Disclosure: HostingDive earns a commission when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. Prices below come from the vendor pages named in the Sources section, read on 2026-11-01.
By HostingDive Team. Pricing read from the vendor page on 2026-11-01.
Cloudways pricing starts at $14 a month for the Micro server (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe storage) and tops out at $99 a month for the Large server (8GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160GB NVMe storage). The two middle sizes are Small at $28 and Medium at $54. Every size lists Unlimited Websites, so the bill follows server size, not site count. Offsite backup storage and optional add-ons are billed on top, and listed prices exclude taxes.
Cloudways is priced as a managed layer on top of a cloud server, not as the cheapest server. It pays off when you run several light sites on one box and want someone else to handle patching, firewall and backups. For a single site, a raw cloud server costs less on paper (see cloudways alternatives for the side-by-side). Check the live Cloudways plans before you buy.
Cloudways pricing in one table
These are the four server cards on the Cloudways pricing page as read on 2026-11-01. Each card states its price in USD per month and an hourly rate beside it.
| Server | Monthly price | Hourly rate | RAM | Cloudways describes it as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | $14 | $0.0208 | 1GB RAM | Suitable for personal websites and simple blogs. |
| Small | $28 | $0.0417 | 2GB RAM | Suitable for growing businesses and moderate traffic. |
| Medium | $54 | $0.0804 | 4GB RAM | Supports more demanding websites with higher traffic. |
| Large | $99 | $0.1473 | 8GB RAM | Ideal for e-com stores and resource-intensive applications. |
Source: cloudways.com/en/pricing.php, fetched 2026-11-01.
What each Cloudways size includes
The cards differ in compute, storage and transfer. All four list the Lightning Stack, Unlimited Visits and Unlimited Websites.
| Server | vCPU | NVMe storage | Transfer bandwidth | Twelve months at list (derived) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | 1 vCPU | 25GB | 1TB | $168 |
| Small | 1 vCPU | 50GB | 2TB | $336 |
| Medium | 2 vCPU | 80GB | 4TB | $648 |
| Large | 4 vCPU | 160GB | 5TB | $1,188 |
Source: cloudways.com/en/pricing.php, fetched 2026-11-01. The last column is HostingDive arithmetic (monthly price times twelve), not a vendor figure, and ignores taxes, backups and add-ons.
Chart: the monthly price ladder
Bar length is proportional to the monthly list price. Large costs about seven times Micro, while its RAM is eight times larger.
Price per GB of RAM (derived)
Dividing each monthly price by its RAM shows how the ladder scales. Micro and Small cost the same per GB of RAM, Medium is slightly lower and Large is the lowest. Moving up a size buys headroom more than it buys a discount.
Derived by HostingDive from the prices and RAM on cloudways.com/en/pricing.php (fetched 2026-11-01); the Large figure is rounded to the cent.
What every Cloudways plan includes
The pricing page lists a set of features that come with all plans, so they do not add to the bill:
- 24x7 support, as stated on the page.
- Unlimited Apps, limited only by what your server can support.
- A free staging environment with one-click push to live.
- Free SSL through Let's Encrypt certificates.
- A dedicated firewall (Imunify360) and automated or on-demand backups with one-click restore.
- Free Redis Cache, shown on the page as worth $100 a month.
- Object Cache Pro free on a 4GB server or above, which the page says usually costs $95 a month.
The two cache items matter for WooCommerce and heavy WordPress builds. Because Object Cache Pro is free only from 4GB up, Medium is the first size where it is bundled.
Source: cloudways.com/en/pricing.php, fetched 2026-11-01.
Optional add-ons and what they cost
Add-ons are where a $14 headline turns into a larger bill. The page lists these as starting prices:
| Add-on | Price shown | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Cloudflare CDN | Starts at $4.99 per domain per month | Edge page caching and smart routing |
| Site Manager | Starts at $3 per app per month | One dashboard for all WordPress sites, with monitoring and safe updates |
| Malware Protection | Starts at $4 per app per month | Automated malware removal |
| Rackspace Email | $1.5 per mailbox per month | Hosted mailboxes |
| Advance Support Addon | $100 per month | Support that extends to plugin and theme troubleshooting |
| DNS Made Easy | $0.50 per month per domain | Fast DNS propagation |
Source: cloudways.com/en/pricing.php, fetched 2026-11-01.
Backup storage: the line item to budget
The pricing page states that $0.033/GB per server is applied for offsite backup storage. That rate is not part of the plan price, and it grows with the total size of the backups kept, so a server that carries several media-heavy sites accrues more than one that carries a single brochure site. As a rate example only, 100GB of offsite backups at $0.033/GB comes to $3.30. The page does not state the billing period beside that rate, so check the account billing view before relying on a monthly figure.
Backups are a feature of every plan, but offsite backup storage is metered. Trim old backups and watch total backup size, because every site on the server adds to it.
