Screenshot of Cloudways's homepage, captured for this review.
Cloudways Review
Cloudways puts a managed WordPress-friendly layer on top of raw cloud servers you choose yourself: unlimited sites, no visit metering and hourly billing make it the value pick for anyone comfortable owning a bit more of the stack.
Review last updated 2026-08-19 · How we rate hosts
Scorecard
Pros
- Choice of five clouds (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud) in 65+ locations
- Unlimited WordPress installs per server - no per-site or visit-based pricing
- Hourly billing and one-click vertical scaling
- Object Cache Pro and full server root-level stack managed for you
- 3-day free trial with no credit card
Cons
- You manage sites and server sizing yourself - more knobs than a pure managed host
- CDN, email and premium support are all paid add-ons
- Backups bill separately per GB
Cloudways plans & pricing
Promotional monthly rates as of August 19, 2026; most require the listed prepaid term and renew at the higher rate shown. Confirm on Cloudways's site before buying.
| Plan | Intro price | Renews at | Storage | Sites | Bandwidth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean 1GBManaged WordPress | $11/mo | $11/mo | 25 GB SSD | Unlimited | 1 TB/mo | Scheduled backups billed per GB; Cloudflare Enterprise CDN add-on $4.99/domain |
| DigitalOcean 2GBManaged WordPress | $26/mo | $26/mo | 50 GB SSD | Unlimited | 2 TB/mo | |
| DigitalOcean 4GBCloud Hosting | $50/mo | $50/mo | 80 GB SSD | Unlimited | 4 TB/mo | Includes Object Cache Pro on 4GB+ servers |
Our Cloudways review
Cloudways occupies a deliberate middle ground: more managed than renting a bare VPS, more hands-on than Kinsta or WP Engine. You pick a cloud provider - DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud - and a server size, and Cloudways provisions it with a tuned stack (Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, MySQL/MariaDB, Redis-ready) and a control panel that handles the server administration for you.
The economics are the draw. A DigitalOcean server with 1 GB of RAM costs about $11 a month and hosts as many WordPress installs as it can handle; there are no per-site fees and no visit counting anywhere on the platform. Billing is hourly, so a staging server spun up for a week costs pennies, and vertical scaling is a slider rather than a sales call. Since DigitalOcean acquired Cloudways in 2022, the DO-based plans have been the sweet spot.
The managed layer is real: automated stack patching, free SSL, one-click staging and cloning, bot protection and Object Cache Pro included on servers with 4 GB of RAM or more. But the boundaries matter. Backups are billed separately per gigabyte, the excellent Cloudflare Enterprise CDN is a $4.99 per domain add-on, email hosting is an add-on through a partner, and choosing the right server size is your job, not theirs.
Support follows the same tiered philosophy: 24/7 chat handles platform issues competently, but deeper application-level help and phone access sit behind paid Advanced and Premium support add-ons. Agencies running many sites tend to find the base tier sufficient; less technical owners may not.
For a solo blogger who never wants to think about RAM, a fixed-price managed host is simpler. For everyone else - agencies consolidating client sites, stores that outgrew shared hosting, developers who want root-level performance without root-level chores - Cloudways delivers more capability per dollar than anything in the managed WordPress aisle.
Notable facts
- Acquired by DigitalOcean in 2022
- Hosts unlimited applications per server with no visit-based pricing
- Bills hourly - servers can be created and destroyed on demand
At a glance
| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Valletta, Malta |
| Data centers | 65+ locations across DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud |
| Hosting types | Managed WordPress, Cloud Hosting |
| Starting price | $11/mo |
| Support | chat, tickets (24/7) |
| Free migration | Yes |
Frequently asked questions
Is Cloudways fully managed like Kinsta or WP Engine?
Partially. Cloudways manages the server stack (OS, security patches, PHP, database), but you choose server sizes, manage your own WordPress installs and pay extra for backups, CDN and premium support.
Which cloud provider should I pick on Cloudways?
DigitalOcean is the best value for most sites and the tightest integration since DigitalOcean owns Cloudways. AWS and Google Cloud cost more and mainly make sense when you need their specific regions or compliance features.
Bottom line
Cloudways puts a managed WordPress-friendly layer on top of raw cloud servers you choose yourself: unlimited sites, no visit metering and hourly billing make it the value pick for anyone comfortable owning a bit more of the stack.
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