Cloudways Changelog

What changed: Cloudways documents two credential types: master credentials (server-level SSH/SFTP access across all applications on the server) and application credentials (scoped to one application).

Why it matters: The developer-cloud comparison said Cloudways offers 'SSH, not full root'; whether master credentials equal root was not confirmed, so the cell now states what is documented (SSH/SFTP via master and application credentials).

Affects: DigitalOcean vs Cloudways (developer cloud)

Read via Firecrawl search on 2026-10-05 from cloudways.com/blog/manage-sftp-and-ssh-credentials/ and support.cloudways.com SSH/SFTP articles.

What changed: Cloudways support documents a server and application launching 'within a few minutes' (its WordPress onboarding guide says 5-10 minutes). DigitalOcean-backed Flexible plans read live 2026-10-05: Micro 1 GB $14, Small 2 GB $28, Medium 4 GB $54. Backups run automatically every 24 hours by default (frequency and retention configurable).

Why it matters: The developer-cloud comparison said Cloudways setup takes 'under 5 min'; changed to 'a few minutes'. Price row added for the three DigitalOcean-backed tiers.

Affects: DigitalOcean vs Cloudways (developer cloud)

Read via Firecrawl (maxAge 0 / search) on 2026-10-05 from cloudways.com/en/pricing.php and support.cloudways.com articles.

What changed: Cloudways Flexible (cloud provider: DigitalOcean), USD, monthly, excluding taxes, read 2026-09-28: Basic — Micro $14 (1 GB/1 vCPU/25 GB NVMe/1 TB), Small $28 (2 GB/1 vCPU/50 GB/2 TB), Medium $54 (4 GB/2 vCPU/80 GB/4 TB), Large $99 (8 GB/4 vCPU/160 GB/5 TB); Standard and Premium Droplets are priced the same. General Purpose: Large $106 (8 GB/2 vCPU), XL $216, 2XL $395, 4XL $699. CPU Optimized: Large $164 (8 GB/4 vCPU), XL $308, 2XL $530, 4XL $967. Cloudways also lists a new Autonomous product and a new Lightning Stack. Free Object Cache Pro (worth $95/mo) on 4 GB+ servers; Cloudflare Enterprise add-on from $4.99/domain (volume discounts to $1.99).

Why it matters: Resolves the 4 GB question left open after the 2026-08 rebrand: the 4 GB tier is $54/month, not ~$46. Several pages still used pre-rebrand DO figures for the 2 GB and 4 GB tiers ($22 and $42); they were corrected to $28 and $54, which also changes the arithmetic on the SiteGround, WooCommerce-under-$30, multisite-agency and India pages.

Affects: Cloudways vs Kinsta, Cloudways vs WP Engine, Best WooCommerce Hosting Under $30

Read via Claude in Chrome on 2026-09-28 from cloudways.com/en/pricing.php (default DigitalOcean provider; tab toggles flipped with real clicks and the numbers verified to change; Standard/Premium toggle changes the description, not the price). Vultr, Linode and AWS Cloudways prices were not captured. Hourly rate for Micro: $0.0208.

What changed: Cloudways Flexible prices read 2026-09-28 (USD/month, excl. tax): Vultr Standard (SSD) Micro $14 / Small $28 / Medium $54 / Large $99; Vultr High Frequency (NVMe) 1GB $16 / 2GB $30 / 4GB $60 / 8GB $118; Linode Micro $14 / Small $28 / Medium (4GB) $59 / Large (8GB) $105; AWS Standard 1GB (2 vCPU, 20GB) $20.56 / 2GB $38.56 / 4GB $91.84 / 8GB $183.22; Google Cloud Standard 1.7GB shared CPU $37.33 / 3.75GB $84 / 7.5GB $152.02 / 15GB $241.50.

Why it matters: Our Cloudways review had Vultr High Frequency 1GB at $13 (now $16) and AWS/GCP "from ~$80" (AWS starts at $20.56, Google Cloud at $37.33). Table and provider text corrected.

Affects: Cloudways Review — Pricing

Read via Claude in Chrome from cloudways.com/en/pricing.php. The provider strip scrolls sideways and a chat widget can block clicks on the AWS/Google tabs; the page hash does not reliably select a provider, so each provider's numbers were confirmed by clicking its tab and checking the plan list changed.

