The Best Cloudways Alternatives 2026

If you need a cheaper cloud VPS or better 24/7 support than Cloudways, there are many other web hosting services. Flywheel is the best option, designed for performance-focused WordPress agencies that want VIP support. It gives you access to its Google Cloud server infrastructure for best-in-class response times.

Apart from Flywheel, Liquid Web is a great cloud hosting vendor for users who want cloud VPS but don’t feel good about being locked into WordPress. You can also consider Kinsta as an even more premium Cloudways alternative that also offers GCP servers, but with a CDN that promises a 50% speed boost on top.

The best Cloudways alternatives

Compare the best Cloudways alternatives

Best for	Best for cloud VPS	Best for security	Best for flexibility	Best for WordPress
Star rating	4.3 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.0 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.5 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.4 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Starting price	Starts at $11.00/mo	Starts at $13/mo	Starts at $5.00/mo	Starts at $30/mo
Money-back guarantee		Yes — 60 days	Yes — 30 days	Yes — 30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9%	99.9%	100%	99.99%
Dedicated IP address
Pricing	Pay as you go	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed
CPU	1 - 32	Not disclosed	1 - 12	12
RAM	1 GB - 120 GB	Not disclosed	1 GB - 32 GB	8 GB
Storage	20 GB - 640 GB	10 GB - 50 GB+	30 GB - 960 GB	10 GB - 100 GB +
Free domain for a year
Learn more	Get Cloudways Read Cloudways Review	Get Flywheel Read Flywheel Review	Get Liquid Web Read Liquid Web Review	Get Kinsta Read Kinsta Review

Flywheel: Best for security

What we liked

Excellent agency tooling: Flywheel’s client management features allow for better back-and-forth collaboration among teams. You get free demo sites that last 14 days, seats to add multiple team members, and billing transfer options for client handoff.

Strong managed security features: Flywheel handles all security management at the server level with no plugin or configuration requirements on your part. It proactively scans for malware and blocks hacking attempts on your sites. It also offers to restore your WordPress site free of charge in the unlikely event of a breach.

Unlimited migrations: Flywheel’s dedicated migration assistance team handles all your site transfers for free, eliminating all the confusion associated with moving large content-heavy databases from one web host to another.

What we didn’t like

Pricier for large agencies: Flywheel can support up to only 30 websites concurrently on its Agency plan, meaning you need to sign up for multiple separate plans or contact the company for a custom quote if you need to manage more sites. This can get expensive pretty quickly if your agency has a ton of clients.

Test results

We recorded excellent loading times across all geographic locations, and Flywheel has a high average performance score. During testing, we had no slowdowns or errors, even with 250 virtual users accessing the site within 1 minute during load testing. Uptime Robot recorded flawless uptime during tests, exceeding its uptime guarantee.

Star rating summary

Flywheel earns high marks for its WordPress-optimized agency features, but it can get a bit pricey if you need to manage several client sites on the regular. That said, the managed security and staging environment work seamlessly, offering good value for development-focused agencies that want to eliminate busywork.

Liquid Web: Best for flexibility

What we liked

Multiple control panels: Liquid Web doesn’t force you to use a proprietary control panel that you may not be familiar with. Instead, you can choose between Interworx, cPanel, and Plesk based on your server environment and software needs.

Root access: With Liquid Web, you get full root access on all cloud, virtual, and dedicated server plans. That means you can fine-tune every aspect of your environment to your liking, which is great for developers and IT.

Heroic support: Liquid Web promises 24/7 help with its Heroic Support program, with infrastructure experts who can navigate and troubleshoot complex issues. It won’t help you manage your environment or website, but you’re covered on infrastructure.

What we didn’t like

Add-on-based pricing: Liquid Web charges incremental fees for control panel options and managed hosting support that aren’t reflected in the base price. Depending on your comfort level, you may end up paying more than what premium alternatives cost, even though your base plan costs less.

Mixed customer reviews: Even though Liquid Web has historically been known for its support and performance, G2 reviews reveal declining support quality, service outages, and pricing frustrations in the past few months.

Test results

With a high performance rating and a fast average server response time, Liquid Web impressed us with its performance quality during our tests. It also maintained consistent uptime and showed no errors during stress testing with 250 virtual users.

Star rating summary

Liquid Web offers outstanding flexibility for DIY-minded cloud hosting users, but you'll pay more for managed services and support. We like the amount of options it offers to fine-tune your server environment and control panel, but its recent reviews leave something to be desired on the customer satisfaction front.

Kinsta: Best for WordPress

What we liked

Google Cloud infrastructure: Kinsta’s reliance on Google Cloud for its server infrastructure means excellent performance globally from the get-go. It offers a performance-focused CDN and WordPress-specific speed optimizations for better web hosting.

Agency tools and services: With the MyKinsta dashboard, you can manage several client environments with detailed server and website analytics tailored to WordPress. You also get unlimited free site migrations, one-click staging, and collaboration tools for real-time client interactions.

Best-in-class support: Kinsta’s support team is more proactive and knowledgeable than those of other web hosting services, with advanced technical support and troubleshooting available in multiple languages around the clock. The support team responded to our queries quickly during testing, providing detailed, helpful answers to our complex questions.

What we didn’t like

Expensive subscriptions: With a starting price of $35/mo, Kinsta costs more than other comparable cloud hosting services. While fans admire the support quality and performance optimization, many find the costs unreasonable.

WordPress-only platform: If you’re hoping to use Kinsta’s infrastructure and optimization to host websites or apps running another CMS, you’re out of luck. Kinsta has tailored its entire server environment to cater to WordPress websites, which means you’re limited in your choice of website-building and content management tools.

Test results

With strong performance scores on speed tests, consistent uptime, and 0 failures during stress tests with 250 virtual users, Kinsta’s performance left little room for improvement during our monitoring period. Both FCP and LCP load times averaged around 0.8 seconds during speed tests across North America and Europe, meaning that those optimizations really do work as advertised.

Star rating summary

We’d recommend Kinsta to performance-focused agencies where service quality matters more than serving a lot of clients at the same time. Yes, it’s as pricey as it gets, but the managed and optimized service backend leaves nothing to be desired.

When should you consider Cloudways alternatives?

Cloudways is a pretty compelling managed cloud hosting option, with a choice of 5 infrastructure providers and endless hardware configurations. But the amount of technical knowledge necessary may make an alternative service more compelling. If you’re considering moving away from Cloudways, you may be facing one or more of these issues:

• Missing out on platform-specific optimizations for WordPress or another CMS.
• Struggling to manage costs with Cloudways’ pay-as-you-go pricing.
• Managing multiple client sites is a challenge without dedicated collaboration tools.
• Suffering from issues with technical support and troubleshooting.
• Can’t justify the managed hosting costs with its level of support and tooling.

Bottom line: The best Cloudways alternatives

Flywheel is our best all-around pick for a Cloudways alternative, especially if you need automated security with WordPress. It offers the perfect balance between performance and support while still keeping cloud hosting prices low, making it ideal for agencies with limited in-house technical support.

Otherwise, you can take your pick between Liquid Web and Kinsta. Liquid Web is great if you want full root access and don’t lack in-house IT expertise. Kinsta is better if you want even more proactive support and performance optimization for WordPress.

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