Worked monthly bills (derived)
These examples add list prices from the tables above. They are HostingDive arithmetic, not quotes, and exclude taxes and backup storage.
| Setup | Sum | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Micro, one app with Site Manager and Malware Protection | $14 + $3 + $4 | $21 |
| Micro with three Rackspace mailboxes | $14 + 3 x $1.5 | $18.50 |
| Medium with Enterprise Cloudflare CDN on one domain | $54 + $4.99 | $58.99 |
| Large with the Advance Support Addon | $99 + $100 | $199 |
The last row is the sharpest: the support add-on costs more than the server it supports. Decide whether you need that tier of help before you add it.
When the unlimited-websites model saves money
Every card lists Unlimited Websites, so a second and third site cost nothing extra in licensing. Three or four light WordPress sites that would each need their own entry-level server elsewhere can share one Cloudways box. For agencies and freelancers with small client sites, the savings come from not buying a server per client. The cloud VPS real cost breakdown shows how that per-server math compares across raw providers.
When it stops saving money
RAM and CPU are fixed per size, so sites share them. A busy store beside a blog will compete for the same memory, and the fix is a bigger size, not a second free site slot. If one site needs steady headroom, price it on its own and compare it with the same RAM on a raw cloud server, covered in the DigitalOcean versus Cloudways comparison. For speed expectations, use the Hosting Speed Index rather than a plan label.
Free trial and migration terms
The pricing page offers to try Flexible free without a credit card and shows a 5-Day Trial button. It also says Cloudways engineers will migrate your first website from any web host for free. The home page, read the same day, shows a "Try 30-Day Free Trial" button in a different product block, so confirm the exact trial length for the product you pick at signup. For discounts, see the cloudways promo code page, which covers codes without restating them here.
Sources: cloudways.com/en/pricing.php and cloudways.com/en/, fetched 2026-11-01.
Cloud provider choice and what this page cannot price
The pricing page has a "Select Cloud Provider" control and a data center selector. HostingDive could only read the default plan cards on 2026-11-01, so the table above is the default view, and prices for other providers or server families (for example the Flexible, Autonomous or Velocity tabs) may differ. Read the live page for the provider you want before you budget. For help on whether Cloudways fits your stack at all, read the Cloudways review, and for the wider category see the cloud VPS hosting hub.
How Cloudways pricing differs from other hosting models
Three pricing shapes cover most hosting buyers, and mixing them up is the usual reason a quote feels wrong.
| Model | What you pay for | Who runs the server | Cost grows with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways (managed cloud) | A server size, with management included | Cloudways handles the stack; you manage the apps | Server size, add-ons, backup storage |
| Raw cloud server (infrastructure) | A bare instance | You, end to end | One instance per project, plus your time |
| Shared hosting | A slice of a shared machine | The host | Plan tier and renewal terms |
The Cloudways pricing page itself frames the comparison this way, listing shared hosting (GoDaddy, Namecheap), infrastructure hosting (Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP) and managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine) as the three groups it compares against. That is the vendor's framing, so treat the verdict as marketing and check the numbers yourself.
Budget checklist before you pay
- Pick the size from RAM needs, not from the cheapest card.
- Count the sites you will host and note the heaviest one.
- List the add-ons you actually need (CDN, Site Manager, Malware Protection, mailboxes, support) and add their prices.
- Estimate total backup size and apply the offsite rate.
- Add taxes, which the page excludes.
- Confirm the provider and region on the live page, since only the default cards were read for this guide.
Verdict by buyer
- One small site: Micro at $14 works, but it is the weakest value if you will only ever run one site.
- A handful of light sites: Micro or Small, where Unlimited Websites does the saving.
- A store or heavy WordPress build: Medium or Large, which also unlocks free Object Cache Pro.
- You already manage servers: price a raw cloud server for the same RAM first.
Cloudways pricing FAQ
How much does Cloudways cost per month?
The default plan cards list Micro at $14, Small at $28, Medium at $54 and Large at $99, all in USD per month and excluding taxes. Add-ons and offsite backup storage are billed separately.
Does Cloudways charge by the hour?
Each card shows an hourly rate beside the monthly price, for example $0.0208 for Micro and $0.1473 for Large. The page states both numbers, so check the billing FAQ on the pricing page for how an hourly server is invoiced.
Is there a free trial?
The pricing page offers a trial of Flexible without a credit card and shows a 5-Day Trial button. The home page shows a 30-Day trial button for a different product, so confirm the length at signup.
Are backups included in the price?
Backups are a listed feature, but the page says $0.033/GB per server is applied for offsite backup storage, so storage is metered separately.
Can I host more than one site on a server?
Yes. All four cards list Unlimited Websites. The practical limit is the RAM and CPU of the size you choose.
Do the prices include tax?
No. The page states that all listed prices exclude applicable taxes.
Does the price change with the cloud provider?
The page has a cloud provider selector. This page reports only the default cards that HostingDive could read, so check the live page for your chosen provider and region.
Sources
- Cloudways pricing page, fetched 2026-11-01: server prices, hourly rates, specs, add-ons, backup storage rate, trial and migration terms.
- Cloudways home page, fetched 2026-11-01: 30-Day trial button wording.