Quick Verdict: Cloudways wins
Cloudways wins overall for developers and agencies needing managed cloud hosting with enterprise-grade features and zero server administration. FastComet wins for budget-conscious users and small businesses seeking affordable shared hosting with a money-back guarantee and inclusive backups.
At a Glance
Both providers excel in different segments: Cloudways leads in managed cloud performance and features, while FastComet dominates on entry-level pricing and shared-hosting value.
Provider Profiles
Cloudways (founded 2011, Malta) is a managed cloud hosting platform built on DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud. It suits developers, agencies, and growing SaaS companies wanting to escape server administration without sacrificing control or performance.
- 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)
FastComet (founded 2013, USA) offers shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting across 12 global data centers. It targets small businesses, bloggers, and budget-conscious users seeking affordable entry-level hosting with included backups and price-lock guarantees.
- 45-Day Money Back Guarantee (Shared) / 7-Day (VPS & Dedicated)
- Price Lock — Same Renewal Rate Forever
- 12 Global Data Centers
- NVMe SSD Storage on All Plans
- AMD EPYC Processors
1 Features
Cloudways emphasizes managed cloud infrastructure with performance stacks; FastComet provides traditional hosting with modern security and backup inclusion.
Cloudways
Round winner
Cloudways includes Object Cache Pro ($95/mo value free on 4GB+ plans), Lightning Stack (Nginx + Varnish + Redis), one-click vertical scaling, Cloudways Autonomous auto-scaling, and free first migration by engineers. Unlimited websites per server.
FastComet
FastComet includes Imunify360 security, free daily and weekly off-site backups on all plans, RocketBooster performance stack, free cPanel/WHM, and free Cloudflare CDN integration. Visitor caps apply per plan tier.
2 Pricing & Plans
Cloudways starts at $11/mo for cloud hosting; FastComet undercuts at $1.79/mo for shared hosting but applies visitor caps and stricter resource limits.
Cloudways
Cloudways offers 12 cloud plans from $11/mo with pay-as-you-go billing, vertical scaling, and no setup fees. No money-back guarantee (3-day free trial instead). First migration free; additional migrations cost $5 each.
FastComet
Round winner
FastComet charges $1.79/mo (shared), $53.87/mo (VPS), and $57.50/mo (dedicated) with price lock on renewals. 45-day money-back on shared; only 7 days on VPS/Dedicated. Free daily and weekly backups included; no backup surcharge.
3 Performance
Cloudways delivers 99.99% uptime via enterprise cloud providers; FastComet guarantees 99.9% on traditional infrastructure with some query-execution policies that can trigger suspension.
Cloudways
Round winner
Cloudways achieves 99.99% uptime backed by DigitalOcean, AWS, and GCP. Lightning Stack (Nginx + Varnish + Redis + PHP-FPM) and included Object Cache Pro (on 4GB+ plans) deliver strong WordPress and application performance. One-click vertical scaling handles traffic spikes.
FastComet
FastComet offers 99.9% uptime with NVMe SSD and AMD EPYC across all plans. RocketBooster stack approximates LiteSpeed performance. However, queries exceeding 1 second flagged as 'slow' risk account suspension if >1% of daily total.
4 Customer Support
Both offer 24/7 live chat; neither provides phone support. Cloudways emphasizes managed support; FastComet offers cPanel-based self-service.
Cloudways
Round winner
Cloudways provides 24/7 live chat with sub-rating 4.8/5. Premium support tier available for paid escalation. Chat-only model; no phone support. Engineers handle migrations directly.
FastComet
FastComet provides 24/7 live chat (no phone) with sub-rating 4.6/5. cPanel control panel enables self-help for most tasks. No mention of premium escalation tier.
5 Ease of Use
Cloudways offers a proprietary managed dashboard eliminating server admin; FastComet uses traditional cPanel familiar to most users.
Cloudways
Round winner
Cloudways Platform abstracts away SSH, server config, and package management. One-click deployments, scaling, and stack changes. 3-day free trial (no credit card required) lowers entry friction. Sub-rating 4.8/5.
FastComet
FastComet's cPanel interface is industry-standard and familiar to most users. No server administration required on shared hosting. Sub-rating 4.6/5. Visitor caps and resource limits require plan selection care.
6 Privacy & Security
Both include free SSL and modern security; Cloudways relies on cloud-provider infrastructure; FastComet bundles Imunify360 actively on all plans.
Cloudways
Cloudways includes free SSL, leverages DigitalOcean/AWS/GCP security infrastructure, and offers Cloudflare Enterprise CDN add-on. No explicit malware scanning or WAF bundled; relies on provider defaults.
FastComet
Round winner
FastComet includes Imunify360 (malware scanner + WAF), free SSL, and Cloudflare CDN integration on all plans. Sub-rating 4.6/5 reflects security as core offering.
7 Server Locations
Cloudways provides 60+ data centers across three global providers; FastComet offers 12 dedicated data centers.
Cloudways
Round winner
Cloudways spans 60+ data centers distributed across DigitalOcean, AWS (US, EU, Asia, Oceania), and Google Cloud regions. One-click region switching via dashboard.
FastComet
FastComet operates 12 global data centers covering US, EU, Asia, and Oceania. Limited flexibility compared to Cloudways but sufficient for most regions.
