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As of October 2026, Cloudways alternatives fall into three groups: managed WordPress hosts that charge per site, such as Kinsta and WP Engine at $35 a month or Liquid Web at $19; all-in-one hosting such as Hostinger, from $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay; and server panels such as RunCloud, SpinupWP, GridPane and Ploi, which manage a server you rent from DigitalOcean, Vultr or Akamai. The right group depends on what you want to change: per-server billing, sizing servers, or who holds the cloud account.
This comparison is based on each provider’s published plans, documentation and terms, checked in October 2026; it does not include our own speed tests.
Our Web Hosting Price Index lists 22 hosting plans, including Cloudways, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode, with intro and renewal prices side by side.
In this guide
Cloudways alternatives compared
| Option | Billed per | Starts at | Server billed separately |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways (reference) | Server | $11/mo (1GB); $24/mo (2GB, recommended for live sites) | No |
| Kinsta | Plan, 1 site | $35/mo or $350/yr | No |
| WP Engine Essential | Plan, 1 site | $35/mo; $336 first year | No |
| Liquid Web Pro | Plan, 1 site | $19/mo | No |
| Hostinger Premium | Plan, 3 sites | $2.99/mo for 48 months, renews at $10.99 | No |
| RunCloud Essentials | Panel, 1 server | $9/mo | Yes |
| SpinupWP Essentials | Panel, 1 server | $12/mo | Yes |
| GridPane Core | Account | Free, up to 25 sites | Yes, Vultr only |
| Ploi Basic | Panel, up to 5 servers | €8/mo (shown as $10) | Yes |
Why buyers compare Cloudways
Cloudways runs a managed server for you on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud and charges per server, with unlimited sites on each. Our Cloudways review covers the service and our Cloudways pricing guide lists every size and add-on. Documented reasons buyers compare:
- The cheapest server is a test server. The 1GB DigitalOcean server costs $11 a month on the pricing page, but Cloudways’ getting started FAQ calls 1GB servers “primarily intended for testing and staging purposes” and advises 2GB or more for live sites: $24 a month.
- Faster support costs extra. Free support is 24/7 chat and tickets with a 12-hour first-response target. The support page lists Advanced Support at $100 a month or 10% of your invoice, whichever is higher, with a six-month minimum (a $25 discounted offer was also shown).
- Extras bill separately. Cloudways doesn’t host email on its own servers; Rackspace mailboxes are $1.50 each a month. Offsite backup storage is $0.033 per GB per server, and Cloudflare Enterprise starts at $4.99 per domain a month.
- No root access or own cloud account. The help center says you can’t use your own cloud credentials or get root access.
In its favor, Cloudways bills pay-as-you-go, with no prepay and no renewal jump.
Per site, per server, or two bills
The alternatives charge in different units, so headline prices don’t compare directly. Kinsta, WP Engine and Liquid Web sell plans with a set number of sites and a traffic allowance; an extra site on Kinsta’s entry plan is a $30-a-month add-on. Hostinger’s $2.99 covers 3 sites but means paying $143.52 up front. Cloudways and GridPane’s PeakFreq lease you a server they pay for. RunCloud, SpinupWP and Ploi charge for the panel only; Ploi’s FAQ says its “pricing does not include server fees.” The server is a second bill from your cloud provider.
Here is the two-bill math at Cloudways’ recommended size. Its 2GB DigitalOcean Standard server (1 vCPU, 50GB SSD, 2TB transfer) costs $24 a month. A DigitalOcean Basic Droplet with the same published specs (2 GiB, 1 vCPU, 50 GiB SSD, 2,000 GiB transfer) is $12 on DigitalOcean’s price list. With a panel, the total is $21 with RunCloud ($9), $22 with Ploi ($10 at its displayed exchange rate) or $24 with SpinupWP ($12). These are list prices for one server, matched on paper specs, not performance.
The totals leave out what each side bundles. Cloudways includes 24/7 chat and its own backups, with offsite storage billed per GB. With a panel, support comes from the panel vendor, and backups use a quota (2GB on RunCloud Essentials) or storage you pay for (SpinupWP). Panel fees grow slowly with more servers, though each server still bills: SpinupWP Essentials adds $8 a month for each of servers 2 and 3, and RunCloud Professional covers 50 servers for $19.
Fully managed WordPress
Kinsta
Kinsta costs $35 a month, or $350 a year, for one site on its pricing page, metered on visits (35,000 a month) or server bandwidth (20GB). Every plan includes one-click staging, daily backups (kept 14 days on the entry plan), a CDN, a managed firewall with Cloudflare DDoS protection, free malware removal, unlimited free migrations and 24/7 chat. New customers get a free first month on select plans, then a 30-day money-back guarantee. Overages apply past plan limits, and Kinsta doesn’t provide email. Best for a few business sites whose owners don’t want to size servers. See our Kinsta review and Kinsta pricing guide.
WP Engine
WP Engine’s Essential plan costs $35 a month for one site with 25,000 visits, or $336 for the first year for new customers paying annually; its plans page says renewal pricing is “subject to change.” It includes daily and on-demand backups, staging and development environments, a Cloudflare-powered CDN, 24/7 support and a free migration plugin, on shared resources. The 99.99% uptime SLA starts at Core, sold through sales. See our WP Engine review and WP Engine pricing guide.
