Cloudways review
Agencies chasing per-site economics — unlimited sites per server on real cloud infrastructure.
Overview
Cloudways wraps the raw clouds (DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr) in a sane agency control panel: one dashboard, unlimited sites per server, staging, cloning, backups, team roles and client billing splits — at per-server prices that demolish per-site managed hosts on anything over ~10 client sites. A $100/mo server comfortably runs 15–25 medium sites. The trade for those economics: you are closer to the metal, backups and CDN cost extra, and support expectations must drop from "concierge" to "competent". London regions available across providers.
Strengths and weaknesses
What we like
- The best per-site economics in serious agency hosting
- Unlimited sites per server; clone, stage and transfer in clicks
- Choice of real clouds with London regions
- Pay-as-you-go — no renewal trap, no long contracts
What to watch
- Backups, CDN and email cost extra — quote prices are never final prices
- You own more operations risk than on concierge managed hosts
- Support is capable, not white-glove; basic email provisioning
Key features at a glance
| Model | Managed cloud (per-server pricing, unlimited sites) |
| Entry | $14/mo DO 1GB; agency-realistic $54–$100/mo |
| Sites | Unlimited per server (resource-bound) |
| Agency kit | Client billing splits, staging, team roles |
| UK region | London across providers |
| Contract | None — pay-as-you-go |
Pricing
From $14/mo plus extras (backups ~$0.033/GB, CDN ~$4.99). A realistic agency platform lands $50–$150/mo — still the category’s best unit economics at 10+ sites. Indicative, October 2026.
Who Cloudways is for — and who should skip it
Best for
Agencies with 10–100 client sites and enough technical confidence to own light server operations in exchange for unit economics no managed host can match.
Probably not for
Non-technical teams, single-site owners, and anyone pricing "fully hands-off" as a requirement.
Our verdict — 8.6/10
Cloudways is the spreadsheet winner of agency hosting — when the portfolio crosses about ten sites, nothing else comes close on cost per client. Accept the operational responsibility explicitly and it is a superb platform.
Cloudways, head to head
How we review: scores reflect our editorial assessment using vendor documentation, published pricing, independent research and hands-on evaluation where noted — read our full methodology. Pricing is indicative — always confirm current plans with the vendor. We may earn commission from links on this page; it never affects our scores.