Cloudways review
Hosting and serversManaged hosting with no servers of its own: it resells DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud under one panel.
- Uptime it promises99,99 %
- Migration included
$11/mo is the entry-level price (Micro plan: 2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB disk, and 2 TB of traffic), the same for all five providers it resells. It's billed hourly up to that monthly cap and doesn't include a domain or email; on AWS and Google Cloud it may vary by region. Checked on cloudways.com on September 12, 2026.
Cloudways doesn't run its own servers: it's a management layer sitting on top of other companies' infrastructure — DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud — so in practice it's the customer who picks which cloud provider actually holds their data, while Cloudways handles the panel, the server stack and support. It suits people who want cloud-server control without administering Linux by hand, but it isn't the choice for anyone looking for cheap shared hosting with a domain and email included, because neither comes with it.
The advertised entry-level price is 11 USD/month, the same across all five providers (2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB and 2 TB of transfer), and on AWS and Google Cloud it also varies by region. Billing is hourly, with no long-term commitment. The panel is Cloudways's own (not cPanel), with free SSL via Let's Encrypt and backups configurable from hourly to weekly; the Cloudflare CDN is a paid add-on, not included by default.
There's no conventional money-back guarantee: instead it offers a 3-day free trial, and since billing is hourly you can cancel at any point with no further commitment. It promises 99.99% availability and 24/7 chat support with a 90-second average response time, by its own figures. Cloudways has, for a few years now, been part of DigitalOcean LLC, something the company itself confirms on its site when explaining how it handles tax billing.
Features
- Hosting types
- Control panel
- Cloudways’ own panel (no cPanel)
- Uptime it promises
- 99,99 %
- SSL certificate included
- Domain included
- Migration included
- Backups
- Configurable, from hourly to weekly
- CDN included
- Support
- 24/7 via chat, average response time 90 s
Cloudways
From $11
On our blog
How to Find Out Who Hosts a Website
Using the tools already on this site, you can resolve a domain to its IP, identify the autonomous system operating it, and check the provider's full range. This guide also covers the most common trap:...
Why Cheap Hosting Costs More at Renewal
The advertised price covers the first term, and usually means prepaying years upfront; renewal is charged at list price. The figures from several providers, and the three cases that break the pattern.
Alternatives to Cloudways
All providersBluehost
United States · 2003
Shared cPanel hosting recommended by WordPress.org, part of the Newfold Digital group (the same group as HostGator).
bunny.net
Slovenia · 2015
Charges per GB served, with no fixed fee, a minimum of 1 USD per month, and two networks priced differently by coverage.
Contabo
Germany · 2003
German VPS and dedicated servers with generous RAM and storage at a very low price, for users comfortable managing their own unmanaged server.
DreamHost
United States · 1997
US web host operating since 1997; its entry-level shared plan is cheap for the first year, then renews at $10.99/month.