Cloudways vs Liquid Web: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Overall Winner
Liquid Web
- Wins in 3 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Price, Best Performance, Best for Beginners
- 4.3/5 overall rating
Category Winners
Best Price
Liquid Web
$3.50/mo vs $Infinity/mo
Best Value
Tie
Similar renewal pricing
Best Performance
Liquid Web
100% uptime, 4.3/5 rating
Best Support
Tie
Similar support options
Best for WordPress
Tie
Similar WordPress features
Best for Developers
Tie
Similar developer features
Best for Beginners
Liquid Web
Higher ease of use score (6.0/10)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | VPS Hosting | VPS Hosting |
| Monthly Price | — | $3.50/mo |
| Renewal Price | — | $3.50 |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 4.2/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 100% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.2/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 3,600 | 2,637 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $168.00 | $396.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $168.00 | $396.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 0 days | 30 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | — | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 25 GB | 40 GB |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD |
| Bandwidth | 1000 GB | 5000 GB |
| Max Websites | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Max Databases | Unlimited | 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 | Multi-level DDoS protection included |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Hourly to Daily (configurable: 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, daily) | Daily (30-day retention) |
| 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) | Phone, 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 | 24/7/365 (59-second response guarantee) |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Knowledge Base Quality | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Avg Support Wait | 2 min | 1 min |
| Email Accounts | ||
| Email Account Limit | — | Unlimited |
| Mailbox Size | — | — |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | Cloudflare Enterprise CDN | Cloudflare Enterprise CDN (on managed WordPress/WooCommerce) |
| Server Locations | US (Multiple), Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil | Lansing, MI (US-Central), Phoenix, AZ (US-West), Amsterdam (Netherlands), San Jose, CA (US), Ashburn, VA (US-East), Sydney (Australia), London (UK) |
| 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 | cPanel/InterWorx/Plesk (choice) |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 1 | Unlimited |
| Migration Turnaround | 2 days | 1 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, HIPAA, PCI-DSS |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.5/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 4.0/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 3.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 2.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 4.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | Pay-as-you-go; bandwidth included varies by plan (1TB base); overage charged at provider rates | 5TB included on entry VPS; overage billed or upgrade required |
| Storage Overage | Pay-as-you-go; can upgrade server size or add block storage | Upgrade to higher tier or add storage |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2011 | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Malta | United States |
| Parent Company | DigitalOcean (acquired September 2022 for $350M) | CloudOne Digital (acquired by One Equity Partners in April 2023; previously Madison Dearborn Partners) |
| 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 | United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP | USD |
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, SOC 2 | GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC 2 |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.3/5 |
| BBB Rating | N/A (Malta-based, no US BBB listing) | A+ |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB | MySQL/MariaDB |
| Elasticsearch | ||
| Image Optimization | — | |
| PHP Switching | ||
| Subdomains | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| FTP Accounts | Unlimited | 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 | 30-day guarantee for managed VPS and managed cloud server hosting only; Domain fees non-refundable; Custom configurations may have exclusions |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Bank Transfer, Check |
| 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 | United States |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | Redis/Memcached | Redis |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Recurring | Percentage of MRR |
| Commission Amount | Up to $125 per referral or lifetime 7% recurring; 90-day cookie | 300% per Liquid Web sale; 400% per Nexcess sale; up to $7,000 per sale; 90-day cookie; via Impact |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | — | |
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | — | — |
| Account Suspension Policy | Account suspended for TOS violations; servers still billed until deleted; fraud prevention enforcement active | Violation of ToS; non-payment; abuse reports |
| 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 | Businesses and agencies needing managed hosting with premium support; Mission-critical websites requiring 100% uptime SLA; WooCommerce stores needing optimized ecommerce hosting; Users willing to pay premium for Heroic Support; HIPAA-compliant healthcare applications; Enterprise clients needing dedicated infrastructure |
| 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) | Budget-conscious users; Need shared hosting; Beginners who don't need managed services; Simple personal blogs; Price-sensitive projects; Need many international locations |
| 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 | Premium pricing (significantly higher than budget hosts); No shared hosting option; Windows VPS much more expensive than Linux; Some users report billing confusion especially with Nexcess; Support quality reportedly declined after CloudOne acquisition per some reviews; Complex pricing structure with many tiers; Limited international data centers compared to hyperscalers |
| Unique Selling Point | Managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility | 100% uptime SLA with 1000% credit and 59-second Heroic Support response guarantee |
| Ideal Customer | Developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity | Business or agency needing premium managed hosting with industry-leading support SLA |
| 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 more server locations (65 available)
Choose Liquid Web if you...
- Want higher-rated hosting (4.3/5)
- Need enterprise-grade features