If you have been reading about WordPress hosting for more than 5 minutes, you have probably seen Cloudways come up. It sits in an interesting middle spot. It is not cheap shared hosting, and it is not a raw cloud server you have to manage from a command line. It is a managed layer on top of cloud servers from companies like DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud.
That middle spot is exactly why people get confused about it. Is Cloudways worth the higher monthly bill? How does the pay-as-you-go pricing actually work? And what extra costs show up once you add backups, a CDN and email? This Cloudways review answers all of that.
I have been building websites and online stores since 2010, and I run several WordPress sites for my own businesses today. I have watched a lot of site owners outgrow cheap shared hosting and then freeze up when they see the next tier of options. Cloudways is one of the names that comes up most often at that moment.
This review is research-based. I pulled pricing, billing rules, add-on costs, trial terms and support tiers from Cloudways’ own pages as of November 2026. I did not run benchmarks, and I will not quote speed or uptime numbers I cannot verify.
If you are still figuring out what kind of hosting you need in the first place, start with my beginner guide to web hosting. It walks you through the hosting types and a simple requirements sheet, which makes this review a lot easier to apply.
Quick disclosure: some links on Web Hosting Paradise may become affiliate links in the future. You can read our affiliate disclosure for details. This review is based on research, and I never claim hands-on testing I did not do.
Get Cloud Server Power Without Managing the Server Yourself
Cloudways runs managed WordPress servers on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS and Google Cloud, with a 5-day free trial and no credit card required on Flexible plans.
What Is Cloudways?
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform. Instead of renting space on a crowded shared server, you launch your own cloud server from a provider you choose. Cloudways then handles the server setup, security patches, caching stack, backups and support through its own dashboard.
Think of it like this. DigitalOcean or AWS supplies the raw machine. Cloudways turns it into something a normal WordPress site owner can actually run without hiring a server admin.
Who Owns Cloudways?
Cloudways is owned by DigitalOcean. According to DigitalOcean’s press release filed with the SEC, DigitalOcean completed its $350M acquisition of Cloudways on September 8, 2022. Cloudways still runs as its own brand and still lets you choose other cloud providers, not just DigitalOcean.
Which Cloud Providers Can You Use?
Cloudways’ pricing page lists 5 infrastructure options for its Flexible plans:
- DigitalOcean, with 9 locations listed
- Vultr, with 30 locations listed
- Linode (Akamai), with 25 locations listed
- AWS, with 28 locations listed
- Google Cloud, with 28 locations listed
DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode charge the same price in every region. AWS and Google Cloud prices vary by region and cost more in general. More locations means you can put your server close to your audience, which helps with server response time. Google’s web.dev explainer on Time to First Byte covers why that matters.
What You Can Host
Cloudways is best known for WordPress and WooCommerce, and it also supports other PHP apps. The pricing page also lists a separate product called Velocity for Node.js apps, with its own price list. For this review I am focused on WordPress sites.
Cloudways Pricing in 2026
This is the part most people are searching for, so let me lay it out clearly. All numbers below come from the Cloudways pricing page as of November 2026, in US dollars.
The Billing Model: Pay As You Go
Cloudways does not sell 12-month or 36-month hosting terms like shared hosts do. You pay for what you use.
Usage is tracked hourly and invoiced on the 1st of the following month. For DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode, the hourly rate is the monthly price divided by 672 hours, and it is capped at the monthly price for a full month. AWS and Google Cloud use a 30-day month for the hourly rate. There is no long-term contract, and you can upgrade or downgrade any time. To stop billing, you delete your servers and add-ons.
That is a very different model from shared hosting. There is no cheap intro price followed by a big renewal jump. The price you see is the price you pay each month, plus any add-ons and overages.
Flexible Plan Prices
Flexible is Cloudways’ main plan type, where you pick the provider and server size. The pricing page lists Flexible plans starting at $11 per month as of November 2026. Some older page metadata still says $14, so check the exact entry price on the provider tab you pick before you launch.
For a bigger example, the pricing page lists a Medium tier at $88 per month with 8 GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160 GB storage and 5 TB transfer. The largest tier shown, 8XL, is listed at $342 per month with 128 GB RAM and 24 vCPU.
Prices change by provider and size, so I am not going to print a full price grid here that may be wrong next month. Pick your provider on the live page and you will see the current numbers.
Autonomous Plan Prices
Cloudways also sells Autonomous, a managed WordPress plan with autoscaling. You do not pick a server size. Instead you pay a flat monthly fee and the platform scales resources when traffic rises.
- Growth: $99 per month
- Scale: $199 per month
- Plus: $399 per month
- Enterprise: custom pricing
Autonomous charges overages for disk at $1 per GB and bandwidth at $0.04 per GB. Autoscaling time is billed per server at $0.07 per hour on Growth, $0.10 on Scale and $0.12 on Plus.
Backup Add-On Costs
Backups are not free on Cloudways Flexible. Off-site backup storage costs $0.033 per GB per server, which the FAQ puts at about $0.50 per 15 GB. Backups are mandatory and cannot be switched off.
