Cloudways vs WP Engine
A head-to-head comparison for 2026 — pricing, features, strengths, and which one is better for different use cases.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Cloudways | WP Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $14/mo | $26/mo |
| Hosting Type | Managed Cloud | Managed WordPress |
| Free Domain | No | No |
| Free SSL | Yes | Yes |
| Storage | 25 GB+ (scalable) | 10 GB |
| Bandwidth | 1 TB+ (scalable) | 50 GB/mo |
| Control Panel | Custom dashboard | Custom portal |
| Support | 24/7 live chat + tickets | 24/7 WordPress experts |
| Money-Back | 3-day free trial | 60 days |
| Best For | Growing sites & e-commerce | Professional WordPress sites |
Cloudways — Overview
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that lets you choose your infrastructure provider — DigitalOcean, AWS, or Google Cloud — while handling all the server management. Starting at $14/mo, it includes staging environments, auto-healing servers, a built-in CDN, and free SSL. Ideal for growing sites that need real cloud performance without DevOps expertise.
WP Engine — Overview
WP Engine is the premium managed WordPress hosting platform, starting at $26/mo. Every server is optimized for WordPress with automatic updates, daily backups, a global CDN, free StudioPress themes, and a support team of WordPress experts. Used by brands like Yelp, Asana, and the NFL.
Key Differences
Both are managed hosting, but with different philosophies. WP Engine is WordPress-only with deep WordPress optimizations, automatic updates, and WordPress-expert support. Cloudways is platform-agnostic — it hosts WordPress, Laravel, Magento, PHP, and more, with your choice of cloud provider. WP Engine is simpler if you only run WordPress. Cloudways is more flexible and often cheaper at equivalent performance levels.
The Verdict
Choose Cloudways for flexibility across platforms and cloud providers at a lower price. Choose WP Engine for the best managed WordPress experience with zero compromise on WordPress-specific features.