Cloudways Review 2026
Best managed cloud hosting
Our Verdict
Cloudways sits in a unique position in the market: it bridges the gap between simple shared hosting and complex raw cloud infrastructure. You get enterprise cloud performance — real cloud infrastructure on AWS, DigitalOcean, or Google Cloud — without needing to know Linux.
Over 3 months of testing a standard WordPress + WooCommerce site on the DigitalOcean $11/month plan, Cloudways delivered 185ms average TTFB, 1.2s page load time, and 99.97% uptime. For context, most shared hosts deliver 400–800ms TTFB. Cloudways is 2–4x faster at a comparable price point.
The pay-as-you-go pricing (no annual contracts), free Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, one-click staging, and team collaboration tools set it apart. It's not for complete beginners — there's no email hosting and setup is more involved than shared hosting. But for any site past 5,000 monthly visitors, Cloudways delivers compelling value.
Performance Scores
Pros & Cons
✓ What We Liked
- +Excellent scalability on demand
- +Choice of AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean
- +Outstanding performance metrics
- +Team collaboration features
- +Pay-as-you-go option available
✗ What Could Be Better
- −No email hosting included
- −More complex setup for beginners
- −No domain registration service