Cloudways is the right call for developers and growing agencies who want managed cloud flexibility without full sysadmin overhead — especially if you need to pick your cloud provider, avoid visit caps, or run non-WordPress apps alongside WordPress. The entry-level pricing is fair, Object Cache Pro is free on 4GB+ servers, and the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on is genuinely cheap at $4.99/month.
The ceiling is real, though. Support covers infrastructure only — WordPress plugin conflicts, theme errors, and app-layer performance issues are out of scope. If you need a host that debugs WordPress problems end to end, Kinsta or Rocket.net will save you time. Cloudways is a tool for people who know what they're doing or are willing to learn.
Best for: Developers, agencies managing client sites, WooCommerce on a budget, teams running mixed app stacks.
Not for: Non-technical users, anyone who wants hand-held WordPress support, single-site bloggers who'd be better served by managed WordPress.
What Changed After the DigitalOcean Acquisition
Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean in 2022. Day-to-day, the platform still operates independently — you log into the Cloudways dashboard, not a DigitalOcean control panel. The five cloud providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, GCP) remain available. Branding is unchanged.
The acquisition did introduce some uncertainty around long-term direction and support quality that the hosting community noticed. Payment reliability concerns surfaced for a period post-acquisition. Things have stabilised, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re evaluating Cloudways for a long-running production deployment — diversify your risk accordingly and don’t rely on a single hosting relationship.
For what it’s worth: Cloudways’ core product — the ability to deploy managed servers across multiple cloud providers from a single dashboard — is still genuinely useful and has no direct equivalent at a comparable price point.
Pricing: What You’re Actually Paying For
Cloudways pricing is compute-based. You pay for the underlying server, not visits or bandwidth. There are no visit caps, no traffic overages — your bill goes up when you scale the server, not when your content goes viral.
Object Cache Pro note: Object Cache Pro is a Redis-based WordPress object caching plugin that normally costs $95/month on its own. Cloudways includes it free on all 4GB+ DigitalOcean Premium NVMe servers. For WooCommerce or high-traffic WordPress, this is a meaningful included value.
The Cloudflare Enterprise add-on is available for $4.99/month per domain — this gives you the full Cloudflare Enterprise WAF, image optimisation, and HTTP/3. At that price it’s a no-brainer if you’re running anything with traffic.
Five Cloud Providers, One Dashboard — and Why That Matters
The defining feature of Cloudways isn’t any single capability — it’s that you can choose your underlying cloud provider and move between them without rebuilding your workflow. The five providers as of June 2026:
DigitalOcean — best price-to-performance for most WordPress and WooCommerce deployments. Premium NVMe droplets are the default recommendation unless you have a specific reason to choose otherwise. DigitalOcean’s infrastructure is mature and their data center footprint covers most major regions.
Vultr — competitive on high-frequency compute. Good for CPU-intensive workloads, slightly different data center geography than DigitalOcean which can be useful for certain audience locations.
Linode (Akamai Cloud) — Linode was acquired by Akamai in 2022. The infrastructure is solid; it’s the least-chosen of the five for WordPress but works well for mixed app stacks.
AWS and GCP — available for teams that need enterprise cloud with specific compliance requirements (HIPAA, SOC 2, data residency). Pricing is significantly higher than the first three options. Most Cloudways users don’t need this tier.
The practical value here is avoiding lock-in. If DigitalOcean’s data center coverage doesn’t reach your target audience’s geography, you can deploy on Vultr or AWS in a different region without switching hosting providers or rebuilding your configuration.
What Cloudways Handles (And What It Doesn’t)
Cloudways sits between raw VPS and fully managed WordPress hosting. Understanding the boundary matters before you commit.
What Cloudways manages for you:
- OS-level security patches and updates
- Server monitoring and automated failover
- PHP, Nginx, MySQL, and Redis configuration
- SSL certificate provisioning and renewal
- Automated backups (configurable frequency)
- CDN integration via Cloudflare or the built-in Cloudways CDN
What you’re responsible for:
- WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates
- Debugging plugin conflicts and theme errors
- WooCommerce performance tuning at the application level
- Email setup (Cloudways doesn’t manage transactional email — you’ll add SendGrid or Postmark separately)
What support won’t help with: Support covers infrastructure only. If your site is slow because of a poorly coded plugin, a misconfigured caching plugin, or a WooCommerce extension causing database bloat — support will confirm the server is healthy and hand it back to you. This is the most common point of frustration for users coming from managed WordPress hosts.
