Name: Cloudways — Cloudways — DO Standard 1GB — DigitalOcean
Brand: Cloudways
Price: 11.00 USD
Availability: InStock

About Cloudways

Unique managed cloud hosting platform — Cloudways doesn't own data centers but runs as a professional management layer on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud. You get the raw performance of enterprise cloud infrastructure with the ease-of-use of shared hosting. Powered by their Lightning Stack (Apache, Nginx, Varnish, Redis, PHP-FPM, MySQL/MariaDB) with Object Cache Pro included free on 4GB+ servers (worth $95/mo). Trusted by 250,000+ businesses worldwide.

Pros & Cons at a Glance

Pros

Choice of 3 enterprise cloud providers (DO, AWS, GCP)
Managed platform — no server admin needed
Object Cache Pro free on 4GB+ ($95/mo value)
Free migration done by Cloudways engineers
Vertical scaling — increase RAM/CPU with one click
Pay-as-you-go billing
Lightning Stack performance
Unlimited websites per server

Cons

No domain registration
No email hosting at all (must use Rackspace add-on at $1/mailbox/month)
Backups cost extra: $0.033/GB
Higher entry price than shared hosting
No money-back guarantee (uses 3-day free trial instead)
No free email — even Elastic Email is paid
No native email — Rackspace add-on required ($1/mailbox/mo)
Backup costs $0.033/GB extra (not free)
No phone support — chat only

Full Cloudways Review

Cloudways Review 2026: The Smart Way to Run Cloud Hosting

Cloudways isn’t a traditional hosting company — it’s a management layer that sits on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud. Instead of dealing with raw cloud servers (which require Linux skills, sysadmin work, and constant maintenance), Cloudways gives you a polished interface that handles all the technical heavy lifting. You pick a cloud provider, choose your server size, and Cloudways turns it into a managed hosting platform within minutes.

The Lightning Stack

Cloudways’ magic is in their Lightning Stack: a carefully tuned combination of Apache, Nginx, Varnish, Redis, PHP-FPM, and MySQL/MariaDB. This means out-of-the-box, your site is faster than 95% of self-managed cloud servers. They also include Object Cache Pro for free on 4GB+ servers — a $95/month plugin that single-handedly makes WordPress 5-10x faster on heavy queries.

Three Cloud Providers, One Interface

You can launch on:

DigitalOcean — The most popular and economical choice. Plans from $14/mo (1GB) to $99/mo (8GB). NVMe storage standard.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Enterprise-grade infrastructure. Plans from $38.56/mo to $183.22/mo.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) — Google’s fast network. Plans from $37.33/mo to $152.02/mo.

For most users, DigitalOcean Medium ($54/mo, 4GB RAM) is the sweet spot — Object Cache Pro included, 80GB NVMe, 4TB bandwidth, and enough headroom for serious WordPress sites.

Cloudways Autonomous

The newest feature, Cloudways Autonomous, adds true auto-scaling. If your site goes viral, the platform automatically provisions extra resources without any downtime — something traditional hosts can’t do without you intervening. Pair this with the vertical scaling feature (one-click RAM/CPU upgrades) and you have a hosting setup that grows with your business.

What’s Missing (Be Honest)

Cloudways has a few significant gaps you should know about before signing up:

No email hosting on the server. Period. You’ll need to add Rackspace Email at $1/mailbox/month or use a third-party transactional service.
Backups cost extra at $0.033/GB. For a 10GB site, that’s about $0.33/month — not bad, but it’s a line item.
No traditional money-back guarantee. Instead, they offer a 3-day free trial without a credit card, which is honestly more customer-friendly.
No domain registration. You buy domains elsewhere (Namecheap, Cloudflare).

Who It’s For

Agencies managing client sites: The unified interface for multiple cloud providers is a productivity win. WooCommerce stores at scale: Object Cache Pro alone can handle 5x more concurrent users. Developers who hate sysadmin: You get cloud power without SSH headaches. SaaS founders: Vertical scaling means you grow without migrating.

