Cloudways vs Hetzner: Complete 2026 Comparison
Cloudways is a vps hosting provider while Hetzner sits in the cloud infrastructure category, so the right pick depends on what you're building. Across our 7-category breakdown, Cloudways comes out ahead, winning 5 of them — including Performance, Support and WordPress.
Data last updated June 2026
Overall Winner
Cloudways
- Wins in 5 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Performance, Best Support, Best for WordPress
- 4.2/5 overall rating
Cloudways vs Hetzner: Overview
Hetzner starts at $1.90/mo. Hetzner also gives you a longer 14-day money-back window to test risk-free.
Cloudways's standout is managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility — a natural fit for developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity. Hetzner, by contrast, leans on best price-performance VPS in industry with 100% green energy and German data protection, ideal for developer or business wanting affordable, high-performance infrastructure with European data sovereignty.
Category Winners
Best Price
Hetzner
$1.90/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
Cloudways
Optimized, Staging, WooCommerce
Best for Developers
Cloudways
SSH, Git, Staging, Node.js
Best for Beginners
Cloudways
Higher ease of use score (5.5/10)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | VPS Hosting | Cloud Infrastructure |
| Monthly Price | — | $1.90/mo |
| Renewal Price | — | $1.90 |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 4.2/5 | 4.0/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 99.9% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.6/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 3,600 | 2,570 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $168.00 | $41.88 |
| Second Year Cost | $168.00 | $41.88 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 0 days | 14 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | — | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 25 GB | 10 GB |
| Storage Type | NVME SSD | SSD/NVME |
| Bandwidth | 1000 GB | 20000 GB |
| Max Websites | Unlimited | — |
| 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 | Basic DDoS protection included; Advanced protection available |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Hourly to Daily (configurable: 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, daily) | Manual/Snapshot-based |
| Backup Retention | 14 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) | Ticket, Phone, Knowledge Base, Community Forum |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | 24/7/365 | — |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | Premium Support add-on only | Business hours (Mon-Fri) |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English | German, 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 | — |
| Server Locations | US (Multiple), Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil | Nuremberg (Germany), Falkenstein (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Ashburn, VA (US), Hillsboro, OR (US), Singapore |
| Server Location Count | 65 | 6 |
| 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 | Hetzner Cloud Console |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 1 | 0 |
| Migration Turnaround | 2 days | — |
| Paid Migration Cost | — | — |
| Migration Quality | 5.0/10 | — |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| HIPAA Compliant | ||
| Data Center Certs | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | ISO 27001, SOC 1, SOC 2, C5 (BSI) |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 2.5/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.5/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 4.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 3.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 5.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 2.0/10 | 1.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | Pay-as-you-go; bandwidth included varies by plan (1TB base); overage charged at provider rates | 20TB+ included; €1.19/TB overage |
| Storage Overage | Pay-as-you-go; can upgrade server size or add block storage | Pay for additional storage volumes |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2011 | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Malta | Germany |
| Parent Company | DigitalOcean (acquired September 2022 for $350M) | Independent (privately held; founded by Martin Hetzner) |
| Green Hosting | — | |
| Instant Activation | ||
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Managed WP Available | ||
| Pricing Model | — | — |
| Monthly Visit Limit | — | — |
| Visit Overage Cost | — | — |
| PHP Workers | — | — |
| Plugin Restrictions | — | — |
| Dev Environment | — | — |
| Dev Env Name | — | — |
| Regional Info | ||
| Best Countries | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Australia | Germany, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, United States |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP | EUR, USD |
| Support Languages | English | German, English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, SOC 2 | GDPR |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.5/5 |
| BBB Rating | N/A (Malta-based, no US BBB listing) | N/A (Germany-based) |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB | MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL |
| 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 | 14-day cancellation period for most services; Dedicated servers typically have setup fees that may not be refunded |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Bank Transfer, SEPA Direct Debit |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | Let's Encrypt | Self-managed (Let's Encrypt recommended) |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | $1/mo |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | United States | Germany |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | Redis/Memcached | — |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Recurring | Revenue share |
| Commission Amount | Up to $125 per referral or lifetime 7% recurring; 90-day cookie | 10% recurring commission; 30-day cookie |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | — | $1.19 |
| Account Suspension Policy | Account suspended for TOS violations; servers still billed until deleted; fraud prevention enforcement active | Violation of ToS; non-payment; abuse reports; illegal content |
| Malware Removal Cost | $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 | Developers wanting best price-performance VPS/dedicated; European businesses needing GDPR-compliant hosting; Users comfortable with self-management; Cost-conscious users wanting consistent pricing; Large-scale deployments; Users wanting green hosting |
| 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 managed WordPress hosting; Want 24/7 live chat support; Beginner requiring hand-holding; Need cPanel included; US-based wanting local support; Need included email hosting |
| 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 | Support limited to business hours and primarily German; No live chat support; Strict account verification can frustrate users; No managed WordPress; No cPanel/Plesk included; SSL not included free; Mixed Trustpilot reviews (3.5) despite excellent G2 (4.5); Some account termination complaints |
| Unique Selling Point | Managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility | Best price-performance VPS in industry with 100% green energy and German data protection |
| Ideal Customer | Developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity | Developer or business wanting affordable, high-performance infrastructure with European data sovereignty |
| Best Alternative To | WP Engine | Contabo |
| Primary Competitors | Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel | Contabo, OVHcloud, Vultr |
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 WordPress-optimized hosting
- Need staging environments
- Are new to web hosting
- Want more server locations (65 available)
Choose Hetzner if you...
- Prefer Hetzner's approach to hosting
Cloudways vs Hetzner: Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for WordPress, Cloudways or Hetzner?
Cloudways is the stronger WordPress host thanks to WordPress-optimized servers, staging and WooCommerce tuning. If WordPress or WooCommerce is your main workload, it's the safer pick.
Does Cloudways or Hetzner have better uptime?
Cloudways edges out Hetzner on performance with a 99.99% uptime guarantee and a 4.2/5 overall rating. For uptime-sensitive sites, it's the more dependable choice.
Which has better customer support, Cloudways or Hetzner?
Cloudways has the edge on support offering live chat, phone support and ticket support.
Is Cloudways or Hetzner better for beginners?
Cloudways is friendlier for beginners, scoring higher on ease of use in our assessment. New users will generally find it quicker to get started.
Should I choose Cloudways or Hetzner?
For most users, Cloudways is the better overall choice, winning 5 of our 7 categories (notably Performance, Support and WordPress). That said, the right host depends on your specific needs — check the category breakdown above for the factors that matter to you.