If you’re a developer or have a developer on hand, this boundary is fine — you’d be doing that debugging work anyway. If you’re expecting Kinsta-style support that digs into your WordPress installation, Cloudways isn’t that product.
WordPress Performance on Cloudways in 2026
Cloudways uses Nginx + PHP-FPM + MySQL/MariaDB as the base stack. Redis is available as a server-level service (not a plugin — it runs at the infrastructure layer). The Lightning Stack introduced in recent years replaced the older VMAN/Varnish configuration; Varnish is no longer the default caching layer.
For WordPress specifically, the 4GB+ server tier with Object Cache Pro enabled is the sweet spot for WooCommerce stores doing meaningful volume. A $54/month DigitalOcean Premium NVMe 4GB server with Object Cache Pro and Cloudflare Enterprise ($4.99/mo) gives you ~$59/month total for a configuration that handles most mid-size WooCommerce stores without choking under traffic spikes.
On the 1GB entry tier ($11–$14/month), performance is acceptable for low-traffic WordPress sites and staging environments. Don’t run production WooCommerce on 1GB RAM unless you’re comfortable with PHP process management and have confirmed your traffic patterns support it.
Cloudways vs. Managed WordPress: When to Choose Which
Choose Cloudways if
- You want to pick your cloud provider or data center region
- You're running multiple apps alongside WordPress (Laravel, Node, custom APIs)
- You need to avoid visit caps on a growing WooCommerce store
- You want the cheapest path to Object Cache Pro + Cloudflare Enterprise
- You or your team can handle WordPress-layer debugging independently
- You're managing 10+ client sites and want server-level consolidation
Choose Kinsta or Rocket.net if
- You need support that debugs WordPress problems end to end
- You want guaranteed PHP isolation per site (Kinsta's container model)
- You're running a high-traffic site where you want Redis included by default without a 4GB server minimum
- You prefer a platform where pricing scales by site/visits rather than raw compute
- Non-technical users are managing the site — the Cloudways dashboard has a learning curve
Pricing vs. Competitors at a Glance
The Free Trial Worth Using
Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card required. It’s a genuine trial — you get full access to the platform, can deploy a real WordPress site, and test performance before committing. The trial server is removed after 3 days unless you add a payment method.
Use it to test the specific cloud provider and region you intend to use in production. Performance varies meaningfully between providers and data center locations, and the trial is the right place to validate that before you’re billing.
FAQ
Who owns Cloudways in 2026? Cloudways is a subsidiary of DigitalOcean, acquired in 2022. It operates independently with its own dashboard and support team.
Does Cloudways have visit limits? No. Billing is compute-based — you pay for the server, not the traffic. There are no visit caps or bandwidth overages.
Is Object Cache Pro really free? Yes, on DigitalOcean Premium NVMe 4GB+ servers. Object Cache Pro normally costs $95/month standalone.
What does support actually cover? Infrastructure only — server health, OS patches, SSL, backups. WordPress plugin issues, theme errors, and WooCommerce performance problems are out of scope. For full WordPress support, Kinsta or Rocket.net are the better choice.
Can I run non-WordPress apps? Yes. Cloudways supports Laravel, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, and custom PHP alongside WordPress. Multiple applications can run on the same server.
How does the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on work? $4.99/month per domain — includes the full Cloudflare Enterprise WAF, image optimisation, and HTTP/3.
What’s the minimum for WooCommerce? The DigitalOcean Premium NVMe 4GB (~$54/mo) is the practical minimum for production WooCommerce. At this tier you get Object Cache Pro free, which matters for database-heavy WooCommerce queries.
Bottom Line
Cloudways is the most flexible managed cloud option at its price point. The ability to choose your cloud provider, avoid visit caps, and get Object Cache Pro free on mid-tier servers makes it genuinely compelling for developers and agencies who know what they need.
The infrastructure-only support boundary is the deal-breaker for non-technical users. If you’re comfortable managing WordPress at the application layer, Cloudways delivers real value. If you’re not, you’ll find yourself hitting that support ceiling at the worst possible moment.
Try Cloudways
3-day free trial, no credit card. Five cloud providers, no visit caps.
Start Free Trial →Need full WordPress support?
Kinsta and Rocket.net both cover WordPress end to end.
Read the Kinsta vs Cloudways comparison →Image Credits & Data Sources: Pricing figures sourced from Cloudways.com (June 2026). Object Cache Pro pricing from objectcache.pro. Cloudflare Enterprise add-on pricing from Cloudways feature pages. FBWH earns a referral commission on Cloudways sign-ups — this does not affect our editorial assessment. See our disclosure policy.