Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting platform that simplifies server management across top cloud providers
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that acts as a management layer on top of major cloud infrastructure providers including DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode. It abstracts away server complexity while providing users with choice of cloud provider, server specifications, and data centre location. The platform serves over 100,000 customers hosting more than 570,000 websites and offers both Cloudways Flexible (customisable) and Cloudways Autonomous (fully managed, autoscaling) solutions.
How we scored it
A weighted average of the 4 dimensions below, each judged 0–10 from published pricing, vendor documentation and independent user feedback. We do not run hands-on tests, and no vendor has any say in a score.
2 further dimensions are not scored for this product yet, so they are left out of the average rather than counted as zero. How the score works.
What it actually costs
Intro pricing shown — see the renewal note for what you'll pay after the introductory term. We don't hide the second-act price.
DigitalOcean 1GB (Starter)
Flat monthly cap for the server (vendor shows $11/month for the 1GB DigitalOcean server).
DigitalOcean 2GB (Growth)
Flat monthly cap for the server (vendor shows $24/month for the 2GB DigitalOcean server).
DigitalOcean 4GB (Business)
Flat monthly cap for the server (vendor shows $48/month for the 4GB DigitalOcean server).
DigitalOcean 8GB (Enterprise)
Flat monthly cap for the server (vendor shows $96/month for the 8GB DigitalOcean server).
Cloudways Autonomous (Managed WordPress)
Vendor states Cloudways Autonomous is billed hourly per application (plan-based hourly billing). Vendor publishes Autonomous plan monthly caps such as Growth ($99/month), Scale ($199/month),
What to check before you rent Cloudways
Infrastructure is cheap to start and expensive to leave. These four questions decide what it costs you over three years rather than three months.
The renewal, not the intro price
Introductory pricing is normal in this category and the renewal is the price that matters. Check the renewal rate on Cloudways’s own pricing page before the first term ends, not after.
What the commitment buys
Longer terms carry the lowest headline rate and the least room to change your mind. Price the shortest term you would actually be comfortable with, then decide whether the discount is worth the lock-in.
The cost of leaving
Moving a site or a workload is the hidden switching cost: migration time, DNS and TLS changes, and whatever egress the provider charges to hand your own data back. A provider is only cheap if leaving is.
What is actually metered
Bandwidth, storage, backups and support tiers are usually the lines that grow, not the base plan. Find the ceiling on each before you commit, because that is where the bill moves.
These are the checks we apply across hosting, in the same order, so two pages can be compared line for line.
How much does Cloudways really cost?
Our calculation from the vendor's published prices — not a figure the vendor advertises.
Price steps up at thresholds. Crossing one moves you to the next tier's price for everything, not just the excess. Multiple fixed server/plan sizes (provider instance sizes for DigitalOcean) with a monthly cap; Cloudways Autonomous uses plan-based hourly (pay-as-you-go per application) billing.
| Team size | Per month | Per year | Over 3 years | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $11 | $132 | $396 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 5 people | $11 | $132 | $396 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 10 people | $11 | $132 | $396 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
| 50 people | $11 | $132 | $396 | Flat rate — seats are not charged separately on this plan |
Based on the DigitalOcean 1GB (Starter) plan at $11 a month. Three years at the current monthly price. The vendor does not publish a renewal rate, so no increase is assumed.
- The vendor does not publish a renewal price, so three-year totals assume today's price holds.
- No annual price recorded, so annual figures are twelve times the monthly price.
- Pricing has not been verified against the vendor's page since this data was collected.
Work out your own cost
- Flat rate — the price does not change with team size.
- No renewal increase is published, so today's price is held flat.
Cloudways against the field
The highest-scoring alternatives in the same category, compared on the figures we hold for all of them.
| CloudwaysThis page | Kinsta | Hostinger | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReviewCost score | 7.7/10 | 8.4/10 | 8.3/10 |
| Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean 1GB (Starter) | — | — |
| From | $11.00/mo | $35.00/mo | $1.99/mo |
| Renews at | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Biggest strength | 99.99% uptime guarantee with proven reliability across multiple independent testing sources | Exceptional website speed performance consistently ranked at the top of managed WordPress hosts with sub-200ms time-to-first-byte | Exceptionally competitive introductory pricing starting under $3/month attracts budget-conscious users |
| Biggest drawback | Higher cost than direct cloud provider pricing (approximately 220% markup over raw DigitalOcean/Vultr); resources cannot scale individually | Premium pricing starting at $35/month makes it 3–10 times more expensive than budget shared hosting, unsuitable for hobby sites or tight budgets | Steep renewal rates: introductory pricing jumps 3–5× at term end (e.g., $2.69→$10.99); renewal shock is the single most common user complaint |
Prices are the published figures at the time of writing and change often. Renewal pricing is shown where the vendor publishes it. See how we review.
What people ask about Cloudways
Straight answers to what buyers actually ask, drawn from the documentation and published user reports.
Is Cloudways suitable for beginners?
Can I host multiple sites on one Cloudways server?
Does Cloudways offer a free trial?
Why does Cloudways cost more than buying cloud servers directly?
What cloud providers does Cloudways support?
Is support included in all plans?
Page history
- Published
- 22 May 2026
- Last updated
- 1 October 2026
Pricing on this page has not yet been checked against the vendor’s own page.