Final Verdict: Cloudways vs FastComet
Why choose Cloudways
- Managed cloud hosting—no server administration, SSH, or package management required
- 60+ global data centers; one-click region switching and auto-scaling for traffic spikes
- Object Cache Pro ($95/mo value) free on 4GB+ plans; Lightning Stack with Varnish + Redis included
- Engineer-handled first migration; 3-day free trial (no credit card required)
- 99.99% uptime backed by AWS, DigitalOcean, and Google Cloud
When to consider FastComet
- You're starting out and need rock-bottom pricing with money-back protection
- You prefer cPanel and traditional hosting controls over proprietary dashboards
- You require inclusive daily backups and proactive malware scanning out-of-the-box
- Your site receives moderate, predictable traffic (visitor caps per plan apply)
Alternatives to Consider
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Cloudways or FastComet offer email hosting?
Cloudways does not include email hosting; you must add Rackspace at $1/mailbox/month separately. FastComet includes email accounts with shared hosting (limited on Starter plan to 5) and supports 400 messages/hour with a 10 concurrent IMAP connection limit per account.
Which is better for WordPress performance?
Cloudways excels for WordPress due to its included Lightning Stack (Nginx + Varnish + Redis), Object Cache Pro ($95/mo value free on 4GB+), and one-click scaling. FastComet's RocketBooster approximates performance but applies visitor caps and slower-query policies that can trigger suspension.
What's the difference between their money-back guarantees?
FastComet offers 45 days on shared hosting and only 7 days on VPS/Dedicated. Cloudways skips a money-back guarantee entirely, instead offering a 3-day free trial (no credit card required) before you pay.
Can I scale resources easily on both platforms?
Cloudways excels here with one-click vertical scaling (add RAM/CPU instantly) and Autonomous auto-scaling for traffic spikes. FastComet requires plan upgrades (move to a higher-tier shared or VPS plan) and does not auto-scale; you must manually resize.

Cloudways Plans
12 plans available across all hosting types.
Cloud Hosting 12
| Plan | Price | Storage | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DO Standard 1GB — DigitalOcean | $11.00/mo | 25 GB SSD | 1 Core | 1 GB | 1 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO Premium 1GB — DigitalOcean | $14.00/mo | 25 GB NVMe | 1 Core | 1 GB | 1 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO Premium 2GB — DigitalOcean | $28.00/mo | 50 GB NVMe | 1 Core | 2 GB | 2 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| GCP Standard Small — Google Cloud | $37.33/mo | 20 GB SSD | Shared | 1.7 GB | 1 GB Transfer | Get Plan |
| AWS Standard Micro — Amazon Web Services | $38.56/mo | 20 GB EBS | 2 Cores | 1.75 GB | 2 GB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO Premium 4GB — DigitalOcean Best | $54.00/mo | 80 GB NVMe | 2 Cores | 4 GB | 4 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO Premium 8GB — DigitalOcean | $99.00/mo | 160 GB NVMe | 4 Cores | 8 GB | 5 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO General Purpose 8GB — DigitalOcean | $106.00/mo | 30 GB NVMe | 2 Cores | 8 GB | 4 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| GCP Standard Large — Google Cloud | $152.02/mo | 20 GB SSD | 2 Cores | 7.5 GB | 1 GB Transfer | Get Plan |
| DO CPU Optimized 8GB — DigitalOcean | $164.00/mo | 50 GB NVMe | 4 Cores | 8 GB | 5 TB Transfer | Get Plan |
| AWS Standard Medium — Amazon Web Services | $183.22/mo | 20 GB EBS | 2 Cores | 8 GB | 2 GB Transfer | Get Plan |
| GCP Compute Optimized XL — Google Cloud | $255.37/mo | 20 GB SSD | 4 Cores | 16 GB | 1 GB Transfer | Get Plan |

FastComet Plans
15 plans available across all hosting types.
Shared Hosting 4
| Plan | Price | Storage | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FastComet Starter | $1.79/mo | 10GB NVMe SSD | 1 Cores | 1 GB | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Essential | $2.39/mo | 20GB NVMe SSD | 2 Cores | 2 GB | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Plus Best | $3.59/mo | 30GB NVMe SSD | 3 Cores | 3 GB | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Extra | $4.99/mo | 40GB NVMe SSD | 4 Cores | 4 GB | Unlimited | Get Plan |
VPS Hosting 3
| Plan | Price | Storage | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FastComet Cloud 2 | $53.87/mo | 80 GB SSD NVMe | 2 vCPU Virtual Cores | 4 GB ECC RAM | 4 TB | Get Plan |
| FastComet Cloud 3 Best | $69.27/mo | 160 GB SSD NVMe | 4 vCPU Virtual Cores | 8 GB ECC RAM | 5 TB | Get Plan |
| FastComet Cloud 4 | $107.77/mo | 320 GB SSD NVMe | 6 vCPU Virtual Cores | 16 GB ECC RAM | 8 TB | Get Plan |
Dedicated Server 8
| Plan | Price | Storage | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FastComet Managed cPanel 4GB | $57.50/mo | 100 GB NVMe SSD | 2 CPU cores | 4 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 8GB | $90.83/mo | 150 GB NVMe SSD | 4 CPU cores | 8 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 16GB Best | $140.83/mo | 300 GB NVMe SSD | 8 CPU cores | 16 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 32GB | $232.50/mo | 400 GB NVMe SSD | 16 CPU cores | 32 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 64GB | $415.83/mo | 800 GB NVMe SSD | 24 CPU cores | 64 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 128GB | $915.83/mo | 1.2 TB NVMe SSD | 32 CPU cores | 128 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 160GB | $1,165.83/mo | 1.4 TB NVMe SSD | 48 CPU cores | 160 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |
| FastComet Managed cPanel 256GB | $1,832.50/mo | 2 TB NVMe SSD | 64 CPU cores | 256 GB Dedicated RAM | Unlimited | Get Plan |


