Cloudways Review Review
Rated 4.6/5 on G2 — Managed cloud hosting on AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean & Vultr — WordPress and PHP optimized
Cloudways Review
Rated 4.6/5 on G2 — Managed cloud hosting on AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean & Vultr — WordPress and PHP optimized
Cloudways Overview
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform — acquired by DigitalOcean in 2022 — that puts a friendly control panel on top of five major cloud infrastructure providers: DigitalOcean, Linode (now Akamai), Vultr, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud. Instead of wrestling with raw cloud servers, you launch and manage WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and other PHP applications through a clean dashboard, with managed updates, automated backups, free SSL, server-level caching (Redis, Memcached, Varnish, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN), and 24/7 expert support.
Cloudways is consistently ranked among the top managed hosts in 2026 — 4.7/5 on G2, "Excellent" on Trustpilot, and #2 in SMB managed hosting. Pricing starts at around $14/month for a basic DigitalOcean server and scales up to enterprise AWS and Google Cloud configurations. Pay-as-you-go billing with no annual contract is a major selling point for agencies, freelancers, and growing eCommerce stores.
Cloudways Features — What You Get?
Cloudways gives you the power of raw cloud infrastructure with the convenience of a managed host: choice of five clouds (DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud), 1-click PHP application installs (WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, Drupal, Joomla, Symfony, custom PHP), Redis / Memcached / Varnish / Cloudflare Enterprise CDN built in, free SSL, automated and on-demand backups, free site migrations, staging environments, server cloning, team collaboration, role-based access, custom SMTP, real-time monitoring, server health alerts, REST API, advanced server-level firewall, two-factor authentication, IP whitelisting, and 24/7 live chat support.
Top Cloudways Services
DigitalOcean — from $11/month (1GB) standard
Vultr / Linode — from $14/month
AWS / Google Cloud — from $38/month (enterprise grade)
Annual billing — save up to 25%
3-day free trial, no credit card required
Cloudways Autonomous (Auto-Scaling Managed WP)
Add-ons
SafeUpdates, Application Upgrades, Email
24/7 Live Chat Support (Standard / Premium / Advanced)
Cloudways uses pay-as-you-go pricing across four cloud providers. DigitalOcean starts at $11/month (1GB), Premium DigitalOcean $14/month. Vultr and Linode start at $14/month, Vultr High Frequency $16/month. AWS and Google Cloud start at ~$38/month for 2GB RAM (3x DigitalOcean but enterprise-grade). Annual billing saves up to 25%. 3-day free trial, no credit card needed. All plans include SSL, staging, backups, firewall, monitoring.
Cloudways Price Plans
Cloudways uses pay-as-you-go pricing rather than fixed annual plans. Pricing varies by cloud provider and server size. Below are the current public starting prices as of 2026 — all bills are charged hourly so you only pay for the time your server is running.
DigitalOcean Premium — From $14/month
Smallest DigitalOcean Premium server — 1 GB RAM, 1 core, 25 GB NVMe, 1 TB bandwidth. Best entry point for small WordPress sites and freelance projects.
Linode (Akamai) — From $14/month
Comparable spec to DigitalOcean with strong performance-to-price ratio. Good fit for sites needing predictable performance and global data centers.
Vultr High Frequency — From $16/month
High Frequency CPU servers with 30+ global data centers — popular for sites where regional latency matters most.
AWS — From $36.51/month
Amazon Web Services managed by Cloudways. More expensive but enterprise-grade reliability, scalability, and global reach. Best for large eCommerce and enterprise apps.
Google Cloud — From $37.45/month
Google Cloud Platform infrastructure managed by Cloudways. Strong network performance and modern global backbone, good fit for international audiences.
Cloudways Autonomous — From $35/month
Auto-scaling Kubernetes-based managed WordPress hosting introduced in 2025. Built for traffic spikes and high-availability sites — pay for usage, scale automatically.
Add-ons
SafeUpdates ($3/month/app), Application Upgrade, Premium Support ($100/month), Advanced Support (custom). Email Hosting via Rackspace from $1/account/month.
