Bottom Line Up Front
Cloudways is the best managed cloud hosting for developers and agencies. At $14/month (DigitalOcean 1 GB), you get 0.9-second load times, true cloud infrastructure, and the ability to scale in minutes. The catch: it's not beginner-friendly, there's no free domain or email, and the $14/month base is significantly more than shared hosting.
We tested Cloudways for 90 days on DigitalOcean and Google Cloud servers. Performance was consistently excellent — the best of any managed hosting we tested.
What Makes Cloudways Different
Most web hosts give you space on their servers. Cloudways lets you choose your cloud provider:
- DigitalOcean — from $14/month (best value)
- AWS (Amazon) — from $36.51/month (enterprise reliability)
- Google Cloud — from $33.18/month (fastest global network)
- Vultr — from $13/month (competitive with DigitalOcean)
- Linode (Akamai) — from $12/month (most affordable)
Cloudways manages the server; you choose where it lives. This matters because cloud providers offer different performance, locations, and reliability profiles.
Performance Results
Uptime: 99.99%
90 days on DigitalOcean NYC3 — 9 minutes of total downtime, all scheduled maintenance. No unscheduled outages.
Cloud infrastructure handles failures differently: if one physical server fails, your virtual machine migrates automatically. This is fundamentally more reliable than shared hosting.
Speed: 0.9-Second Average Load Time (DigitalOcean)
Tested with WordPress + WooCommerce:
| Provider Config | Homepage | WooCommerce | GTMetrix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways DigitalOcean NYC3 | 0.9s | 1.4s | A (98%) |
| Cloudways Google Cloud US | 0.8s | 1.2s | A (99%) |
| SiteGround (for comparison) | 1.2s | 1.8s | A (96%) |
| Bluehost (for comparison) | 1.8s | 2.5s | B (87%) |
0.9 seconds is the fastest average we recorded for any managed hosting. The combination of NVMe SSD storage, Varnish caching, Redis, and Memcached creates a performance stack that shared hosting can't match.
Scaling Test
One key advantage of cloud: scale up when you need it. We tested:
- Normal traffic: 1 GB DigitalOcean server at $14/month
- Traffic spike: Scaled to 2 GB server in 4 minutes
- After spike: Scaled back down in 3 minutes
No downtime during scaling. Total extra cost for the spike: $0.09 (hourly billing). Traditional hosts require you to permanently upgrade plans — Cloudways is flexible.
The Cloudways Platform
Server Management
Cloudways manages the server-level complexity:
- Security patches — applied automatically
- Server monitoring — 24/7 with alerts
- Backups — automated daily, configurable
- Firewall — basic protection included
You don't need to SSH into a server to update packages. Cloudways handles it. But you still need to manage your WordPress/applications yourself.
Application Deployment
Adding a new WordPress site takes 7 minutes:
- Choose cloud provider and server size
- Choose application (WordPress, WooCommerce, Laravel, etc.)
- Cloudways provisions the server and installs the app
- You get login credentials
We tested deploying 10 sites — all worked perfectly. Cloudways supports WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and other PHP applications out of the box.
Built-In Caching Stack
Every Cloudways server includes:
- Varnish — full-page caching
- Redis — object caching for WordPress
- Memcached — database caching
- Nginx — fast web server
- PHP-FPM — efficient PHP processing
This stack is what agencies spend hours setting up on traditional servers. Cloudways configures it automatically.
CDN Integration
Cloudways integrates with Cloudflare CDN (free tier included). Enabling it took 2 minutes and reduced our average load time from 0.9s to 0.7s for users outside the server region.
Support Experience
We submitted 8 support tickets over 90 days:
| Ticket Type | Response Time | Resolution Time | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server scaling question | 4.2 minutes | 9 minutes | 4/5 |
| WordPress optimization | 6.1 minutes | 14 minutes | 4/5 |
| SSL certificate issue | 3.8 minutes | 7 minutes | 5/5 |
| Cloudflare integration | 5.3 minutes | 11 minutes | 4/5 |
| Migration assistance | 7.1 minutes | 22 minutes | 4/5 |
| Billing question | 2.9 minutes | 5 minutes | 5/5 |
| Database optimization | 8.4 minutes | 19 minutes | 4/5 |
| Custom PHP configuration | 9.1 minutes | 25 minutes | 3/5 |
Average response: 5.9 minutes Average resolution: 14 minutes Overall quality: 4.1/5
Support is good, though slower than SiteGround (2.1 minutes). Agents have solid technical knowledge — they understand cloud infrastructure and WordPress at a level that traditional shared hosting support doesn't.
