Cloudways vs WP Engine
Scale Faster with Cloudways.
More cloud providers. More data centers. Lower costs. Cloudways gives growing businesses the infrastructure flexibility and transparent pricing that WP Engine doesn’t.
4.7/5 on
Rated #1 Cloud Hosting Provider
Cloudways Empowers 102,000+ Businesses & Counting
Why Cloudways Makes Sense as a WPEngine Alternative?
WP Engine locks you into one provider with visitor-based caps and per-site fees. Here’s what changes when you switch to Cloudways:
DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, or Linode – you choose.
1-click vertical scaling + Kubernetes autoscaling on Autonomous.
Pay-as-you-go. No visitor caps. No overage fees.
Unlimited apps per server. No per-site charges.
Infrastructure Choice vs. Lock-In. The Difference Is Clear.
5 cloud providers, 1TB bandwidth, and unlimited sites, at less than half what WP Engine charges for one.
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| Price | ||
| Starting Price | From $25/mo (Startup) | From $11/mo (Flexible) |
| Billing Model | Fixed monthly tiers | Pay-as-you-go (hourly) |
| Sites Included | 1 site — $20/extra site | Unlimited (server-based) |
| Bandwidth | From 50 GB included | From 1 TB included |
| Overage Pricing | Visitor-based caps; plan upgrade required | $0.12/GB (transparent) |
| Free Trial | No trial (60-day refund) | 3 days, no credit card |
| Performance & Scaling | ||
| Scaling Method | Visitor-based tier upgrades | 1-click vertical + Kubernetes autoscaling (Autonomous) |
| Data Centers | 26 locations | 150+ across 50+ locations |
| Cloud Providers | 1 (proprietary infrastructure) | 5 (DO, AWS, GCE, Vultr, Linode) |
| CDN | Cloudflare CDN (included) | Cloudflare Enterprise (add-on) |
| Caching | EverCache (proprietary) | Varnish + Redis + OCP + Memcached |
| Uptime SLA | 99.95% (Growth+ only) | 99.99% |
| Features & Flexibility | ||
| Staging Environment | Included (all plans) | Free, unlimited |
| PHP Version Control | Limited control | Multiple versions, switchable |
| Plugin Restrictions | Disallowed plugins list enforced | None |
| SSH/SFTP Access | SFTP + limited SSH (Gateway) | Full SSH + SFTP |
| Free SSL | Yes (Let’s Encrypt) | Yes (Let’s Encrypt) |
| App Support | WordPress only | WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, PHP |
| Support & Security | ||
| 24/7 Support | Chat + phone (Growth+ only for phone) | Live chat + ticket (all plans) |
| Phone Support | Growth+ plans ($86/mo+) | Available (premium) |
| Avg Response Time | Varies by plan tier | < 90 seconds |
| Automated Backups | Daily automated | Scheduled + on-demand |
| Malware Protection | Included | Available (add-on) |
| Firewall | Managed WAF | Imunify360 + OS-level |
Global Infrastructure for Consistent Speed
Your customers are everywhere. Your hosting should be too. Cloudways lets you deploy on the cloud provider and region closest to your audience across 150+ data centers in 50+ locations worldwide.
150+
Data Centers
50+
Locations
5
Cloud Providers
4.7/5
Cloudways is G2’s #1
Cloud Web Hosting Provider
Rated Higher by 4× More Customers. On Every Metric That Predicts Growth.
Try for Free
3-Day Trial Without Credit Card
Choose Your Perfect Managed Cloud Solution
Save time and money with a remarkably simple managed cloud hosting platform that delivers unbelievable performance and value.
Cloudways Flexible
WP Engine locks you to WordPress on one proprietary network. Flexible gives you full server control across WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, any PHP app, your way.
5 cloud providers vs WP Engine’s 1
Unlimited apps per server, no $20/site fees
Free AI Copilot Credit
Cloudways Lightning Stack
Cloudways Autonomous
WP Engine ‘scales’ by bumping you to a higher visitor tier. Autonomous autoscales on Kubernetes with zero manual upgrades and zero DevOps overhead.
Fully managed — no DevOps overhead
Autoscaling for traffic spikes
Prevents crashes under load
Free Cloudflare Enterprise (Save $250)
Cloudways Copilot
WP Engine flags server issues and leaves the fix to you and tier-gated support. Cloudways Copilot monitors continuously and catches problems before they hit your site. Insights delivers root-cause diagnosis with step-by-step remediation. SmartFix goes further, resolving the issue for you, automatically.
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Real Success Stories. Powered By Cloudways.
Read real-life case studies of companies that used our managed cloud server hosting to take their online businesses to the next level!
Improved site speed by 40% and increased course bookings across AU.
