Cloudways and WP Engine both call themselves “managed WordPress hosting,” but they’re fundamentally different products solving different problems. WP Engine is a walled garden — WordPress-only, opinionated stack, everything handled for you. Cloudways is a management layer on top of infrastructure providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud, giving you more rope (and more ways to hang yourself).
I’ve run client sites on both over the past couple of years. Neither is perfect, and anyone telling you one is universally better than the other is either oversimplifying or selling you something.
Quick Verdict
Choose WP Engine if: You’re running a high-traffic WordPress site, your team doesn’t want to think about server configuration, and the budget can absorb premium pricing. WP Engine removes decisions — that’s the product.
Choose Cloudways if: You’re an agency juggling multiple client sites, you want to pick your own infrastructure provider, or WP Engine’s pricing makes you wince. You’ll trade some WordPress-specific polish for significantly more flexibility.
Performance Testing Results
Let’s be upfront: performance comparisons between managed hosts are messy. Your results will vary based on which Cloudways provider you pick, what region you’re testing from, your WordPress theme, your plugin stack, and whether Mercury is in retrograde. Take any precise numbers you see in hosting reviews with a heavy dose of skepticism — including ours.
Speed and Response Times
In our hands-on testing with a moderately complex WooCommerce site (around 500 products, a page builder theme, and the usual plugin sprawl), WP Engine consistently delivered snappier Time to First Byte than Cloudways on DigitalOcean. Cloudways on AWS narrowed the gap but didn’t quite match it.
This isn’t surprising. WP Engine’s EverCache system is purpose-built for WordPress — it handles page caching, object caching, and database query caching as one integrated layer. On Cloudways, you’re assembling your own caching stack from Varnish, Memcached, and Redis, which can absolutely match WP Engine’s performance once tuned, but “once tuned” is doing real work in that sentence.
Both platforms passed Core Web Vitals on our test sites. If yours doesn’t, the host probably isn’t your bottleneck — look at your theme and plugins first.
Uptime Monitoring
Both WP Engine and Cloudways advertise 99.99% uptime SLAs, which is their contractual promise, not a measurement. In practice, both have been solid in our experience, but we’ve seen brief outages on each — usually during maintenance windows or, in Cloudways’ case, when the underlying provider (DigitalOcean, AWS) has issues. WP Engine’s advantage here is owning more of the stack, so there’s one throat to choke when things go wrong. With Cloudways, you’re sometimes caught between their support and the cloud provider’s status page, each pointing fingers.
If uptime is genuinely mission-critical for your business, you should be running your own external monitoring regardless of host. Don’t trust any provider’s self-reported numbers.
Pricing Comparison
This is where things get interesting — and where the comparison gets genuinely unfair to WP Engine.
WP Engine Pricing Plans
| Plan | Price | Sites | Visits | Storage | Bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Startup | $20/month | 1 | 25,000 | 10GB | 50GB |
| Growth | $39/month | 3 | 100,000 | 20GB | 200GB |
| Scale | $77/month | 15 | 400,000 | 50GB | 500GB |
| Custom | $400+/month | Unlimited | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Note that WP Engine prices by visits, not server resources. If your traffic spikes or you miscalculate, overage charges hit hard. They don’t publish overage rates prominently — you’ll find them buried in your account settings. Ask before you commit.
Cloudways Pricing (DigitalOcean)
| Plan | Price | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB | $14/month | 1GB | 25GB | 1TB | Unlimited |
| 2GB | $26/month | 2GB | 50GB | 2TB | Unlimited |
| 4GB | $50/month | 4GB | 80GB | 4TB | Unlimited |
| 8GB | $100/month | 8GB | 160GB | 8TB | Unlimited |
Cloudways recently adjusted pricing upward after their acquisition by DigitalOcean. The prices above reflect current rates — check their site for the latest, as they’ve been creeping up.
Cloudways prices by server resources, not visits. You can host unlimited sites on a server (until the RAM runs out, anyway). For agencies running 10+ client sites, a single $50/month Cloudways server often replaces several hundred dollars worth of WP Engine plans. That math is hard to argue with.
Winner: Cloudways on raw value, and it’s not close. But you’re also taking on more responsibility for that savings.