Pros and Cons of Cloudways
Pros
- Choice of 5 cloud providers from a single panel
- Pay-as-you-go billing — no annual contracts
- Built-in caching stack (Redis, Memcached, Varnish, Cloudflare Enterprise)
- Free SSL, automated backups, staging, free site migrations
- 24/7 live chat support with ~90 second response time
- One-click app installs (WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel)
- 4.7/5 G2 rating, "Excellent" Trustpilot score
- Auto-scaling Cloudways Autonomous for traffic spikes
Cons
- Support quality has slipped slightly since DigitalOcean acquisition
- Email hosting is a paid add-on, not included
- AWS and Google Cloud entry prices are noticeably higher
- Some users report occasional billing surprises with add-ons
- Less hand-holding than fully managed WordPress hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine)
Cloudways holds 4.7/5 on G2 and "Excellent" status on Trustpilot. Customers consistently praise the speed, the support response times, and the flexibility of choosing between five cloud providers. Critical reviews most often mention support quality variability since the DigitalOcean acquisition and add-on pricing surprises. For agencies, freelancers, and growing eCommerce stores that want managed cloud hosting with real choice over the underlying infrastructure, Cloudways remains one of the strongest 2026 picks.
What real users say
Verified User on G2 • October 21, 2025
Switched our agency client base of 18 WordPress sites from a shared host to Cloudways on DigitalOcean Premium servers and the performance gain was instant — TTFB dropped from around 800ms to under 200ms. Free migrations made the move painless and live chat support has resolved every issue I have raised within minutes. Highly recommended for agencies running multiple client sites.
Source: paraphrased from public G2 review — https://www.g2.com/products/cloudways/reviews
Verified User on Trustpilot • September 28, 2025
Run a small WooCommerce store on Cloudways using a Vultr High Frequency server and it has been the best hosting decision I have made. Page loads are fast, the Cloudflare CDN add-on is included, and the dashboard is genuinely friendly even though I am not a developer. Support has helped me with caching tweaks and SSL setup — quick and helpful every time.
Source: paraphrased from public Trustpilot review — https://www.trustpilot.com/review/cloudways.com
Verified User on G2 • November 11, 2025
Cloudways gives me the best of both worlds — I get to choose between DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr depending on the client, and the panel makes everything manageable. Support response times have slipped a little since the DigitalOcean acquisition but are still solid. Pay-as-you-go billing means I can spin servers up and down for short-term projects without contract pain.
Source: paraphrased from public G2 review — https://www.g2.com/products/cloudways/reviews
Top Cloudways Alternatives
If Cloudways is not the right fit, the strongest 2026 managed WordPress / cloud hosting alternatives are:
Kinsta
— Premium fully managed WordPress on Google Cloud, white-glove support.
WP Engine
— Enterprise-grade managed WordPress, popular with agencies.
Rocket.net
— Cloudflare Enterprise CDN-first managed WordPress, very fast.
SiteGround
— Affordable managed WordPress with strong shared hosting roots.
RunCloud / SpinupWP
— DIY server panels for self-managed cloud servers.
Cloudways Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions buyers ask before choosing Cloudways in 2026.
What exactly does Cloudways host?+
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform — it sits on top of DigitalOcean, Linode (Akamai), Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. You launch and manage PHP-based applications like WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and custom PHP through a single dashboard, while Cloudways handles the underlying server, security patches, and stack management.
How is Cloudways different from regular shared hosting?+
Shared hosting puts hundreds of sites on one machine; Cloudways gives each customer their own cloud server (or fleet of servers) with dedicated resources, server-level caching, and managed updates. The result is consistently faster performance and far better scalability for traffic spikes — at typically 2–3× the price of basic shared hosting but a fraction of fully managed WordPress hosts like Kinsta or WP Engine.
Is Cloudways good for WooCommerce stores?+
Yes. Cloudways is one of the most-recommended managed hosts for WooCommerce because of its included Redis object caching, Varnish full-page caching, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, and ability to scale up server resources during sales events. Many agencies host their WooCommerce clients on DigitalOcean or Vultr High Frequency through Cloudways.
Does Cloudways include email hosting?+
No. Cloudways focuses purely on web/app hosting. Email is offered as a paid add-on through Rackspace at around $1/account/month, or you can use a third-party email provider like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
Can I cancel Cloudways at any time?+
Yes. Cloudways uses pay-as-you-go billing — there is no annual contract. Servers are billed by the hour and you can shut them down at any time from the dashboard. Final usage is billed at the end of the cycle and you keep access until cancellation.
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