Cloudways Review 2026: I’ve Hosted My Blog Here for 6 Months — Honest Take

Why You Can Trust This Cloudways Review

I host this blog (selfhostlife.com) on Cloudways. Not a friend’s site, not a test account I spun up for the review — the actual blog you’re reading right now.

That means everything below comes from real usage. Real load times, real billing surprises, real support tickets. No marketing fluff.

I also cross-checked my experience against community feedback in r/selfhosted and r/webdev to make sure my take is representative, not just lucky.

Disclosure: there is no affiliate arrangement behind this review. The Cloudways links here earn nothing — this is simply where I host, on an account I pay for.

What Is Cloudways and Who Is It For?

Cloudways is managed cloud hosting. You pick a cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, or Google Cloud), Cloudways handles the server setup, security patches, backups, and updates. You handle the WordPress (or Laravel, or Node.js) application.

Think of it as the middle ground between two extremes:

• DIY VPS (Vultr, Hetzner): Cheap ($5/mo) but you handle everything — server config, security, backups, monitoring. Great if you enjoy Linux administration.
• Premium managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine): Easy but expensive ($30–100/mo). Everything done for you including WordPress.
• Cloudways: $14+/mo. They manage the server, you manage the app. Best of both worlds.

Who Cloudways Is For

• Developers who want clean cloud infrastructure without managing security patches.
• Small businesses running 1–3 WordPress sites that need reliable performance.
• Freelancers managing client sites who need staging, easy migrations, and white-label support.
• Bloggers who outgrew shared hosting (SiteGround, Bluehost) but don’t want to pay Kinsta prices.

Who Cloudways Is NOT For

• Beginners who don’t know what SSH or sudo means. Use Bluehost or SiteGround instead.
• Hardcore self-hosters who want full root control. Use Hetzner or Vultr directly.
• People running 10+ sites where Cloudways pricing scales worse than dedicated solutions.

Cloudways Pricing in 2026

Cloudways pricing is based on which cloud provider you choose. Here’s the cheapest tier from each:

Cloud Provider	RAM	CPU	Storage	Monthly
DigitalOcean	1GB	1 vCPU	25GB	$14
Vultr Standard	1GB	1 vCPU	32GB	$13
Vultr HF	1GB	1 vCPU (faster)	32GB	$16
Linode	1GB	1 vCPU	25GB	$14
AWS	1.75GB	1 vCPU	20GB	$36

What I Actually Pay

I run selfhostlife.com on the $14/month DigitalOcean tier. For my traffic (under 5,000 monthly visitors right now), this is overkill. I expect to stay on this tier until I hit 20,000–30,000 monthly visitors.

Add-ons I use:

• None. That’s the honest answer.

Cloudways offers paid add-ons (premium support, Cloudflare CDN, malware scanner) but I haven’t needed any. The base plan includes free SSL, automated backups (offsite, $0.033/GB), and basic monitoring.

Hidden Costs to Watch

Two things to know:

• Bandwidth overage: Plans include 1TB/mo. Going over costs $0.02/GB. For a typical blog this is irrelevant.
• Backup storage: $0.033/GB/month. My ~5GB site costs about $0.17/month. Trivial.

Compared to my previous host (SiteGround, $25/month after renewal), Cloudways saves me about $130/year while running noticeably faster.

Cloudways Performance Review — Real Benchmarks

I ran tests using GTmetrix and WebPageTest from multiple locations. Here’s what I found.

Page Load Times

Location	First Load	Cached
New York (origin)	0.4s	0.2s
London	0.8s	0.3s
Tokyo	1.4s	0.5s
Sydney	1.8s	0.6s

These results are with Breeze (Cloudways’ included cache plugin) active. Without caching, load times are roughly 2–3x slower. The cache is included free with every plan.

Cloudways Built-in Optimization

Cloudways includes server-side caching by default (Varnish + Redis + Memcached). On WordPress, this combination is genuinely fast — I haven’t needed extra plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.

Their stack uses NGINX + Apache + PHP-FPM out of the box. PHP 8.2 by default. Server-level GZIP. Object cache enabled by one click.

Cloudways Dashboard — Is It Actually Easy?

The dashboard is the main reason I picked Cloudways over running my own VPS. After 6 months, my honest take:

What I Like

• One-click app installs. WordPress, Laravel, Magento, Drupal — installed in 5 minutes including the server.
• Staging environment. Clone production with one click, test changes, push live. Saved me twice from breaking the live site.
• Server cloning. Spin up identical servers in seconds. Useful for client work.
• Built-in SSL. Let’s Encrypt with one click. Renewals automatic.
• Vertical scaling. Upgrade RAM/CPU with one click. Takes 10 minutes, no downtime.

What I Don’t Like

• UI inconsistency. Some settings live in ‘Applications’, others in ‘Servers’. Took me a week to learn where everything is.
• Limited file manager. Their built-in file manager is barebones. I just use SFTP.
• No native cron UI. You can add cron jobs, but the interface is awkward.

Comparison with Other Dashboards

Compared to raw DigitalOcean console: Cloudways is dramatically easier. No firewall rules to configure, no LEMP stack to set up, no Let’s Encrypt to manually install.

Compared to cPanel (shared hosting): Cloudways is cleaner and more modern, but doesn’t have things like one-click email setup (Cloudways doesn’t provide email — you use external services like Google Workspace).

Cloudways Support Review — What Happens When Things Break

I’ve opened 3 support tickets in 6 months. Here’s how they went:

Ticket 1 — SSL Renewal Issue

Problem: Let’s Encrypt SSL didn’t auto-renew on one site.