Feature Analysis
WordPress-Specific Features
WP Engine treats WordPress as the only thing that exists. Their stack is optimized from the ground up: EverCache handles caching without you touching a config file, they manage WordPress core updates (and will roll them back if something breaks), and they include the Genesis Framework and StudioPress themes. Their Smart Plugin Manager checks for plugin compatibility before updates — genuinely useful if you’ve ever had a plugin update nuke a production site at 2am.
The trade-off? WP Engine maintains a banned plugin list. Anything that duplicates their caching or security layers gets blocked. This is mostly reasonable (you don’t need W3 Total Cache when EverCache exists), but it can be frustrating if your workflow depends on a specific tool they’ve blacklisted.
Cloudways gives you a managed server, not a managed WordPress experience. You get SSH access, multiple PHP versions, your choice of caching layers (Varnish, Redis, Memcached), Git deployment, and WP-CLI. You can run WordPress, Magento, Laravel, or a custom PHP app on the same server.
The trade-off? Nobody’s managing your WordPress updates, checking plugin compatibility, or optimizing your database queries. That’s on you. Cloudways manages the server — the operating system, security patches, the stack — but your application is your problem.
Developer Tools
| Feature | WP Engine | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Staging Sites | 1-click (included) | Unlimited (included) |
| Git Integration | Via Local (their desktop app) | Native server-level |
| SSH Access | Yes | Yes |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes |
| Direct Database Access | Limited (no phpMyAdmin by default) | Full access |
| Server Customization | No | Yes (nginx configs, PHP settings) |
| Multiple PHP Versions | Limited selection | Full range |
Winner: Cloudways for developers who want control. WP Engine’s Local app is a nice development tool, but if you need to tweak nginx configs or run a custom PHP extension, you’re out of luck.
Control Panel Comparison
WP Engine User Portal
WP Engine’s dashboard is clean and focused. Everything is WordPress-centric: sites, staging, backups, CDN settings. You won’t find server-level metrics or OS configuration because that’s not the product. For someone who just wants to manage WordPress sites without thinking about infrastructure, it works well.
The downside is that “focused” can mean “limited.” Want to see your server’s actual resource usage? You’ll get abstracted metrics, not raw CPU/RAM graphs. Want to install a non-WordPress application? You can’t.
Cloudways Platform
Cloudways splits management into server-level and application-level panels. You can monitor CPU, RAM, and disk usage on the server, then drill into individual applications for PHP settings, caching, and deployment options.
This is powerful but genuinely confusing for WordPress users coming from cPanel or a simpler managed host. The distinction between “server settings” and “application settings” trips people up, and some WordPress-specific options (like staging) are nested several clicks deep. Plan on spending an afternoon getting oriented.
Security Features
Both platforms take security seriously, but their approaches reflect their philosophies.
WP Engine handles security like everything else — opinionated and automated. They run a proprietary web application firewall, handle malware scanning, auto-patch WordPress core, and block known attack patterns. You don’t configure much of this; it just runs. Their banned plugin list is partly a security measure — blocking plugins with known vulnerabilities.
Cloudways gives you OS-level and application-level firewalls, Let’s Encrypt SSL (which is standard everywhere now — don’t let anyone list this as a “feature”), IP whitelisting, and automated security patching for the stack. But WordPress-level security — malware scanning, login protection, application firewall rules — is largely on you. Most Cloudways users end up adding Wordfence or Sucuri.
Winner: WP Engine for hands-off security. Cloudways gives you the tools but expects you to use them.
Customer Support Analysis
WP Engine Support
WP Engine offers 24/7 chat and phone support, and their agents are WordPress specialists. In my experience, chat responses come quickly — usually within a few minutes during business hours, sometimes longer on weekends. More importantly, the people answering actually understand WordPress. I’ve had agents diagnose a plugin conflict and walk me through the fix, which is rare in hosting support.
Phone support is a real differentiator. Most managed hosts have quietly dropped phone support or hidden it behind enterprise tiers. WP Engine still offers it on standard plans.
Cloudways Support
Cloudways offers 24/7 chat and a ticket system. Chat response times vary — I’ve gotten near-instant responses and I’ve waited 15+ minutes during busy periods. The agents know the Cloudways platform well, but WordPress-specific questions sometimes get generic answers or links to documentation. For complex WordPress issues, you may need their premium support add-on, which starts at $100/month.
Since the DigitalOcean acquisition, there have been grumbles in the community about support quality declining, though this is hard to quantify objectively. Worth monitoring.
Winner: WP Engine — faster responses, deeper WordPress knowledge, and phone support included.
