Cloudways
VPS Hosting Verified May 2026
Managed VPS hosting on DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud — without the sysadmin tax.
- Choose from 5 cloud providers — flexibility to optimise cost and performance by region
- No server management skills needed — full control via intuitive dashboard
- Unlimited sites on every server — not a per-site pricing model
- Autonomous plan autoscales for traffic spikes without manual intervention
How Cloudways scored 68/100
6 weighted criteria, each scored out of 10 and published with its reasoning. Featured placements never move a score.
Deal Strength
3.0 /10There is no exclusive Cloudways coupon. What you get is a 3-day free trial with no credit card, plus pay-as-you-go billing that lets you spin up a managed server for a few dollars and shut it down whenever you want. Free migration and free SSL are bundled regardless.
Value for Money
8.0 /10Managed cloud hosting starts at $11/mo for a 1GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly at roughly $0.036, so you pay only for what you run. That includes free SSL, free migration, 24/7 support and Object Cache Pro. AWS and Google Cloud plans start nearer $20-37/mo.
Capability
8.0 /10Five infrastructure providers sit behind a tuned ThunderStack (NGINX, Apache, PHP-FPM, Redis), with one-click staging and cloning, auto-healing servers, a dedicated firewall, the Breeze cache and a built-in CDN. The Autonomous tier adds autoscaling managed WordPress hosting. Email hosting and cPanel are the notable omissions.
Time to Value
8.0 /10Most sites are live within an hour: launch a managed server in a few clicks and use the free migration to move an existing WordPress or PHP install. The 3-day trial needs no card. Expect a short learning curve around server versus application settings.
Trust & Reliability
8.0 /10DigitalOcean has owned Cloudways since its 2022 acquisition, which steadies both the infrastructure and the roadmap, and it runs on tier-one clouds rather than mystery hardware. Round-the-clock support from real engineers is a consistent strength. Lower-tier plans publish no formal uptime SLA, so size your server accordingly.
Flexibility & Exit
8.0 /10Billing is pay-as-you-go with no long-term contract: cancel a server anytime and charges stop at the end of the cycle, or run hourly for short projects. Because you get a genuine cloud server rather than a walled platform, your files and database export cleanly.
About Cloudways
Quick answer
Cloudways is a managed cloud-hosting platform that sits on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode, giving you VPS-level performance with a GUI and a support team handling the sysadmin work. It's a strong fit for agencies, WooCommerce stores, and growing WordPress sites that need real resources without hiring a DevOps engineer — and it stays compelling thanks to the DigitalOcean acquisition in 2022, which tightened integration and roadmap.
What is Cloudways?
Cloudways is a managed cloud-hosting platform launched in 2011 by Aaqib Gadit, Uzair Gadit, and Pere Hospital, headquartered in Malta. Instead of running its own data centers, it partners with five major IaaS providers — DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode (the last now part of Akamai) — and layers a custom control panel, security stack, and 24/7 support team on top.
The pitch is simple: you pick the cloud, the size, and the location; Cloudways provisions the server, hardens it, keeps the OS patched, monitors uptime, and steps in when something breaks. You bring the site, the app, and the traffic.
In October 2022, Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean, and the two product lines have been gradually converging — most notably with shared authentication, the DigitalOcean Marketplace, and tighter integration with DO's droplet ecosystem. For customers, that meant a more reliable product roadmap without losing the multi-cloud option.
Key features
Multi-cloud IaaS choice
Spin up the same stack on DigitalOcean for cost, AWS for global regions, or Google Cloud for premium networking — without learning five different consoles.
Custom ThunderStack
Pre-tuned NGINX + Apache, Varnish, Memcached, Redis, and MariaDB, so PHP apps ship with a sane performance baseline on day one.
Breeze & CloudwaysCDN
Their in-house caching plugin pairs with an integrated CDN to push static assets to edge POPs and dramatically cut TTFB for global visitors.
1-click staging & cloning
Clone the live server to a staging subdomain, push changes, and roll back in a few clicks — no more "we'll just deploy Friday afternoon" anxiety.
Auto-healing & dedicated firewall
Servers self-restart on failure, OS-level firewalls are pre-configured, and you get free Let's Encrypt SSL renewal plus optional paid add-ons like Sitelock.
24/7/365 live support
Real engineers on live chat around the clock, with paid add-ons for advanced support tiers and migration help.
Pricing — what you'll actually pay
Cloudways uses a pay-as-you-go, hourly-billed model with no long-term contract. Pricing varies by IaaS provider and server size; as a rough guide for 2026, entry-level servers on DigitalOcean and Vultr typically start in the low double-digits per month, while AWS and Google Cloud plans start higher because of the underlying cloud cost. Cloudways adds a flat management fee on top of the infrastructure bill.
Always verify the live pricing on Cloudways.com — provider rates and tier sizes shift frequently, and add-ons (CloudwaysCDN, Elastic Email, Sitelock) are billed separately.
Cloudways vs alternatives
| Feature | Cloudways | Kinsta | WP Engine | DigitalOcean (raw) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Underlying cloud | DO, AWS, GCP, Vultr, Linode | Google Cloud only | AWS only | DigitalOcean only |
| Control panel | Custom Cloudways panel | Custom MyKinsta | Custom WP Engine portal | DigitalOcean dashboard + cPanel/DO 1-click |
| WordPress-only? | No — also Magento, PHP, Laravel, etc. | Yes | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | Hourly, pay-as-you-go | Annual plans only | Annual plans only | Hourly/monthly |
| Entry price (rough) | Low double-digits/mo on DO | ~$35/mo and up | ~$20/mo and up | ~$6/mo droplet + your time |
| Sysadmin work | Handled by Cloudways | Handled by Kinsta | Handled by WP Engine | You handle it |
| Email hosting | Not included (paid add-on) | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Who Cloudways is for
✓ Use Cloudways if you:
- Run one or several growing WordPress, WooCommerce, or PHP sites that have outgrown shared hosting.