For most small WordPress sites, that is a small line item. A site with 20 GB of backup storage would add about $0.66 per month. But it is a real cost, so include it when you compare Cloudways to a host that bundles backups in the plan price. Either way, keep your own off-site copy too. My guide on how to back up a WordPress site shows a simple setup.
Other Add-Ons That Affect Your Bill
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN: starts at $4.99 per domain per month.
- Rackspace email: listed at $1.5 per mailbox per month.
- Advanced Support: listed at $25 per month as a limited-time offer, down from $100.
- Premium Support: $500 per month, or 10% of your invoice if higher.
- Bandwidth overages: $0.02 per GB on DigitalOcean and Linode, $0.01 to $0.05 per GB on Vultr depending on region, $0.12 per GB on AWS and $0.10 to $0.17 per GB on Google Cloud.
When I checked, Cloudways was also running a holiday promo of 30% off for 3 months on all plans. Promos change often, so check the pricing page for what is live when you sign up.
Free Trial Terms
The Flexible plan has a 5-day free trial with no credit card required. The trial does not include AWS or Google Cloud servers. Autonomous has a 3-day free trial, also without a credit card. Support add-ons are not available during the trial.
A Realistic Monthly Bill
Here is how a simple single-site setup might add up, using only listed prices:
- Entry Flexible server: from $11 per month
- Backup storage, 20 GB: about $0.66 per month
- Cloudflare Enterprise for 1 domain: $4.99 per month
- 2 Rackspace mailboxes: about $3 per month
That lands around $20 per month before any overage, promo or tax. Compare that against what a shared host charges at renewal, not at the intro price. My breakdown of cheap WordPress hosting and renewal costs shows how to run that comparison fairly.
What You Get With Cloudways
Server Management
Cloudways handles the server software, security patches and the hosting stack for you. You manage your apps, domains and settings through the Cloudways dashboard instead of a command line. That is the main reason people choose it over a raw DigitalOcean or AWS server.
Free SSL and Staging
Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates are built in at no charge. Free staging environments are included, and Flexible lists free advanced staging and cloning. That means you can test plugin updates or a redesign on a copy of your site before pushing changes live.
Free Migration
The pricing page says free managed migration is offered on all plans. That helps if you are moving off shared hosting. Even so, I recommend you understand the process yourself, so read my guide on how to migrate a WordPress site to a new host before you start. The WordPress developer documentation on moving WordPress is a solid technical reference too.
Support Tiers
Cloudways’ support page lists 3 tiers.
- Standard (included): 24/7/365 live chat and ticketing. First ticket response within 12 hours, or 3 hours for high priority.
- Advanced: first ticket response within 6 hours, or 30 minutes for high priority.
- Premium: first ticket response within 2 hours, or 10 minutes for high priority, plus phone and private Slack.
Advanced and Premium apply account-wide and carry a 6-month minimum commitment. So if phone support matters to you, know that it sits in the $500 per month tier. For a lot of small sites, that is a dealbreaker, and that is fine. Chat plus tickets is enough for most people.
Worried About Surprise Bills? Start With a Free Trial.
Flexible plans are billed hourly with no lock-in, backups cost $0.033 per GB, and the 5-day trial needs no credit card.
Cloudways Pros and Cons
Pros
- No long-term contract and no intro-price-then-renewal-jump pricing.
- Choice of 5 cloud providers and a long list of server locations.
- Free SSL, free staging and free managed migration.
- Easy to resize a server as your site grows.
- Free trial with no credit card on Flexible and Autonomous.
- Backed by DigitalOcean, a publicly traded cloud company.
Cons
- Backups cost extra and cannot be turned off.
- Email is a paid add-on per mailbox.
- Phone support only comes with the $500 per month Premium tier.
- The monthly bill moves with add-ons and bandwidth overages, which makes budgeting harder.
- The pricing page is complex, and some listed numbers did not line up when I checked, so you have to verify on the live tab.
- More setup decisions than a beginner shared host.
Who Cloudways Fits
Here is who I think gets the most out of Cloudways.
Good Fit
- Site owners who have outgrown shared hosting and want their own server resources.
- WooCommerce stores that need room to grow. My list of the best WooCommerce hosting options compares Cloudways with other store-friendly hosts.
- Freelancers and small agencies running several client sites who want to resize servers on demand.
- People who want to pick a specific provider or region, such as AWS in a certain country.
- Anyone who hates long prepaid terms and wants to pay monthly.
Who Should Skip It
- Total beginners who want hosting, email and a domain bundled in 1 simple plan.
- Hobby sites and small blogs where the cheapest shared plan is plenty.
- Anyone who wants phone support without paying for a premium tier.
- People who need a fixed, predictable bill every month with zero overages.
If you are in the skip group, a shared or managed WordPress plan is probably a better fit. My guide to managed WordPress vs shared hosting breaks down that choice in plain English.
