's email service.
How does Cloudways compare to WP Engine?
WP Engine is WordPress-only with premium support and features. Cloudways supports multiple applications (WordPress, Laravel, Magento) and gives you more server control, but less WordPress-specific optimization.
Our Testing Methodology
We tested Cloudways on a DigitalOcean 1GB droplet ($14/mo plan) over 6 months. Uptime monitored 24/7. TTFB measured from 10 locations. WordPress 6.x with default theme and no extra plugins. Load tested up to 500 concurrent visitors.
Related Reviews
- WP Engine Review — premium managed WordPress
- SiteGround Review — shared hosting with cloud infrastructure
- Best WordPress Hosting 2026 — full comparison