- Want VPS-grade performance without learning server administration.
- Manage client sites as a freelancer or agency and need staging + cloning + clean handoff.
- Prefer hourly billing and the ability to switch IaaS providers without re-architecting your stack.
- Need a generous, pay-as-you-go alternative to annual-only managed WordPress plans.
✗ Skip Cloudways if you:
- Need a traditional cPanel/Plesk experience with email hosting bundled in.
- Are a complete beginner who wants the absolute cheapest possible hosting for a hobby blog.
- Run a single small static site that a $0–$5/month shared host handles fine.
- Need deep, opinionated WordPress-only tooling (multisite, edge page cache, edge AI) — Kinsta or WP Engine may fit better.
- Are happy managing your own server and just want a raw DigitalOcean or Hetzner droplet.
What's included
- Managed cloud hosting on AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode
- One-click WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, and Laravel application deployment
- CloudwaysCDN powered by Cloudflare Enterprise for global static asset acceleration
- Automated nightly backups with one-click restore to any restore point
- SafeUpdates — automated WordPress core and plugin updates with visual regression testing
- Managed horizontal and vertical scaling without server downtime
- Cloudways Autonomous — serverless WordPress tier that auto-scales on traffic spikes
- TeamCollaboration: role-based access for developers, clients, and agencies
- SaaSTweaks-verified affiliate deal
- Vendor-direct activation flow with editorial pros + cons review
Cloudways pricing
Verified May 2026. Vendor's published rates at the time we checked — always confirm at checkout.
| Plan | Price | Term | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Micro | $11/mo | monthly | 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB SSD, 1TB bandwidth. Unlimited websites, free SSL, managed Nginx/Apache, and daily backups. |
| DigitalOcean Small | $14/mo | monthly | 2GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50GB SSD, 2TB bandwidth. Good for small WordPress sites and staging environments. |
| DigitalOcean Medium (Popular) | $88/mo | monthly | 8GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160GB SSD. Handles high-traffic WordPress with ease. Managed updates, security, and backups. |
| Cloudways Autonomous (Growth) | $100/mo | monthly | Autoscaling WordPress, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, unlimited visits, and fully managed infrastructure. Free 3-day trial. |
| Cloudways Autonomous (Scale) | $200/mo | monthly | All Autonomous Growth features with higher autoscaling headroom. Best for high-traffic WordPress sites. Most popular Autonomous plan. |
How to claim it
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open Cloudways through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The price you pay is identical either way, and it never changes the score on this page.
- 2
Enter the code BLOGGINGECLIPSE at checkout
Paste it into the promo or coupon field before you pay. If the field is hidden, it is usually behind an "Add promo code" link on the payment step.
- 3
Confirm the discount before you pay
The order summary should show the reduced amount. If it does not, stop and tell us — we re-test listings that stop working.
- 4
Check what happens at renewal
25% off Cloudways hosting
Where Cloudways wins and loses
What works
- Choose from 5 cloud providers — flexibility to optimise cost and performance by region
- No server management skills needed — full control via intuitive dashboard
- Unlimited sites on every server — not a per-site pricing model
- Autonomous plan autoscales for traffic spikes without manual intervention
What doesn't
- Pricing is per server, not per site — costs more than shared hosting for single sites
- No email hosting included — requires separate email provider
- Bandwidth and compute costs vary by cloud provider and region
- Advanced configurations still require server familiarity
The bottom line
Cloudways gives you real cloud infrastructure with the ergonomics of managed hosting: pick DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, or Google Cloud, and it handles the server management for you. Pay-as-you-go billing from $11/mo and a 3-day no-card trial make it a low-risk Buy for anyone who wants managed WordPress or app hosting without a DevOps hire.
Cloudways managed cloud hosting starts at $11/mo for a 1GB DigitalOcean server, billed pay-as-you-go at about $0.036 per hour so you only pay for uptime. Vultr and Linode servers begin around $14/mo, while AWS and Google Cloud start near $20-37/mo. The Autonomous managed WordPress tier, with autoscaling, runs $99/mo and up.
Yes, Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card required, so you can launch a managed server and test performance before paying anything. There is no permanently free plan; after the trial, service moves to pay-as-you-go billing based on your chosen cloud provider and server size, starting at $11/mo for DigitalOcean.
Cloudways is worth it if you want managed WordPress hosting on real cloud infrastructure without hiring a sysadmin. You get server-level speed, one-click staging, free migration, and 24/7 support from $11/mo, well below dedicated WordPress hosts. It is less ideal if you need built-in email, cPanel, or a fully hands-off platform that hides every server setting.
Cloudways gives you infrastructure choice across DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud with resource-based pay-as-you-go pricing, while WP Engine is a WordPress-only platform with fixed, visit-capped plans. Cloudways is cheaper to start and more flexible for developers; WP Engine is more turnkey with WordPress-specific tooling baked in. Both are fully managed.
The biggest limitation is that Cloudways does not include email hosting or a traditional cPanel, so you handle email through an add-on like Rackspace or an external provider. There is also a modest learning curve separating server settings from application settings, and lower-tier plans do not publish a formal uptime SLA, so you size the server to your traffic.
Yes, Cloudways runs on pay-as-you-go billing with no long-term contract, so you can cancel or delete a server at any time and charges stop at the end of the current cycle. Hourly billing suits short-term projects, and because each server is genuine cloud infrastructure, your WordPress files and database export cleanly if you migrate elsewhere.
