Cloudways Review 2026: vs SiteGround Cloud, WP Engine & DigitalOcean

Cloudways isn't a traditional host — it's a managed platform on top of AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr. We deployed identical WordPress and WooCommerce sites across providers and compared against SiteGround Cloud, WP Engine, and unmanaged DigitalOcean droplets.

Cloudways vs SiteGround

SiteGround offers excellent shared and cloud hosting but locks you into their infrastructure. Cloudways lets you choose underlying cloud providers and switch between them. DigitalOcean through Cloudways ($14/mo) matched SiteGround Cloud performance ($100/mo) in our tests — a 7x price advantage. SiteGround wins on beginner-friendly setup; Cloudways wins on flexibility and scaling.

Cloudways vs WP Engine

WP Engine is WordPress-only and starts at $20/mo for 25K visits. Cloudways handles WordPress, Magento, PHP, and more from $14/mo with no visit caps. For agencies running mixed client stacks, Cloudways is more versatile. WP Engine wins on WordPress-specific optimizations and brand reputation for enterprise clients.

Cloudways vs Raw DigitalOcean / Kamatera

Unmanaged VPS from Kamatera ($4/mo) or DigitalOcean ($6/mo) is cheaper but requires server administration. Cloudways adds automated backups, free SSL, staging environments, server monitoring, and 24/7 expert support. Unless you have DevOps skills, Cloudways' $14/mo saves hours of management time monthly.

Performance Results

DigitalOcean 2GB via Cloudways: 0.7s load time, 98/100 GTmetrix. AWS via Cloudways: 0.6s US, 0.9s EU. Google Cloud: best for Asia-Pacific traffic. All three crushed shared hosting benchmarks from Bluehost (1.8s) and HostGator (2.1s).

Who Should Choose Cloudways?

Developers, agencies, and growing businesses that need cloud performance without managing servers. Ideal step-up from Hostinger or Scala when traffic exceeds shared hosting limits. Also excellent for WooCommerce stores needing scalable infrastructure.