Migration Services
WP Engine Migration
WP Engine provides a free automated migration plugin for new customers. For straightforward WordPress sites, it works well. For complex setups — multisite, large databases, custom server configs — they offer a white-glove migration service on higher-tier plans.
One thing to watch: nameserver propagation during migration can take 24-48 hours. WP Engine’s docs don’t emphasize this enough. Plan your migration for a low-traffic window and keep your old host active until DNS fully resolves.
Cloudways Migration
Cloudways has a free WordPress Migrator plugin that handles most standard sites. Professional migration runs around $150 per site for complex setups. The plugin-based approach works but can choke on very large databases or sites with unusual directory structures.
Winner: WP Engine — slightly smoother migration experience, especially for less technical users.
Scalability and Growth
WP Engine Scaling
WP Engine handles traffic spikes automatically on their infrastructure — you don’t need to provision anything. This is great until you look at your bill. Their visit-based pricing means a viral blog post or a successful product launch can push you into expensive overage territory. Scaling up your plan is straightforward but costly.
Cloudways Scaling
Cloudways lets you vertically scale (add RAM, CPU, storage) with a few clicks, and on AWS or Google Cloud, you can configure auto-scaling. The pricing scales linearly with resources, which is more predictable than visit-based billing.
The catch: scaling on Cloudways requires some technical judgment. You need to know what to scale. Is your bottleneck CPU, RAM, or disk I/O? Cloudways won’t tell you — you need to read the monitoring dashboards and make the call yourself. Over-provision and you’re wasting money. Under-provision and your site crawls during peaks.
Winner: Cloudways for cost-effective, granular scaling. WP Engine if you don’t want to think about it.
Backup and Recovery
Both platforms offer automated daily backups with on-demand snapshots. WP Engine retains backups for up to 60 days with one-click restore. Cloudways offers configurable backup frequency and retention, with the option to store backups off-server.
Neither is a substitute for your own backup strategy. Run UpdraftPlus or a similar plugin to an external destination (S3, Google Drive) regardless of which host you choose. Hosting backups protect against host-level failures; they don’t protect against you accidentally deleting your database on a Friday afternoon.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
WP Engine includes their CDN on all plans — it’s integrated into the platform and requires zero configuration. Coverage is solid globally, though specific edge location counts vary and aren’t always publicly detailed.
Cloudways offers CloudwaysCDN as an add-on (bandwidth-based pricing) or you can integrate Cloudflare or any other CDN yourself. More flexibility, more setup work.
Winner: WP Engine for convenience. If you’re already using Cloudflare (and you probably should be), Cloudways’ flexibility doesn’t matter much — just point your DNS through Cloudflare and you’re done.
E-commerce Capabilities
For WooCommerce specifically, WP Engine is a strong choice — their object caching handles product catalog queries well, and the managed stack means one less thing to worry about during Black Friday traffic. Our best WooCommerce hosting guide compares both providers on checkout speed under real cart load.
Cloudways wins if you’re running anything besides WooCommerce. Magento, PrestaShop, or a headless commerce setup all run fine on Cloudways. The dedicated server resources and ability to add Redis for session storage make it genuinely better for diverse e-commerce setups. Auto-scaling on AWS or Google Cloud also matters here — e-commerce traffic is spiky by nature.
Winner: Cloudways for e-commerce flexibility. WP Engine if you’re WooCommerce-only and want zero server management.