Plans Overview — Pick Your Cloud Infrastructure

Cloudways pricing is determined by which cloud provider you pick, not by feature tier. The same managed platform sits on top of all of them. Here’s how the providers compare:

🌊 DigitalOcean Basic Standard SSD ($11/mo and up): Cheapest entry point with regular SSD storage. Good for small WordPress blogs and starter sites that don’t need NVMe speed. Five tiers from 1GB RAM up to 8GB RAM.
💎 DigitalOcean Basic Premium NVMe ($14/mo and up): The most popular Cloudways tier. Newer-generation Intel/AMD CPUs with NVMe SSD storage. The 4GB plan ($54/mo) is the sweet spot for WooCommerce stores and growing sites — comes with Object Cache Pro free (a $95/mo value).
⚙️ DigitalOcean General Purpose ($106/mo and up): Balanced 1:4 CPU-to-RAM ratio with guaranteed CPU performance. For sites that need consistent performance under heavy load — busy stores, membership sites, or anything CPU-bound.
🚀 DigitalOcean CPU Optimized ($164/mo and up): Dedicated premium Intel CPUs for maximum compute. Designed for SaaS platforms, high-traffic apps, and CPU-intensive workloads where every millisecond counts.
🟧 AWS (Amazon Web Services) ($38.56/mo and up): Enterprise-grade reliability on AWS’s global network across 33 regions. Best when you need AWS specifically — for compliance, multi-region setups, or to align with existing AWS services. Premium pricing reflects premium infrastructure.
🔵 Google Cloud (GCP) ($37.33/mo and up): Google’s premium-tier global network with edge presence in 40+ regions. Excellent for international audiences and content-heavy sites. The Compute Optimized C2 series ($255/mo and up) is built for serious workloads.

All Cloudways plans include the same managed services: free SSL, free migration of your first site, unlimited staging environments, 24/7 live chat support, free server-level firewall, and dedicated IP. What’s not included on any plan: free domain, free email, or free backups (backups are $0.033/GB).

Final Verdict

Cloudways is the best choice for anyone who needs cloud-grade performance with shared-hosting ease. The price is higher than budget hosts but reflects the actual quality of infrastructure underneath. Use the wepress20 coupon for 20% off the first 3 months — it makes the entry price genuinely competitive with premium shared hosts. Start with DigitalOcean Premium 4GB, scale up as you grow, and never worry about server admin again.

Detailed Ratings

User Friendly ★★★★★ 5.0

Support ★★★★★ 5.0

Features ★★★★★ 5.0

Reliability ★★★★★ 5.0

Pricing ★★★★★ 5.0

Key Features

3-Day Free Trial — No Credit Card Required

3 Cloud Providers: DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud

Lightning Stack (Nginx + Varnish + Redis + PHP-FPM)

Object Cache Pro Included Free (4GB+ servers, $95/mo value)

Cloudways Autonomous (auto-scaling)

Free SSL, CDN & Migration

Free First Migration by Cloudways Engineers

24/7 Live Chat Support

Vertical Scaling with One Click

Cloudways Autonomous — Auto-scaling for traffic spikes

Object Cache Pro Free on 4GB+ servers ($95/mo value)

Cloudflare Enterprise CDN Add-on Available

Vertical Scaling — One-click RAM/CPU upgrade

Lightning Stack: Apache + Nginx + Varnish + Redis + PHP-FPM

Free 1st migration — additional migrations $5 each

Premium Support tier available (paid escalation)

What Makes Cloudways Different

The features and policies that genuinely set this host apart from competitors at the same price point.

Cloudways Autonomous

Auto-scaling for traffic spikes — handles surges automatically

Object Cache Pro Free

$95/mo plugin included on 4GB+ servers

Multi-Cloud Choice

Run on DigitalOcean, AWS, or Google Cloud — your pick

Technical Specifications

The under-the-hood numbers behind Cloudways — limits, included tech, and operational details that determine how the hosting actually performs.

