Cloudways vs Flywheel: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Overall Winner
Cloudways
- Wins in 3 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Performance, Best Support, Best for Developers
- 4.2/5 overall rating
Category Winners
Best Price
Flywheel
$15.00/mo vs $Infinity/mo
Best Value
Tie
Similar renewal pricing
Best Performance
Cloudways
99.99% uptime, 4.2/5 rating
Best Support
Cloudways
Live chat, Phone
Best for WordPress
Tie
Similar WordPress features
Best for Developers
Cloudways
SSH, Git, Staging, Node.js
Best for Beginners
Flywheel
Higher ease of use score (8.5/10)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | VPS Hosting | Managed WordPress |
| Monthly Price | — | $15.00/mo |
| Renewal Price | — | $15.00 |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 4.2/5 | 4.0/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 99.9% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.4/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 3,600 | 350 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $168.00 | $180.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $168.00 | $180.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 0 days | 60 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | — | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 25 GB | 5 GB |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Bandwidth | 1000 GB | 20 GB |
| Max Websites | Unlimited | 1 |
| Max Databases | Unlimited | — |
| PHP Versions | 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 | 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 |
| SSH Access | ||
| Git Deployment | ||
| Staging Environment | ||
| Cron Jobs | ||
| Redis Available | ||
| Programming Languages | ||
| Node.js Support | ||
| Python Support | ||
| Ruby Support | ||
| WordPress Features | ||
| WordPress Optimized | ||
| WordPress Auto-Install | ||
| WordPress Auto-Updates | ||
| WordPress Staging | ||
| WooCommerce Optimized | ||
| LiteSpeed Cache | ||
| Object Caching | ||
| WP Multisite | ||
| WP-CLI Access | ||
| Security | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| DDoS Protection Level | Bot Protection and Firewall via Cloudflare | DDoS protection included |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Hourly to Daily (configurable: 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, daily) | Nightly (automatic) |
| Backup Retention | 14 days | 30 days |
| Backup Restore Fee | Free | Free |
| On-Demand Backup | ||
| Two-Factor Auth | ||
| Wildcard SSL | ||
| Dedicated IP | ||
| Support | ||
| Support Channels | Live Chat, Ticket, Knowledge Base, Phone (Premium add-on), Slack (Premium add-on) | Live Chat, Ticket, Knowledge Base |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | 24/7/365 | 24/7/365 |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | Premium Support add-on only | — |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Knowledge Base Quality | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Avg Support Wait | 2 min | — |
| Email Accounts | ||
| Email Account Limit | — | 0 |
| Mailbox Size | — | — |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | Cloudflare Enterprise CDN | Fastly CDN |
| Server Locations | US (Multiple), Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil | North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Australia |
| Server Location Count | 65 | 10 |
| Choose Server Location | ||
| HTTP/2 Support | ||
| Brotli Compression | ||
| Uptime SLA Credit | ||
| Platform Support | ||
| Drupal Support | ||
| Joomla Support | ||
| Magento Support | ||
| Laravel Support | ||
| Django Support | ||
| Next.js Support | ||
| Rails Support | ||
| Static Site Support | ||
| Control Panel | ||
| cPanel Included | ||
| Control Panel | Cloudways Platform | Flywheel Dashboard |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 1 | 1 |
| Migration Turnaround | 2 days | 2 days |
| Paid Migration Cost | — | Free |
| Migration Quality | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| HIPAA Compliant | ||
| Data Center Certs | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.5/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 3.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 2.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 4.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | Pay-as-you-go; bandwidth included varies by plan (1TB base); overage charged at provider rates | 20GB included on Tiny plan; $1-2 per 1,000 extra visitors; may be charged for consistent overages |
| Storage Overage | Pay-as-you-go; can upgrade server size or add block storage | $1/GB for storage over limit |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2011 | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Malta | United States |
| Parent Company | DigitalOcean (acquired September 2022 for $350M) | WP Engine (acquired 2019 for ~$200M) |
| Green Hosting | — | |
