Cloudways Review 2025: Is It Really the Best Managed Cloud Hosting Provider?

Cloudways is a solid managed cloud hosting provider for agencies and consultants. After testing its service for 6 days, we liked the modern interface, strong performance, and the option to choose from providers like DigitalOcean and AWS.

We think this service works best for agencies, service providers, and consultants managing multiple client websites with different performance needs. If you have a simple personal blog or small business site, cheaper shared hosting options might suit you better.

That said, support quality has declined since DigitalOcean acquired the company, while some users have complained of billing issues. Check out our full Cloudways review to see if it's the right fit for you.

Cloudways review at a glance

Price	$11.00-$88.00/mo
Money-back guarantee	No
Uptime guarantee	99.99%
Monthly visits	Unlimited
Number of websites	Unlimited
Storage	20 GB – 3,840 GB
Free SSL certificate	On all plans
Free domain for a year	No
Backup frequency	Every 6-12 hours (customizable)
Migration assistance	On all plans
24/7 support	On all plans
Learn more	Get Cloudways

Score summary

Decision factor	Weight	Cloudways Verdict
Our experience	10%	4/5
Prices and capacity	18%	4.2/5
Performance	20%	5/5
Features	25%	4/5
Security	20%	5/5
Support and reputation	7%	4.3/5

We last tested Cloudways on October 28, 2025.

Our experience

Our experience with Cloudways was mostly positive, but we saw some areas for improvement. It showed strong performance during testing, and the modern dashboard made it easy to manage servers and applications. However, server resources needed technical know-how to set up, which could be tough for beginners.

Once we settled on a DigitalOcean plan, we clicked the Plus button to add a server and chose WordPress for the CMS setup. After naming the application and server, deployment took just a few minutes. Cloudways gave us a temporary URL (app19997.cloudwayssites.com), which was great for testing.

The dashboard has a clean and minimal design interface typical of managed web hosting services. The top menu provided quick access to server management, application settings, team collaboration, and project organization. Everything we needed for website setup, monitoring, and support was easy to find on the main dashboard.

Cloudways allows one-click deployment for WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and PHP applications. We also had one-click backup, restore, staging environments, and SSL installation. The dashboard offers 24/7 monitoring with access to over 16 metrics, which let us track server health and performance.

Setting up a custom domain involved a few extra steps, since Cloudways doesn’t register domains directly. You go to the Domain Management section, add your domain name, then copy the server's public IP to create an A record with your registrar. This is straightforward enough, but a built-in domain search would be more convenient.

Cloudways prices and plans

Cloudways’ costs $11.00-$88.00/mo if you choose DigitalOcean as your cloud provider, which is on the cheaper side compared to the average cost of cloud web hosting.

However, if you choose a different cloud service with Cloudways, you could pay more. Here’s a breakdown of what you get with DigitalOcean:

Features	Micro	Small	Medium	Large
Price	$11.00/mo	$24.00/mo	$46.00/mo	$88.00/mo
vCPU	1	1 - 2	2	4 - 16
RAM	1 GB	2 GB	4 GB	8 - 64 GB
Storage	25 GB	50 - 60 GB	80 GB	160 - 1,280 GB
Bandwidth	1 TB	2 - 3 TB	3 TB	5 - 9 TB
Backup frequency	Every 6-12 hours	Every 6-12 hours	Every 6-12 hours	Every 6-12 hours
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan

Cloudways is more expensive compared to other shared server hosting services.

Bluehost starts at $3.99/mo. But its plans have big limits on server resources. Cloudways’ cloud hosting means better performance, especially during traffic spikes.

Against other managed web hosts, Cloudways is much more competitive. For example, Flywheel starts at $15/mo but limits you to 5,000 visits and one website. Cloudways allows unlimited websites on its basic plan, with no extra charges for more visitors.

We believe the Small plan using DigitalOcean at $24.00/mo is the best value for most users. It offers enough resources (50 GB storage and 2 TB bandwidth) for a growing website or several smaller ones without performance issues.