Response time: Live chat answered in 4 minutes.

Resolution: Fixed in 10 minutes. Agent walked me through clicking ‘Reinstall’ in the SSL section. Clear, no scripts.

Ticket 2 — Migration from SiteGround

Problem: Wanted help migrating an existing WordPress site.

Response time: I used Cloudways’ free migration tool (Migration plugin). Worked first try.

Resolution: Self-service. No ticket needed. The migration plugin is genuinely the easiest I’ve used.

Ticket 3 — High Memory Usage

Problem: Server was hitting 80% memory frequently.

Response time: Live chat in 6 minutes.

Resolution: Agent suggested I check object cache config and showed me where to tune it. Reduced memory usage to 50%. Useful, not just deflection.

Support Tier Honesty

The standard support is good for common issues. For complex stuff (custom server config, deep WordPress debugging), they’ll suggest the $100/month Advanced Support plan, which I haven’t tried.

My take: 95% of users won’t need Advanced Support. The standard tier handles typical hosting issues fine.

Cloudways vs Other Hosting Options

Cloudways vs SiteGround

Verdict: Cloudways wins on performance and scalability. SiteGround wins on initial pricing (first year only) and email hosting.

After year 1, SiteGround renewal prices ($25–40/mo) make Cloudways the obvious winner. SiteGround’s shared hosting also hits resource limits faster as traffic grows.

Cloudways vs Kinsta

Verdict: Kinsta is faster and more premium. Cloudways is 2–3x cheaper for similar performance on small sites.

Kinsta uses Google Cloud Premium Tier and has tighter integration. For sites under 50,000 monthly visits, Cloudways at $14/mo offers 80% of Kinsta’s experience at 25% of Kinsta’s $35/mo entry price.

Cloudways vs Unmanaged VPS (Hetzner, Vultr)

Verdict: Cloudways trades $9/month for ~3 hours/month of server management.

If your hourly rate is over $3, Cloudways pays for itself. If you enjoy Linux administration as a hobby, moving to a $5 Hetzner instance saves roughly $108 a year over Cloudways — worth your time, if the time is the part you enjoy.

See my full Hetzner vs Contabo vs Vultr comparison if you’re considering the unmanaged route.

Cloudways Pros and Cons — Full Honest List

How to Get Started with Cloudways — Step by Step

If this Cloudways review convinced you, here’s exactly how to start. The free 3-day trial requires no credit card.

1. Sign up at Cloudways with your email.
2. Choose your cloud provider. For most users: DigitalOcean ($14/mo) is the safe pick.
3. Choose your server location. Pick the one closest to your main audience.
4. Choose your app. WordPress, Laravel, Magento, or others.
5. Wait 5 minutes for server provisioning.
6. Use the free migration plugin to move an existing site, or start fresh.
7. Install free SSL with one click in the Application Settings.
8. Activate Breeze cache plugin. You’re done.

Start Cloudways Free Trial →

Frequently Asked Questions About Cloudways

Is Cloudways worth it in 2026?

Yes, for most users. Cloudways gives you 90% of premium managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine) at roughly 30–40% of the price. The free trial means you can test it risk-free for 3 days.

Does Cloudways include email hosting?

No. Cloudways is hosting only. For email, use Google Workspace ($6/user/mo), Zoho Mail (free for 5 users), or your domain registrar’s email service. This is a common complaint but the upside is faster, cleaner hosting.

Can I host multiple sites on one Cloudways server?

Yes. The $14/month plan can comfortably handle 2–3 small WordPress sites. Each site gets its own application install but shares server resources.

How does Cloudways billing work?

Hourly billing with a monthly cap. If you cancel mid-month, you only pay for the hours used. There are no long-term contracts. Payment by credit card or PayPal.

Is Cloudways good for WordPress specifically?

Yes — WordPress is their primary use case. Breeze cache (included), Varnish, Redis, and PHP 8.2 work together for genuinely fast WordPress sites. WooCommerce is well-supported.

Can I get a refund if I don’t like Cloudways?

There’s no traditional money-back guarantee, but the 3-day free trial requires no credit card. You can test the service fully before paying anything.

Does Cloudways support Korean users?

The closest data center is DigitalOcean Singapore. Latency from Korea is around 80–100ms — acceptable for most uses but not as fast as Vultr’s Seoul data center for Korean-specific traffic.

The Bottom Line — Is Cloudways Worth It?

You should pick Cloudways if: you want managed hosting without paying Kinsta prices, you value your time over saving $5/month, or you’ve outgrown shared hosting like Bluehost or SiteGround. Try the free trial first — you’ll know within an hour if the dashboard fits your workflow.

Skip Cloudways if: you want to learn Linux server administration (use Hetzner directly), you need email hosting built-in (use SiteGround), or you’re a complete beginner (use Bluehost). Match the tool to your skill and time, not the other way around.

Try Cloudways — Free 3-Day Trial →

How I Tested Cloudways

This Cloudways review is based on:

• 6 months of hosting this blog (selfhostlife.com) on Cloudways’ DigitalOcean tier
• Real performance benchmarks using GTmetrix and WebPageTest from multiple locations
• 3 actual support tickets and their resolution times
• Cross-referencing experience with community feedback in r/selfhosted and r/webdev
• Pricing and feature verification on the official Cloudways pricing page

No affiliate arrangement stands behind this review — the Cloudways links earn nothing. I pay for the account myself, which is the entire point of writing it up.

Questions or want me to test something specific? Email hello@selfhostlife.com