Cloudways Review 2026: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

Reviewed by the ToolReviewHub Editorial Team · Last tested/updated: November 12, 2026

• Pricing: Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply. Read on the official pricing page on November 6, 2026.
• Category: Hosting
• Official site: cloudways.com

What Is Cloudways?

Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform, owned by DigitalOcean, that runs WordPress, Magento, Laravel and PHP apps on cloud providers with a managed stack, now also marketing AI agents and an AI website builder.

Key Features

A few things stand out when you actually use Cloudways day to day:

• Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform, owned by DigitalOcean, that runs WordPress, Magento, Laravel and PHP apps on cloud providers with a managed stack, now also marketing AI agents and an AI website builder
• Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply
• Read on the official pricing page on November 6, 2026

Cloudways Pricing

Pricing: Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply. Read on the official pricing page on November 6, 2026. Plans and promotions change, so always confirm current numbers on the official site before you buy.

Pros and Cons

Who Is Cloudways For?

Strong points: Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply. Weigh this before you commit: This review summarises public vendor information; we have not tested Cloudways hands-on.

Best Cloudways Alternatives

Other Hosting tools that come up often in comparisons with Cloudways:

• Scala Hosting — a widely used hosting option worth comparing if Cloudways does not check every box for your needs.
• Vultr — a widely used hosting option worth comparing if Cloudways does not check every box for your needs.
• Stacq — a widely used hosting option worth comparing if Cloudways does not check every box for your needs.

Strengths and Trade-offs

The biggest point in favor of Cloudways: Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply. The biggest thing to weigh against it: This review summarises public vendor information; we have not tested Cloudways hands-on. Consider both before you commit.

Pricing on the Official Page

On November 6, 2026, Cloudways' pricing page offered a Black Friday deal of 80% off for 2 months and listed plans by server size under the heading "Host Sites, Ship Apps, or Run Agents". For the Standard servers, Micro was $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe storage, 1TB bandwidth, $0.0042 per hour), Small $28 (2GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50GB, 2TB), Medium $54 (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 80GB, 4TB, marked Most Popular) and Large $99 (8GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160GB, 5TB). All listed plans included the Lightning Stack, unlimited visits and unlimited websites. You can also pick the cloud provider and other server types such as General Purpose and CPU Optimized, and offsite backups were billed extra at $0.033 per GB per server. The homepage said Cloudways manages 600K+ web apps and is owned by DigitalOcean. The promotional price applies only to the first two months, so budget for the regular price after that.

What Other Users Say About Cloudways

Public feedback from third-party sites as of November 6, 2026. We found no Trustpilot data, and several sources are marketing or affiliate content.

• G2: G2 lists about 4.7 out of 5 across roughly 1,100 reviews, with praise centered on helpful and fast 24/7 support.
• Price: cost is the most common complaint, with a G2 summary saying 51 reviewers find Cloudways expensive compared to other hosts and one reviewer noting it costs more than using DigitalOcean servers directly.
• Support problems: some reviews report slow responses, reliance on automated systems and unresolved payment or refund issues, and Capterra rates customer support at 3.9 out of 5 across 93 reviews, below its overall score.
• After the DigitalOcean acquisition: one aggregator reports complaints about performance and billing after the acquisition. These are thin third-party summaries, not benchmarks, and we found no documented price hike.
• Gaps: we found no Trustpilot data, and a number of review pages such as AllAboutCookies are affiliate content.

Sources: G2, Capterra, Zoftwarehub.

FAQ

How much does Cloudways cost?
Flexible plans on DigitalOcean-type servers started at Micro $14 per month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28, Medium $54 and Large $99 per month, shown with an 80% off for 2 months Black Friday offer; hourly billing and a pay as you go model apply. Read on the official pricing page on November 6, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the official site before buying.

What are the main drawbacks of Cloudways?
This review summarises public vendor information; we have not tested Cloudways hands-on.

What are the best alternatives to Cloudways?
A few other Hosting tools worth putting side by side with Cloudways: Scala Hosting, Vultr, and Stacq.

Final Thoughts

Our take: Cloudways earns its 4.4/5 rating by focusing on the fundamentals of Hosting rather than overreaching. Just keep in mind: This review summarises public vendor information; we have not tested Cloudways hands-on.

Based on Cloudways’s official website and pricing page. Third-party figures are marked as reported.