What changed: Cloudways' pricing page now offers Flexible and Autonomous. Autonomous (Kubernetes autoscaling for WordPress/WooCommerce) plans: Growth $99/mo, Scale $199/mo, Plus $399/mo, Enterprise custom, with overage charges ($1/GB disk, $0.04/GB bandwidth, $0.07–$0.12/hr per autoscaling server), unmetered visits, a 3-day trial and a stated 99.9% uptime SLA. "Lightning Stack" is an NGINX-based stack Cloudways is rolling out on Flexible plans. Cloudways also announced Velocity (Node.js hosting) and Managed AI Agents; Managed OpenClaw hosting is $9.99 / $19.99 / $39.99 / $79.99 per month (Scout, Operator, Squad, Swarm), advertised at 50% off for the first three months. Velocity plans (USD/month, verified in Chrome): Starter $20 (2GB/2 vCPU/5 apps), Professional $30 (4GB/2 vCPU/8 apps), Growth $50 (8GB/4 vCPU/14 apps), Scale $100 (16GB/8 vCPU/20 apps), Plus $150 (32GB/8 vCPU/50 apps), Advanced $300 (48GB/12 vCPU/100 apps), Business $400 (64GB/16 vCPU/150 apps); 3-day trial on Starter and Professional; offsite backups $0.033/GB, extra CDN bandwidth $0.02/GB.

Why it matters: Our Cloudways review previously described only the Flexible model. It now has a Flexible-vs-Autonomous section and the OpenClaw hosting guide gained a Cloudways Managed OpenClaw option. Autonomous, Lightning Stack and the Managed OpenClaw plans were not tested — performance claims are Cloudways' own.

Affects: Cloudways Review, Best OpenClaw Hosting 2026

Sources: cloudways.com/en/autonomous.php (firecrawl), cloudways.com/en/pricing.php, cloudways.com/en/managed-ai-agents/openclaw.php (prices confirmed in Claude in Chrome; the launch price is the promotional figure shown). Renewal pricing for Managed OpenClaw is not stated on the page.

What changed: Cloudways now presents itself as "Cloudways by DigitalOcean" on its pricing page, with a restructured tier matrix (Basic/General Purpose/CPU Optimized server-type categories replacing the old flat plan list). The old "DO Standard" ($11/mo, 1GB RAM, SSD) tier no longer exists as a separate option -- the entry tier is now called "Micro" ($14/mo, 1GB RAM, NVMe storage), which appears to have absorbed/replaced both the old $11 Standard and $12-cited DO 1GB tiers under a single NVMe-only entry point. A new "Small" tier was also confirmed live at $28/mo (2GB RAM, NVMe). Pricing remains flat (no promo/renewal gap, no billing-interval toggle found) -- this is a rename/reprice, not a shift away from flat pricing.

Why it matters: This was the largest single-host fix in the 2026-08-29 Rule 14 follow-up pass: affected 20+ pages across the site, several of which were ALREADY internally inconsistent before this rebrand (citing $11, $12, or $14 for what was meant to be the same entry tier). All of these were corrected to $14 (Micro) in the same pass, not just the ones caused by the rebrand itself. renewal_pricing.json updated (plan DO 1GB -> Micro, price 12.00 -> 14.00, still 1.0x multiplier / Flat pricing verdict). Badge regenerated. Higher tiers (4GB-class server, ~$54/mo cited in cloudways-managed-hosting-review.md) were NOT re-verified in this pass -- flagged as unconfirmed post-rebrand rather than guessed, since only Micro and Small were directly confirmed live.

Affects: Cloudways Review — Pricing: What You're Actually Paying For, Web Hosting Renewal Prices — The Ranking

Confirmed live via Claude in Chrome (2026-08-29): Micro and Small tiers captured directly from cloudways.com/en/pricing.php. Did not verify whether price varies by selected cloud provider (DigitalOcean vs Vultr vs Linode vs AWS vs GCP) -- the displayed $14 was captured without confirming which provider was the default selection; host_pricing_urls.json's existing note already flags this as a known variable worth remembering. Found during the 11-host Rule 14 batch (Session 2026-08-29), confirmed and fixed in a follow-up pass same day.