Cloudways vs Vultr: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Overall Winner
Cloudways
- Wins in 5 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Performance, Best Support, Best for WordPress
- 4.2/5 overall rating
Category Winners
Best Price
Vultr
$2.50/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 | — | $2.50/mo |
| Renewal Price | — | $2.50 |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 4.2/5 | 3.8/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 100% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.6/5 | 2.0/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 3,600 | 523 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $168.00 | $30.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $168.00 | $30.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 0 days | 0 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | — | 0 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 25 GB | 10 GB |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD/NVME |
| Bandwidth | 1000 GB | 500 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 | Standard DDoS protection included; Advanced mitigation available |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Hourly to Daily (configurable: 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h, daily) | Automatic (optional, 20% extra cost) |
| 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, Knowledge Base, Community Forum, API Documentation |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | 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 | 5.0/10 |
| 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 | New York (US), Los Angeles (US), Chicago (US), Seattle (US), Dallas (US), Atlanta (US), Miami (US), Silicon Valley (US), Honolulu (US), Toronto (Canada), Mexico City (Mexico), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), London (UK), Manchester (UK), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany), Paris (France), Madrid (Spain), Stockholm (Sweden), Warsaw (Poland), Tel Aviv (Israel), Mumbai (India), Bangalore (India), Delhi (India), Singapore, Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Sydney (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Johannesburg (South Africa) |
| Server Location Count | 65 | 32 |
| 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 | Vultr Dashboard |
| 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 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 2.0/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.5/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.5/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10 | 3.5/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 4.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| 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 | 2TB free egress pooled across all instances; $0.01/GB overage |
| Storage Overage | Pay-as-you-go; can upgrade server size or add block storage | Pay for additional block storage at $0.10/GB/month |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2011 | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Malta | United States |
| Parent Company | DigitalOcean (acquired September 2022 for $350M) | The Constant Company (privately held; $333M funding in 2024 led by AMD; $3.5B valuation) |
| 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, India, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia |
| 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 | 4.3/5 |
| BBB Rating | N/A (Malta-based, no US BBB listing) | NR (Not Rated) |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB | MySQL/PostgreSQL (managed available) |
| 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 | No money-back guarantee; Pay-as-you-go model with hourly billing; Can destroy instances anytime; Unused credit remains in account |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.), Wire Transfer, Alipay |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | — |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | Let's Encrypt | Self-managed (Let's Encrypt or commercial) |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | $3/mo |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | United States | — |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | Redis/Memcached | — |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Recurring | CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) |
| Commission Amount | Up to $125 per referral or lifetime 7% recurring; 90-day cookie | Up to $100 per referral (customer must be active 30+ days); 30-day cookie; Monthly PayPal payments |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | — | $0.01 |
| Account Suspension Policy | Account suspended for TOS violations; servers still billed until deleted; fraud prevention enforcement active | Violation of ToS; fraud detection; non-payment; abuse complaints |
| 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 affordable cloud compute; Startups needing flexible pay-as-you-go pricing; Users needing many global locations (32 regions); GPU compute and machine learning workloads; API-first infrastructure automation; Users comfortable with self-management; Cryptocurrency payment acceptance |
| 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 phone or chat support; Beginner requiring hand-holding; Need included email hosting; Want cPanel/Plesk included; Require money-back guarantee; Uncomfortable with unmanaged infrastructure |
| 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 | Low Trustpilot rating (2.0/5); No phone or live chat support (ticket only); Strict account verification causing frustration; Reports of account termination without warning; Billing department only available business hours; 20% extra for automatic backups; Snapshots limited to 10 per account; Support response times can be slow; Some users report load balancer outages |
| Unique Selling Point | Managed cloud hosting across 5 providers (AWS, GCP, DO, Vultr, Linode) with pay-as-you-go flexibility | Cheapest cloud compute ($2.50/mo) with 100% SLA and 32 global locations |
| Ideal Customer | Developer or agency wanting managed cloud power without server administration complexity | Developer or startup wanting affordable, flexible cloud infrastructure with global reach |
| Best Alternative To | WP Engine | DigitalOcean |
| Primary Competitors | Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel | DigitalOcean, Linode, Hetzner |
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
- Need WordPress-optimized hosting
- Need staging environments
- Are new to web hosting
Choose Vultr if you...
- Prefer Vultr's approach to hosting