Cloudways features

Cloudways offers numerous features that make it a great choice for managed cloud hosting, including free SSL certificates, automated backups, staging environments, and seamless website migration. There’s limited reliance on paid add-ons, though some features, like email hosting, do cost more.

Key features we’ll explore include:

• Multiple types of web hosting for different applications
• WordPress integration with one-click deployment
• Easy web migration with free assistance
• Advanced security and performance monitoring tools
• Flexible backup options and staging environments

Types of web hosting available

Cloudways lets you choose between DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud. You can then easily deploy WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and PHP applications right from the dashboard. We focused on its WordPress hosting through DigitalOcean, which is great for most users.

Web building features

Cloudways doesn’t have a built-in website builder but offers one-click setup for many third-party platforms. We deployed our WordPress installation, then used the /wp-admin dashboard to customize our site. You can easily install page builders like Elementor or use WordPress themes to build your website.

WordPress integration

Setting up WordPress on Cloudways is quick and easy. We created our application by selecting WordPress from the dropdown menu. Within minutes, we had a fully functional site ready for customization. If you want more automation, Cloudways has a SafeUpdates add-on that automatically manages WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates in the background.

Web migration

Cloudways makes it easy to migrate your WordPress website with free expert help for your first site. They also offer a free tool, the Cloudways WordPress Migrator. Enter connection details, such as the SFTP IP address, username, password, application URL, and database name. After entering the information, click Migrate.

Bonus features

Beyond core hosting features, we found many tools that were the highlight of our testing. Staging environments are available on all plans. You can test website changes in a private environment before bringing them live. We also liked the built-in 24/7 server monitoring. You can check your site resource usage from the dashboard.

Every plan includes a server-level firewall powered by Imunify360, DDoS mitigation, Fail2Ban for brute-force protection, and bot protection. There's a vulnerability scanner from PatchStack that continuously checks your WordPress setup for security issues. You can schedule automated backups every 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, or 3 days — which can be restored with one click.

Cloudways performance

We tested Cloudways to see if it provides the speed and reliability expected from managed cloud hosting. We monitored the platform for 6 days and conducted various tests.​ Here’s how it went.

Speed test

We tested our Cloudways-hosted site with DotCom-Tools from three locations: Montreal, Strasbourg, and Dallas. This gave us a full view of server performance in different regions.

Product	Performance score	FCP	LCP
Cloudways average	100	0.3 s	0.4 s

The results were outstanding. Our site scored a perfect 100 in performance at all three locations, with an average First Contentful Paint (FCP) of 0.3 seconds and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) of 0.4 seconds. When we visited the site and clicked through pages, everything loaded quickly and smoothly.

Uptime and response

Uptime monitoring shows how well your website stays accessible. We used UptimeRobot to monitor our Cloudways site for 6 days. We tracked uptime percentage and response times to see if it ever went down under normal conditions.

Product	Uptime	Average response time	Minimum response time	Maximum response time
Cloudways average	99.95%	673 ms	76 ms	846 ms

Our site achieved 99.95% uptime during testing. The site was down for 5 minutes and 19 seconds during the 6-day period. This is acceptable, but slightly below Cloudways' uptime guarantee of 99.99%. Our average response time was 673 milliseconds, with a low of 76 milliseconds and a high of 846 milliseconds. It shows that the server can be a tad erratic under pressure.

Stress tests

Stress test results: Cloudways passed the stress test.

We used Loader.io to send 250 virtual users to our site for 1 minute. The server handled the load very well. We saw a peak request rate of 8 requests per second with an average of 4 requests per second. Most importantly, there were 0 HTTP failures during the test. This means that every request was processed successfully, even during periods of high demand.