Cloudways vs Shared Hosting at a Glance
Here is a quick comparison between Cloudways Flexible and 2 popular shared WordPress hosts. Data comes from each provider’s own pages as of November 2026.
| Feature | Cloudways Flexible | SiteGround StartUp | Hostinger Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting type | Managed cloud server | Shared WordPress | Shared WordPress |
| Starting price | From $11/mo, billed hourly | $1.99/mo intro, 12-month prepaid | $2.49/mo intro, 48 months upfront |
| Renewal price | Same rate, no renewal jump | $17.99/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Contract | None | 12-month prepaid for intro price | 48-month term for intro price |
| Backups | Mandatory, $0.033 per GB | Daily, included | Weekly, included |
| Staging | Included | GrowBig and up | Plan-gated |
| Paid add-on | Free email listed | Free for 1 year | |
| Phone support | Premium tier only | Yes | No |
| Free trial | 5 days, no card | No, 30-day refund | No, 30-day refund |
Cloudways Alternatives
Cloudways is not the only route. Here are the alternatives I would look at, depending on what you need.
If You Want Cheaper and Simpler
SiteGround and Hostinger both offer shared WordPress plans with backups and email in the bundle. My SiteGround vs Hostinger comparison covers renewal prices and backups side by side. If you are weighing Bluehost too, read my SiteGround vs Bluehost breakdown.
If You Want Fully Managed WordPress
Managed WordPress hosts handle more of the WordPress layer for you, like updates and caching, at a fixed monthly price. My roundup of the best WordPress hosting providers includes managed options.
If You Are Leaving Bluehost
A lot of people find Cloudways while looking for a step up from Bluehost. My list of Bluehost alternatives covers more options at different price points.
My Verdict on Cloudways
Based on the published pricing and features, Cloudways is a strong option for one specific type of person. That is someone who has outgrown shared hosting, wants real server resources and flexible monthly billing, and is comfortable adding a few paid extras.
The pay-as-you-go model is the biggest win. There is no bait-and-switch intro price, and you can scale up or down whenever you want. The choice of 5 providers is a real advantage for people with an international audience.
The downsides are add-on costs and complexity. Backups, email, a premium CDN and better support all cost extra. If you add them up, your real bill is higher than the headline server price. Phone support is locked behind a $500 per month tier.
My take: if your site makes money and shared hosting is starting to feel tight, Cloudways is worth a free trial. If you run a small blog or a brochure site, a good shared plan will do the job for less.
Ready to Move Your Site to a Server You Control?
Pay hourly with no contract, pick from 5 cloud providers and use free managed migration. Try it free for 5 days first.
How to Test Cloudways During the Free Trial
The 5-day trial is short, so plan it before you click sign up. Here is what I would do.
- Launch a server on the provider and region closest to your audience.
- Clone a copy of your current site onto it, or use the free migration.
- Check how backups are set up and what storage size you are likely to pay for.
- Open a support chat and ask 2 real questions from your requirements sheet.
- Price out your add-ons, like email and CDN, on top of the server cost.
- Confirm your PHP version needs against the official WordPress hosting requirements.
Do not point your live domain at the trial server until you are ready to switch. Test on the temporary URL first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cloudways good for beginners?
It can work for beginners, but it is not the simplest option. You choose a provider, server size and add-ons yourself, and email is not bundled. If you want a single simple plan, shared hosting is easier to start with.
How much does Cloudways cost per month?
As of November 2026, Cloudways lists Flexible plans starting at $11 per month, billed hourly. Autonomous starts at $99 per month. Add backup storage at $0.033 per GB plus any add-ons like email or Cloudflare Enterprise. Check the live pricing page for the provider you choose.
Does Cloudways have a free trial?
Yes. Flexible has a 5-day free trial with no credit card required, though it excludes AWS and Google Cloud. Autonomous has a 3-day free trial.
Is Cloudways owned by DigitalOcean?
Yes. DigitalOcean completed its acquisition of Cloudways on September 8, 2022. You can still choose servers from Vultr, Linode, AWS and Google Cloud, not just DigitalOcean.
Does Cloudways include email hosting?
No. Email is a paid add-on through Rackspace, listed at $1.5 per mailbox per month. You can also use a separate email provider.
Does Cloudways charge for backups?
Yes. Off-site backup storage costs $0.033 per GB per server, and backups cannot be disabled. For most small sites this adds well under $1 per month.
Final Thoughts
Cloudways makes cloud hosting usable for normal WordPress site owners. You get your own server, monthly billing with no contract and a choice of 5 providers. You also pay separately for backups, email and better support, so the real bill takes some math.
Your next step: write down your traffic, storage and support needs using the Start Here page. Then price out Cloudways with your add-ons and compare it against a shared plan at renewal. If Cloudways still makes sense, use the free trial to confirm it before you migrate.
Related Articles
- Best WordPress Hosting in 2026
- Managed WordPress vs Shared Hosting
- How to Migrate a WordPress Site to a New Host
- Best WooCommerce Hosting
- How to Speed Up a WordPress Site
Trevor Fenner publishes Hosting Paradise and Ecommerce Paradise. His guides cover web hosting, website migration, backups, and software for online businesses.