Pricing and Value
DigitalOcean Plans (Most Popular)
| Server | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 1 GB | 25 GB | 1 TB | $14/month |
| 2 GB | 2 GB | 50 GB | 2 TB | $28/month |
| 4 GB | 4 GB | 80 GB | 4 TB | $50/month |
| 8 GB | 8 GB | 160 GB | 5 TB | $85/month |
Note: Cloudways pricing is for the server, not per site. You can host unlimited sites on one server (resource-limited by server size).
vs Shared Hosting Value
| Provider | Price | Sites | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround Shared | $3.99/month | 1 | 1.2s load |
| Cloudways DO 1GB | $14/month | Unlimited | 0.9s load |
| SiteGround GoGeek | $10.69/month | Unlimited | 1.1s load |
Cloudways becomes better value when you host multiple sites. At $14/month for unlimited WordPress installs vs SiteGround's $10.69/month (GoGeek, also unlimited), Cloudways wins on performance.
What's NOT Included
- Free domain: No. Buy separately (~$15/year)
- Email hosting: No. Use Google Workspace ($6/user/month) or Zoho Mail (free)
- cPanel/Plesk: No. Cloudways has its own panel
- One-click WordPress: Yes, this IS included
What We Like
- Performance — 0.9-second load times, genuine cloud infrastructure
- Scalability — resize servers in minutes without downtime
- Developer tools — SSH access, Git, WP-CLI, staging
- Multi-cloud choice — pick DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud
- Pay-as-you-go — hourly billing, no long-term commitment
- Unlimited applications — host multiple sites on one server
What We Don't Like
- Price — $14/month minimum vs $2.95 for shared hosting
- No email — must use third-party email service
- No domain — must buy separately
- Learning curve — not beginner-friendly
- Support — good but slower than SiteGround
- No phone support — chat and email only
Technical Requirements
Cloudways isn't for everyone. You need to:
- Be comfortable with server concepts (RAM, storage, bandwidth)
- Manage WordPress updates and backups yourself (Cloudways does server-level backups, not app-level)
- Set up email separately
- Understand that "managed" means server management, not application management
For complete beginners, start with Bluehost or SiteGround.
Who Should Choose Cloudways
Ideal for:
- Developers hosting multiple client sites
- Agencies needing scalable infrastructure
- High-traffic sites outgrowing shared hosting
- Users who want cloud flexibility without managing bare metal
- Sites running WooCommerce, Magento, or custom PHP apps
Look elsewhere if:
- You're a beginner starting your first website
- You need email hosting included
- Budget is under $14/month
- You don't want to manage WordPress manually
The Competition
vs SiteGround GoGeek ($10.69/month): SiteGround is cheaper and includes email, domain management, and beginner-friendly support. Cloudways is faster and more scalable. For agencies with multiple sites, Cloudways wins on performance and flexibility.
vs WP Engine ($25/month): WP Engine is WordPress-specific with better support and developer tools. Cloudways is more flexible for non-WordPress apps and offers multi-cloud. For pure WordPress, WP Engine. For multi-platform, Cloudways.
vs self-managed VPS (DigitalOcean direct, ~$6/month): Going direct to DigitalOcean is cheaper but you manage everything yourself: security patches, server setup, caching configuration. Cloudways charges a ~$8/month premium to handle all that.
Final Verdict
Rating: 4.6/5
Cloudways is the best managed cloud hosting available at its price point. The 0.9-second load times, true cloud infrastructure, and developer-friendly features are genuinely superior to shared hosting.
The $14/month starting price is a real barrier — 4x more than SiteGround's promotional rate. But for agencies hosting multiple sites, developers who need scalability, or sites outgrowing shared hosting, Cloudways is excellent value.
Our recommendation: If you host more than 3 sites or need cloud-level performance, Cloudways at $14/month makes financial sense. If you're building your first site, start with SiteGround and migrate when you outgrow it.