Cloudway security features

Security is vital for any web hosting service. Weaknesses can lead to data breaches, malware, and downtime. Cloudways uses a layered security approach, mixing server-level protections with application monitoring. Some highlights include:

• Free SSL certificates: Cloudways provides free SSL certificates that encrypt site data transfer on all plans via Let's Encrypt.
• Server-level firewall: It uses Imunify360 for strong firewall protection at the server level. This blocks harmful traffic before it reaches your applications.
• DDoS protection: Layer 3 and Layer 4 DDoS mitigation safeguards your site against denial-of-service attacks that could take it offline.
• Brute-force protection: Fail2Ban monitors login attempts and blocks IP addresses that repeatedly fail to access your site.
• Vulnerability scanner: Powered by PatchStack, the scanner monitors your WordPress core, plugins, and themes for known vulnerabilities, alerting you to any issues.
• IP whitelisting: You can limit SSH and SFTP access to specific IP addresses or regions, controlling who can access your server's backend.
• Malware protection (add-on): For extra safety, you can buy the Malware Protection add-on, which offers real-time scanning, automatic removal, file monitoring, and database scanning.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA): Cloudways supports 2FA for added security when logging into your account.
• Automated backups: Regular automated backups, performed every 6-12 hours, allow you to quickly restore your site if needed. Backups are stored offsite for extra safety.

Cloudways customer support and reputation

Support type	Cloudways support
Email or live chat	Yes — 24/7 live chat and ticketing system
Phone	Yes — Available with Premium Support add-on
Online guides or forums

Cloudways offers 24/7 customer support through live chat and a ticketing system for all plans. During our tests, live chat responses came within minutes, making it the fastest option. Support tickets typically receive replies within about an hour, while email inquiries may take up to 24 hours. Phone support is only available with the Premium Support add-on, costing between $100 to $500 per month.

There’s also a helpful knowledge base for self-service support. However, user reviews indicate that support quality has been inconsistent since DigitalOcean acquired the company. While we had a positive experience with our own support interaction, others say they faced challenges in resolving complex issues.

Cloudways user reviews

Trustpilot rating: 4.6 out of 5​

Public perception of Cloudways is mostly positive. People praise its speed, reliability, and strong features. On Trustpilot, Cloudways holds a 4.6 out of 5 rating from thousands of reviews. Many customers highlight the performance. It also boasts a 4.7 rating on G2 and was ranked #3 in the Best Web Hosting category in G2's 2025 Best Software Awards.

However, feedback isn't all positive. Since DigitalOcean acquired Cloudways in September 2022, some users have reported lower support quality and billing issues. Capterra ratings are lower at 4.2 out of 5. On Reddit, opinions vary from mixed to positive. Some users express frustration over downtime every two weeks since late 2024. Others raise concerns about performance decline after the acquisition.

Top Cloudways alternatives

If you're considering Cloudways but want to explore other options, Hostinger, Bluehost, and IONOS each offer compelling alternatives. They offer various approaches to web hosting, ranging from budget-friendly shared hosting to more powerful cloud solutions.

Hostinger

Hostinger positions itself as a more affordable alternative to Cloudways, with shared hosting plans starting as low as $2.99/mo. It includes a free domain for the first year, free email accounts, and a built-in website builder with AI tools.

Learn more in our Hostinger review.

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting providers, particularly known for its excellent WordPress integration and beginner-friendly interface. Shared hosting plans start at $3.99/mo and include a free domain for the first year and email hosting.​

Learn more in our Bluehost review.

IONOS

IONOS offers the most competitive pricing with shared hosting starting at just $1.00/mo for new users. It includes features like Wildcard SSL certificates and extensive data center coverage.​

Learn more in our IONOS review.

Bottom line: Is Cloudways good?

Yes, Cloudways delivered on our expectations with fast loading speeds, strong uptime, and scalable resources, all backed by a pay-as-you-go pricing model. You can also choose from different cloud providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, and Vultr. All plans include security features, as well as staging environments and customizable backups.

For agencies and consultants managing several client websites, Cloudways offers great value. But, it doesn’t include domain registration or email hosting, which come at an extra cost. You'll also need some technical know-how to set up server settings. More concerning are the reports of declining support quality since the DigitalOcean acquisition.

If you're running a growing website or managing multiple client sites, Cloudways is worth the investment. But if you're starting a simple blog with low traffic, cheaper shared hosting from providers like Hostinger or Bluehost may be a better fit.

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