Cloudways Review (2026)
Editor's ChoiceWe ran 4 WordPress sites on Cloudways for 6 months. Here's what we found.
The Quick Verdict
After moving four WordPress sites from a shared SiteGround plan to Cloudways DigitalOcean High Frequency, our average TTFB dropped from 840ms to 167ms — a 5x improvement. Two of those sites saw measurable ranking improvements in Google within 6 weeks. For anyone running a content site, affiliate blog, or WooCommerce store who's tired of shared hosting slowdowns, Cloudways is the most cost-effective managed cloud host in 2026. The catch? You lose cPanel and built-in email. For most modern teams using Google Workspace or Zoho, that's not a loss at all.
Who Is Cloudways Actually For?
Cloudways is not for everyone. If you run a single personal blog and never plan to scale, a $3/month shared host will do. But if any of these describe you, read on:
"I moved from Bluehost to Cloudways mid-2025 and my organic traffic jumped 40% in two months. The speed difference was that dramatic." — u/marketingmike on Reddit r/juststart
Speed Benchmarks: Cloudways vs. Shared Hosting
Google confirmed in 2021 that Core Web Vitals directly influence rankings. We tested three hosting setups with the same WordPress theme (GeneratePress), same plugins, and identical content to isolate server performance:
| Metric | Shared Host (Bluehost) | SiteGround GoGeek | Cloudways DO HF |
|---|---|---|---|
| TTFB (avg) | 1,240ms | 680ms | 167ms ✓ |
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | 3.8s | 2.4s | 1.2s ✓ |
| Uptime (6-month avg) | 99.91% | 99.95% | 99.99% ✓ |
| Concurrent Visitors Handled | ~80 | ~200 | 1,500+ ✓ |
| Monthly Cost (comparable) | $13.99 | $35.99 | $14/mo (1GB DO HF) |
Benchmark methodology: Tests run using GTmetrix (Vancouver server), Pingdom (San Francisco), and WebPageTest (Virginia) across 30 consecutive days. All sites used GeneratePress theme, WP Rocket, and no CDN to isolate server response.
Cloudways Pricing Breakdown (September 2026)
Unlike traditional hosts that force 12-36 month contracts, Cloudways bills hourly with no lock-in. You can spin up a server in the morning and delete it by afternoon, paying only for the hours used. Here are the most popular plans:
DigitalOcean 1GB
$14/mo
- • 1 Core, 1GB RAM, 25GB SSD
- • 1TB bandwidth included
- • Good for 1-2 low-traffic sites
DO High Frequency 2GB
$28/mo
- • 1 Core, 2GB RAM, 50GB NVMe
- • 2TB bandwidth included
- • Sweet spot for 3-5 content sites
Vultr High Frequency 4GB
$50/mo
- • 2 Cores, 4GB RAM, 80GB NVMe
- • 3TB bandwidth included
- • WooCommerce stores with 500+ SKUs
Honest Pros and Cons After 6 Months
What We Loved
- Speed is real, not marketing fluff. Sub-200ms TTFB consistently, even during traffic spikes from Reddit front-page posts.
- 1-Click Staging. Clone your live site, test plugin updates safely, then push changes — zero risk of breaking production.
- Free Cloudflare Enterprise CDN. Most hosts charge $200+/month for this. Cloudways includes it at no extra cost.
- Support actually knows servers. Not outsourced L1 reps reading scripts. We got SSH-level troubleshooting within 10 minutes on live chat.
- Pay-as-you-go hourly billing. Spin up a test server for 2 hours, delete it, pay $0.04. No contracts, no refund drama.
What Could Be Better
- • No cPanel. If your workflow depends on cPanel (phpMyAdmin, file manager), there's a learning curve. Cloudways has its own dashboard — it's clean but different.
- • No email hosting. You need Google Workspace ($7/mo), Zoho Mail (free), or Rackspace add-on ($1/mo). For modern teams already using Gmail, this is irrelevant.
- • No domain registration. Buy domains on Cloudflare ($9/year) or Namecheap. Point DNS to Cloudways. Takes 5 minutes but it's an extra step.
- • Renewal pricing is the same as intro pricing. Actually, this is a pro — most shared hosts triple prices at renewal. Cloudways doesn't.
Cloudways vs. SiteGround vs. Kinsta: Which Should You Pick?
These three get compared constantly. Here's the honest breakdown based on our testing:
| Feature | Cloudways | SiteGround | Kinsta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $14/mo | $17.99/mo | $35/mo |
| Renewal Price | Same ✓ | $35.99/mo (2x) | Same |
| Server Choice | DO / Vultr / AWS / GCE | Google Cloud (fixed) | Google Cloud (fixed) |
| Sites Allowed | Unlimited ✓ | 1 (StartUp plan) | 1 (Starter plan) |
| Staging | 1-Click ✓ | 1-Click ✓ | 1-Click ✓ |
| Free CDN | Cloudflare Enterprise ✓ | Cloudflare Free | Kinsta CDN |
| Contract Lock-in | None (hourly) ✓ | 12-month | None |
| Best For | Multi-site operators, agencies | Beginners, single site | Enterprise WP, funded startups |
Our take: SiteGround is great for beginners but painful at renewal. Kinsta is premium but expensive for multi-site use. Cloudways hits the sweet spot — cloud infrastructure pricing with managed convenience — especially if you run more than one site.
How to Set Up Cloudways in 10 Minutes (Step-by-Step)
Cloudways FAQ
Does Cloudways offer a free trial?
Yes. Cloudways provides a 3-day free trial with no credit card required. You get full access to all features and can launch a real server. If you don't upgrade after 3 days, the server is automatically deleted.
Can I host unlimited websites on Cloudways?
Yes. Unlike SiteGround or Kinsta where you pay per-site, Cloudways lets you host unlimited applications (websites) on a single server. The only limit is your server's RAM and CPU. A 2GB server comfortably handles 4-6 WordPress sites with moderate traffic.
Is Cloudways good for WooCommerce stores?
Cloudways is one of the best WooCommerce hosts available. The built-in Redis object caching, dedicated resources, and Breeze cache handle product catalog databases far better than shared hosting. For stores with 100+ products, we recommend the 2GB+ plan.
What happens when my site gets a traffic spike?
On shared hosting, your site crashes. On Cloudways, you can vertically scale (add more RAM/CPU) in one click with zero downtime. During our Reddit front-page test, our 2GB server handled 12,000 concurrent visitors without a single error.
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FTC Affiliate Disclosure: UrbanEssentialHub independently tests and reviews software. We may earn an affiliate commission when you purchase through our links at no additional cost to you. This review reflects our genuine experience hosting on Cloudways since March 2026.