Mo Soltany
Business Development Manager
Cut hosting cost 80% while serving 17M+ users across 160+ countries.
Bryan Feinberg
Founder and CEO
Saw 600% growth, and our homepage achieved a perfect 100% score.
Stephan Eijer
Owner
Managed over $1M in sales and a 200% traffic spike seamlessly.
Sol Lee
Co-founder
Doubled site speed, 20% traffic growth & 50% faster load times.
Great Opomu
Chief WordPress Officer
Scaled to 140+ client sites & hit $1M ARR as performance soared.
Andrew Jackson
Founder & CEO
Streamlined operations for 60+ businesses with reliable performance.
Michelle Coe
President and Senior Creative Director
Saved 25–30% on hosting costs with 40% faster server response time.
Roberto M. Filho
Founder and CEO
30% faster, 280+ sites scaled, $10M+ revenue growth, this year.
Tristan Gatellier
CEO
Achieved 99 PageSpeed score, zero downtime and scalable growth.
Joost Rust
Director
Reduced server costs by 50% and homepage load time dropped to 1.2s.
Florence Luo
Owner and CEO
Grew monthly readership 3x from 3M to 9M after moving to Cloudways.
Simon Treulle
CEO
Improved store speed by 30%, which led to a 22% increase in conversions.
Yogita Khasturi
Co-Founder
Managed over $1M in sales and a 200% traffic spike seamlessly.
Sol Lee
Co-founder
Posted 2.6M views and earned $600K in commissions so rewarding.
Adam Connell
Founder
Handled 20x traffic spikes on 18-year-old site with 5,484 articles.
Jonathan Bailey
Founder
Resulted in a perfect 100% PageSpeed score and 600K page views.
Michael Donovan
Co-founder
Boosted monthly pageviews to 200K, leading to a 6-figure valuation.
Daniel Shuttleworth
Founder
Experienced a 3x increase in traffic and revenue, with 100% speed.
Keith Mint
Founder
Have Questions? Consult an Expert For Free.
Get the answers you need, or hop on a demo with an expert to figure out how Cloudways can help you, all without any commitments.
Contact Our Experts Watch Demo
Ready to stop managing traffic spikes?
Start with Autonomous or talk to our team to see how it fits your application.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of support does Cloudways provide?
All customers get 24/7 live chat support with an average response time under 90 seconds. High-value accounts have access to dedicated account managers and priority escalation. Cloudways also maintains a comprehensive knowledge base with 500+ articles.
How does Cloudways handle traffic spikes?
With Cloudways Flexible, you can vertically scale your server with one click. With Autonomous, scaling is automatic — Kubernetes spins up additional pods in real time to handle traffic surges and scales down when demand drops, with full cost visibility.
Is Cloudways a good alternative to WP Engine?
Yes. Cloudways offers comparable managed hosting features — automated backups, staging environments, free SSL, and 24/7 support — while giving you more flexibility in infrastructure choice, pricing, and scalability. It’s trusted by 100,000+ businesses worldwide and rated 4.7/5 on G2.
Can I migrate my site from WP Engine to Cloudways?
Absolutely. Cloudways offers a free WordPress migration plugin for self-service moves and expert-assisted migration for complex setups. Most sites are fully migrated within hours, with near-zero downtime.
How does Cloudways pricing compare to WP Engine?
Cloudways Flexible plans start at $11/mo with pay-as-you-go billing, unlimited sites, and 1 TB bandwidth. WP Engine starts at $25/mo for a single site with 50 GB bandwidth. Cloudways typically delivers 50–60% lower hosting costs at equivalent resource levels.
Does Cloudways support WooCommerce?
Yes. Cloudways is optimized for WooCommerce with built-in caching (Varnish, Redis, Object Cache Pro), Cloudflare Enterprise CDN integration, and dedicated WooCommerce hosting guides. Cloudways Autonomous adds Kubernetes-based autoscaling for high-traffic stores.
Is Cloudways beginner-friendly?
The platform is designed for users with some technical comfort, but it’s far more accessible than managing raw cloud infrastructure. The dashboard abstracts server management into a clean UI, and 24/7 support is available to help with any setup questions.
Can I use any WordPress plugin on Cloudways?
Yes. Unlike WP Engine, which maintains a disallowed plugins list, Cloudways places no restrictions on which WordPress plugins you can install. You have full control over your application stack.
What’s the difference between Cloudways Flexible and Autonomous?
Flexible gives you full server control with your choice of 5 cloud providers — ideal for developers and agencies. Autonomous is a fully managed WordPress solution with Kubernetes-based autoscaling, built for high-traffic sites that need hands-free scaling.
Does Cloudways offer a free trial?
Yes. Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card required. You get full access to the platform to test performance, features, and migration tools before committing.