Use Case Recommendations
Choose WP Engine When:
- You’re running high-traffic WordPress sites and don’t want to manage infrastructure
- Your team lacks server administration skills and doesn’t want to learn
- You need phone support and WordPress-expert troubleshooting
- You’re an agency billing enterprise clients who expect a premium hosting name
- The Genesis Framework and StudioPress themes are part of your workflow
- Budget is secondary to simplicity and performance
Choose Cloudways When:
- You’re an agency managing 10+ client sites and pricing matters
- You want to choose between DigitalOcean, AWS, Vultr, or Google Cloud
- Your developers need SSH access, custom PHP configs, and Git workflows
- You run non-WordPress applications alongside WordPress
- You need staging environments for every project without per-environment fees
- You’re comfortable reading server monitoring dashboards and scaling resources yourself
Pros and Cons Summary
WP Engine
Pros:
- Genuinely optimized WordPress performance with minimal configuration
- WordPress-specialist support available by phone
- Automated updates with rollback capability
- Security handled without plugins
- Genesis Framework and StudioPress themes included
Cons:
- Expensive — a single-site plan costs more than a 2GB Cloudways server hosting multiple sites
- Banned plugin list creates real workflow friction for some users
- Visit-based pricing with poorly disclosed overage rates
- Zero server customization — if you need a custom PHP extension or nginx rule, you’re stuck
- Locked to WordPress — can’t run any other application
- Storage limits are tight on lower plans (10GB fills fast with media-heavy sites)
Cloudways
Pros:
- Dramatically better value for multi-site setups
- Choice of cloud infrastructure provider
- Full server access with managed convenience
- No artificial site or visit limits
- Supports WordPress, Magento, Laravel, and custom PHP apps
- Granular scaling controls
Cons:
- Nobody’s managing your WordPress — updates, security, and optimization are on you
- Support quality has been inconsistent post-acquisition, especially for WordPress-specific issues
- The platform’s learning curve is real — expect a few hours of orientation
- Add-on costs (CDN, premium support, email) chip away at the price advantage
- No phone support on standard plans
- Auto-scaling requires technical knowledge to configure properly
Final Verdict
WP Engine is the better product if “better” means fewer decisions, more automation, and a team of WordPress experts on call. You pay a premium for that, and the premium is substantial.
Cloudways is the better deal if you have the technical skills to leverage it. An agency running 15 client sites on a couple of well-configured Cloudways servers will save thousands per year compared to WP Engine — but someone on the team needs to understand server monitoring, caching configuration, and WordPress security.
For most WordPress projects that aren’t enterprise-scale, Cloudways offers more than enough performance at a price that doesn’t require justification to your finance team. Move to WP Engine when you’ve outgrown DIY management or when a client is paying enough to warrant the premium.
If neither of these fits your budget, check out our Best Cheap Hosting 2026 guide — just know you’ll be giving up the “managed” part of managed hosting. For a broader look at WordPress-specific options, see our Best WordPress Hosting 2026 roundup, which includes SiteGround and Hostinger as strong mid-range alternatives. For agencies comparing managed hosting across multiple providers, our best managed WordPress hosting guide has a full 8-provider breakdown. And if you want solid shared hosting with better-than-average performance, SiteGround occupies a useful middle ground between budget hosts and full managed platforms — their LiteSpeed-based stack punches above its weight class.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is WP Engine worth the extra cost over Cloudways? A: It depends entirely on what you’re paying for. If you need automated WordPress management, expert support, and zero server administration — yes, WP Engine earns its premium. If your team can handle WordPress updates, configure caching, and read server metrics, Cloudways delivers comparable performance at a fraction of the cost. The honest answer is that most sites don’t need WP Engine’s level of management, but some teams genuinely benefit from it.
Q: Can I migrate from Cloudways to WP Engine or vice versa? A: Yes, both directions are possible. WP Engine offers free automated migration for new signups. Cloudways has a WordPress migrator plugin. Budget 24-48 hours for DNS propagation regardless of which direction you’re going, and test thoroughly on the new platform before cutting over. Complex sites with custom server configurations will need more planning — Cloudways-to-WP Engine moves sometimes break things that depend on server-level access you’ll lose.
Q: Which platform is better for WooCommerce stores? A: Cloudways gives you more control over server resources and scaling, which matters for stores with unpredictable traffic. WP Engine’s EverCache handles WooCommerce well out of the box. If your store is WooCommerce-only and you want zero server management, WP Engine. If you need to scale aggressively during sales events or run multiple e-commerce platforms, Cloudways.
Q: Do both platforms offer staging environments? A: Yes. WP Engine includes one-click staging on all plans. Cloudways offers unlimited staging environments, which is a significant advantage for agencies and development teams working across multiple projects. For more on staging workflows, see our best hosting with staging environments guide, which tests one-click deployment and push-to-live reliability.
Q: Which has better customer support? A: WP Engine, clearly. Phone support, WordPress-specialist agents, and consistently fast response times. Cloudways support is competent for platform-level issues but less helpful with WordPress-specific problems. If WordPress support quality is a deciding factor, WP Engine wins this category outright.
Q: Can I use custom plugins with both platforms? A: Cloudways has no plugin restrictions. WP Engine maintains a banned plugin list — mostly caching and security plugins that conflict with their built-in systems. The list is public and worth reviewing before committing. Most popular plugins work fine, but if your workflow depends on a specific caching or backup plugin, check compatibility first.
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