Cloudways vs Rackspace Technology: Complete 2026 Comparison
Cloudways is a vps hosting provider while Rackspace Technology sits in the cloud infrastructure category, so the right pick depends on what you're building. Across our 6-category breakdown, Cloudways comes out ahead, winning 4 of them — including Performance, WordPress and Developers.
Data last updated June 2026
Overall Winner
Cloudways
- Wins in 4 of 6 categories
- Top in: Best Performance, Best for WordPress, Best for Developers
- 4.2/5 overall rating
Cloudways vs Rackspace Technology: Overview
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. Rackspace Technology, by contrast, leans on multi-cloud managed services provider with 'Fanatical Support' across AWS, Azure, and GCP, ideal for enterprise needing managed multi-cloud services with 24/7 support and compliance requirements.
Category Winners
Best Value
Tie
Similar renewal pricing
Best Performance
Cloudways
99.99% uptime, 4.2/5 rating
Best Support
Rackspace Technology
Live chat, Phone, 24/7
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 | — | — |
| Renewal Price | — | — |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 4.2/5 | 3.0/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 100% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.6/5 | 1.2/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 3,600 | 286 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $168.00 | $2388.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $168.00 | $2388.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 0 days | — |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | — | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 25 GB | — |
| Storage Type | NVME SSD | SSD/HDD (VARIES BY PLAN) |
| Bandwidth | 1000 GB | — |
| Max Websites | Unlimited | — |
| Max Databases | Unlimited | — |
| PHP Versions | 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 | Enterprise DDoS mitigation included |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Hourly to Daily (configurable: 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, daily) | Daily |
| Backup Retention | 14 days | 7 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, Ticket, Chat, Knowledge Base |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | 24/7/365 | 24/7 |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | Premium Support add-on only | 24/7/365 |
| 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 | — | — |
| Mailbox Size | — | 25 GB |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | Cloudflare Enterprise CDN | Akamai/CloudFlare (partner integrations) |
| Server Locations | US (Multiple), Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil | Dallas (US), Chicago (US), Virginia (US), London (UK), Hong Kong, Sydney (Australia) |
| 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 | MyRackspace Portal |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 1 | — |
| 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 | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, PCI DSS Level 1, HIPAA, HITRUST CSF, FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, ITAR, FIPS 140-2 |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 2.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 2.5/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 4.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 3.0/10 | 1.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 5.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 5.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| 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 | Varies by contract; typically metered |
| Storage Overage | Pay-as-you-go; can upgrade server size or add block storage | Varies by contract |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2011 | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Malta | United States |
| Parent Company | DigitalOcean (acquired September 2022 for $350M) | Independent (publicly traded; owned by Apollo Global Management since 2016) |
| 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, Australia |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP | USD, GBP, AUD |
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, SOC 2 | GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2 |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.2/5 |
| 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, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Oracle |
| 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 | Enterprise contracts; no traditional refund policy |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Invoice, Wire Transfer, Enterprise Agreement |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | — |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | Let's Encrypt | Let's Encrypt / Custom certificates |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | — |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | United States | United States, United Kingdom, Australia |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | Redis/Memcached | — |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Recurring | — |
| Commission Amount | Up to $125 per referral or lifetime 7% recurring; 90-day cookie | — |
| 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 |
| 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 | Large enterprises needing multi-cloud management; Organizations requiring managed services across AWS/Azure/GCP; Companies needing 24/7 expert support; Compliance-heavy industries |
| 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) | Small business or startup; Need affordable hosting; Want simple self-service; Budget-conscious; Need quick support responses |
| 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 | Very poor Trustpilot rating (1.2) despite 'Fanatical Support' brand; Support quality reportedly declined after outsourcing; Expensive for what you get; Complex contracts; Slow response times reported; Not suitable for small businesses; Apollo acquisition led to cost-cutting |
| Unique Selling Point | Managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility | Multi-cloud managed services provider with 'Fanatical Support' across AWS, Azure, and GCP |
| Ideal Customer | Developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity | Enterprise needing managed multi-cloud services with 24/7 support and compliance requirements |
| Best Alternative To | WP Engine | Self-managed multi-cloud |
| Primary Competitors | Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel | Cloudways, AWS Managed Services, Azure Managed |
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 Rackspace Technology if you...
- Require 24/7 live chat support
Cloudways vs Rackspace Technology: Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for WordPress, Cloudways or Rackspace Technology?
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 Rackspace Technology have better uptime?
Cloudways edges out Rackspace Technology 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 Rackspace Technology?
Rackspace Technology has the edge on support offering 24/7 live chat, phone support and ticket support.
Is Cloudways or Rackspace Technology 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 Rackspace Technology?
For most users, Cloudways is the better overall choice, winning 4 of our 6 categories (notably Performance, WordPress and Developers). That said, the right host depends on your specific needs — check the category breakdown above for the factors that matter to you.