| Instant Activation | ||
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Managed WP Available | ||
| Pricing Model | — | visits |
| Monthly Visit Limit | — | 5,000 |
| Visit Overage Cost | — | $2.00 |
| PHP Workers | — | — |
| Plugin Restrictions | — | — |
| Dev Environment | — | |
| Dev Env Name | — | Local |
| Regional Info | ||
| Best Countries | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Australia | United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP | USD |
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, SOC 2 | GDPR, SOC 2 |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.5/5 |
| BBB Rating | N/A (Malta-based, no US BBB listing) | NR |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB | MySQL |
| Elasticsearch | ||
| Image Optimization | — | |
| PHP Switching | ||
| Subdomains | Unlimited | — |
| FTP Accounts | Unlimited | — |
| Additional Pricing | ||
| Free Domain Duration | — | — |
| Money Back Exclusions | No money-back guarantee; pay-as-you-go model means you only pay for resources used; unused prepaid funds can be refunded within 3 months of adding funds | 60-day money-back guarantee for Tiny, Startup, and non-custom Freelance plans |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | — |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | Let's Encrypt | Let's Encrypt (auto-renewed) |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | — |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | United States | — |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | Redis/Memcached | Page Caching |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Recurring | Per sale |
| Commission Amount | Up to $125 per referral or lifetime 7% recurring; 90-day cookie | $50-$500 per sale depending on plan; 90-day cookie |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | — | $1.00 |
| Account Suspension Policy | Account suspended for TOS violations; servers still billed until deleted; fraud prevention enforcement active | Violation of ToS; non-payment; excessive resource usage |
| Malware Removal Cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Downloadable Backups | ||
| Additional Platforms | ||
| PrestaShop | ||
| Ghost | ||
| Shopify Migration | ||
| Wix Migration | ||
| Squarespace Migration | ||
| Webflow Export | ||
| Editorial Info | ||
| Best For | Developers and agencies needing managed cloud hosting; WordPress/WooCommerce sites needing scalable performance; Users wanting flexibility across AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode; Teams needing staging environments and Git deployment; Growing businesses that need to scale quickly; Users who want cloud power without server management | Designers and creative agencies; WordPress freelancers; Users wanting free Local development tool; Those who prefer Flywheel's interface over WP Engine; Budget managed WordPress users ($15/mo entry); Sites needing free demo sites feature |
| Avoid If | Need email hosting included; Want traditional shared hosting pricing; Prefer cPanel; Need domain registration; Budget-conscious with predictable monthly costs; New to web hosting (steeper learning curve) | Need phone support; Need PCI compliance (use WP Engine instead); Need Redis caching; Large storage requirements; Prefer independent company (owned by WP Engine) |
| Known Issues | Email hosting not included (requires third-party add-on at extra cost); No domain registration; Backup storage charged separately at $0.033/GB; DNS hosting is paid add-on; Premium Support with phone/Slack costs extra; Pay-as-you-go billing can be confusing; Charged in arrears for previous month; Some users report billing issues and being charged after cancellation; No cPanel (proprietary panel); Post-DigitalOcean acquisition some users report declining support quality | Owned by WP Engine since 2019; No phone support; No Redis caching; Storage limited on entry plan (5GB); No dedicated IPs; No PCI compliance unlike parent WP Engine; Fewer features than Kinsta at similar price point |
| Unique Selling Point | Managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility | Designer-focused managed WordPress with free Local development tool and lower price than parent WP Engine |
| Ideal Customer | Developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity | Designer or creative agency wanting managed WordPress with great local development tools at lower cost than WP Engine |
| Best Alternative To | WP Engine | WP Engine |
| Primary Competitors | Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel | WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways |
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Our Verdict
Choose Cloudways if you...
- Want higher-rated hosting (4.2/5)
- Need phone support
- Want to run Node.js applications
- Need enterprise-grade features
- Want more server locations (65 available)
Choose Flywheel if you...
- Are new to web hosting