Email Send Limit

N/A — Rackspace required ($1/mailbox)

Control Panel

Cloudways Platform

Data Centers

60+ (across DO/AWS/GCP)

PHP Versions

7.4 – 8.3

LiteSpeed Server

No (Apache + Nginx + Varnish)

NVMe SSD

Yes (DigitalOcean Premium)

Phone Support

No

Free Migration

Yes (1st migration free)

Cloud Hosting Plans

Cloudways's cloud hosting offers dedicated, isolated resources with the flexibility to scale on demand. Unlike shared hosting where resources are shared with neighbors, cloud plans give you guaranteed CPU, RAM, and storage allocations. Below are the full pricing tiers.

Plan	Price	Storage	CPU	RAM	Email	Inodes	Visitors/mo	Bandwidth
DO Standard 1GB — DigitalOcean	$11.00/mo	25 GB SSD	1 Core	1 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~25,000/mo	1 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO Premium 1GB — DigitalOcean	$14.00/mo	25 GB NVMe	1 Core	1 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~30,000/mo	1 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO Premium 2GB — DigitalOcean	$28.00/mo	50 GB NVMe	1 Core	2 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~50,000/mo	2 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
GCP Standard Small — Google Cloud	$37.33/mo	20 GB SSD	Shared	1.7 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~40,000/mo	1 GB Transfer	Get Plan →
AWS Standard Micro — Amazon Web Services	$38.56/mo	20 GB EBS	2 Cores	1.75 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~50,000/mo	2 GB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO Premium 4GB — DigitalOcean ⭐ BEST	$54.00/mo	80 GB NVMe	2 Cores	4 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~100,000/mo	4 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO Premium 8GB — DigitalOcean	$99.00/mo	160 GB NVMe	4 Cores	8 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~200,000/mo	5 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO General Purpose 8GB — DigitalOcean	$106.00/mo	30 GB NVMe	2 Cores	8 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	High-traffic optimized	4 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
GCP Standard Large — Google Cloud	$152.02/mo	20 GB SSD	2 Cores	7.5 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~150,000/mo	1 GB Transfer	Get Plan →
DO CPU Optimized 8GB — DigitalOcean	$164.00/mo	50 GB NVMe	4 Cores	8 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	CPU-intensive workloads	5 TB Transfer	Get Plan →
AWS Standard Medium — Amazon Web Services	$183.22/mo	20 GB EBS	2 Cores	8 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	~150,000/mo	2 GB Transfer	Get Plan →
GCP Compute Optimized XL — Google Cloud	$255.37/mo	20 GB SSD	4 Cores	16 GB	No (Rackspace add-on $1/mailbox/mo)	—	CPU-heavy / Enterprise	1 GB Transfer	Get Plan →

User Reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cloudways a good hosting provider?

Yes, Cloudways is widely regarded as a reliable hosting provider, offering competitive pricing, solid uptime guarantees, and 24/7 customer support. Based on our testing and user feedback, it consistently performs well across performance, reliability, and value-for-money metrics.

How much does Cloudways cost?

Pricing depends on the plan you choose. Entry-level shared hosting plans typically start at very affordable rates, with higher tiers (Business, VPS, Cloud) costing more based on resources and features. Most plans come with a money-back guarantee, so you can try risk-free.

Does Cloudways offer a free domain?

Yes, Cloudways typically includes a free domain name with most annual plans (.com, .net, .online or similar). The free domain is usually valid for the first year of your subscription.

Can I migrate my existing website to Cloudways?

Absolutely. Cloudways offers free website migration on most plans. Their support team will move your site, emails, and databases to their servers — usually within 24 hours and with zero downtime.

Does Cloudways offer a money-back guarantee?

Yes. Cloudways offers a money-back guarantee (typically 30 days) on most hosting plans. If you are not satisfied with the service within that window, you can request a full refund — no questions asked.

Is Cloudways good for WordPress?

Yes, Cloudways provides optimized WordPress hosting with one-click WordPress installation, automatic updates, daily backups, and built-in caching. It is a solid choice for blogs, business sites, and small e-commerce stores running on WordPress.