Liquid Web
Liquid Web’s managed WordPress starts at $19 a month, or $17.10 a month billed annually, for one site with 50,000 monthly visitors. Pro lists 14-day daily backups, staging and a self-serve migration tool, and every plan includes a WAF, DDoS protection, a Cloudflare edge CDN and Object Cache Pro. Its terms say fees are non-refundable. Best for one budget site. See our Liquid Web review and Liquid Web pricing guide.
Cheaper all-in-one hosting: Hostinger
Hostinger’s Premium plan costs $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay and renews at $10.99. It covers 3 websites, a free domain for a year, free weekly backups and 2 mailboxes per website free for a year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. A CDN and priority support start on Unlimited, at $3.99 a month for 48 months, renewing at $16.99. Cloud Startup is $7.99 a month for 48 months, renewing at $25.99, with daily backups. The KVM 1 VPS starts at $6.49 a month, renewing at $11.99, but Hostinger calls its VPS plans self-managed: you run the server. Best for a few small sites wanting hosting, domain and email on one bill. See our Hostinger review and Hostinger VPS guide.
Your own server, a different panel
With a server panel, you open an account with a cloud provider, create the server there and connect the panel.
RunCloud
RunCloud Essentials costs $9 a month for 1 server with unlimited web apps, backups with 2GB of free storage and 1 staging environment; Professional is $19 for 50 servers. Its homepage names Vultr, Linode, UpCloud, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud and DigitalOcean. There is a 7-day trial (your payment method is charged unless you cancel) and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and RunCloud migrates your first web app free.
SpinupWP
SpinupWP focuses on WordPress. Essentials costs $12 a month for 1 server with unlimited sites, unlimited staging sites and one daily snapshot per site; Advanced is $19 with more snapshots and priority email support. It integrates with DigitalOcean, Vultr, Akamai/Linode and Hetzner and supports AWS, Google Cloud or any provider. Backups go to storage you configure, such as Amazon S3, per its backup docs. Support is by email, 2am to 6pm Eastern on weekdays, and excludes malware cleanup.
GridPane
GridPane’s free Core plan hosts up to 25 websites with caching, a 7G firewall, SSL and full root access, on servers it creates at Vultr, per its Core page. Support tickets, staging and backups are listed under PeakFreq, managed servers on Vultr hardware that GridPane pays for and leases to you, as Cloudways does. PeakFreq bills hourly from $18.08 a month for 2GB on its pricing page, and remote backups need your own S3 or Backblaze B2 account.
Ploi
Ploi prices in euros: Basic is €8 a month (shown as $10) for up to 5 servers with unlimited sites, and Pro is €13 ($16) for up to 10 servers, adding support access and automatic backups. Ploi’s FAQ says it has no 24/7 support and offers refunds within 14 days. Its homepage lists DigitalOcean, UpCloud, Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, AWS EC2, Scaleway or a custom VPS.
How to move off Cloudways
- Set up the new host first and keep Cloudways running; it bills hourly, so the overlap costs only the hours you use.
- Take a full copy. Cloudways’ backup download guide has you enable Local Backups, then download the latest backup (files and database) over SFTP or SSH. Or let the new host move it: Kinsta’s migrations work from your old host’s details or a backup file, WP Engine has a free migration plugin, and Hostinger takes migration requests in hPanel.
- Test the copy, then change DNS to point your domain at the new host. Move any Rackspace mailboxes first, since they are a Cloudways add-on.
- Close Cloudways properly. Its cancellation guide says to delete every server and deactivate every add-on before canceling; billing is post-paid, so a final invoice may follow. Its billing guide warns that a stopped server still bills.
How to decide
- No server decisions: Kinsta or WP Engine at $35 a month per site, or Liquid Web at $19.
- Lowest bill, prepay accepted: Hostinger Premium.
- Root access in your own cloud account: RunCloud, SpinupWP or Ploi plus a server, budgeting for both bills.
- A leased managed server with root: GridPane PeakFreq.
- Happy apart from the 1GB server: stay on Cloudways at 2GB for $24 a month and see Cloudways’ current plans.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good alternative to Cloudways?
The right Cloudways alternative depends on what you want to change. For managed WordPress with no server choices, Kinsta and WP Engine start at $35 a month per site and Liquid Web at $19. For a lower all-in-one bill, Hostinger Premium is $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay. To keep a server in your own cloud account, pair a panel such as RunCloud ($9 a month per server) or SpinupWP ($12) with a server from DigitalOcean, Vultr or Akamai.
Is Cloudways cheaper than Kinsta?
On list price, yes for one site: Cloudways’ recommended 2GB DigitalOcean server is $24 a month per server, against Kinsta’s $35 a month per site. The gap widens with more sites, because Cloudways allows unlimited sites per server while an extra site on Kinsta’s entry plan is a $30-a-month add-on. Cloudways’ figure excludes offsite backup storage at $0.033 per GB and any support add-on.
Cloudways vs RunCloud vs SpinupWP: which costs less?
On one 2GB DigitalOcean server, RunCloud Essentials plus a $12 Droplet is $21 a month, and SpinupWP Essentials plus the Droplet is $24, the same as Cloudways’ 2GB server. With a panel you pay two vendors and arrange backup storage. Cloudways’ FAQ says it handles OS patches, security updates and firewall rules, and its standard support is 24/7.
Can you use Cloudways with your own DigitalOcean account?
No. Cloudways’ help center says customers can’t use their own cloud credentials or get root access, because they could bypass its restrictions at the cloud account level. For servers in your own account, use a panel such as RunCloud, SpinupWP, Ploi or GridPane Core (Vultr only).
Last checked: October 2026. Prices and plans change; check the vendor’s page before you buy.