Cloudways, now operating under DigitalOcean, is a managed cloud VPS platform that sits between traditional shared hosting and self-managed virtual private servers.
Rather than provisioning its own hardware, Cloudways lets you deploy VPS instances on five major cloud infrastructure providers, DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud, and Linode, while managing the server layer for you.
The result is a platform that gives developers and agencies VPS-grade resources without the overhead of server administration, though with some access restrictions that technically demanding users need to evaluate before committing.
Cloudways VPS is a strong fit for developers and agencies who want cloud server resources without the overhead of manual VPS administration. The root access and Redis configuration restrictions are the areas technically demanding users need to weigh carefully against their specific requirements.
To evaluate Cloudways VPS, I applied our hosting review methodology, the structured framework used consistently across all reviews to keep scores grounded in real testing rather than marketing claims.
Here is how Cloudways performed across every key parameter I assessed:
| Parameter | Score | Why This Score |
|---|---|---|
| Prices | 9.0/10 | The hourly VPS billing model is genuinely flexible and rewards efficient resource use. The absence of a money-back guarantee is offset by the free trial, but worth noting for users accustomed to traditional refund windows. |
| Features | 9.2/10 | Five cloud provider options, vertical scaling, automated backups, Object Cache Pro, free SSL, staging environments, and CloudwaysCDN are a comprehensive VPS feature set. The root and Redis configuration limitations are real constraints at the technical edge. |
| Ease of Use | 9.1/10 | The VPS deployment flow is clean and clearly signposted. The dashboard separates server-level and application-level management logically. First-time VPS users will find the structured setup process more approachable than a self-managed server. |
| Support | 8.4/10 | Both the bot and the human agent gave accurate, policy-consistent answers to a real VPS technical issue about sudo access. The bot responded instantly, and the human agent connected within seconds. The knowledge base reference added practical follow-up value. |
| Overall | 9.0/10 | Cloudways is a capable and honestly positioned managed VPS platform. The multi-provider flexibility, hourly billing, and solid VPS feature set make it one of the stronger options in its category. The access restrictions are the detail to evaluate before signing up. |
Cloudways VPS pricing is determined by two variables: the cloud provider you choose and the server size you select.
You pay hourly for the VPS resources your server uses, and your monthly invoice reflects actual consumption rather than a flat subscription. This model means you can start small, scale up as traffic and workload grow, and only pay for what you actually use.
Five cloud providers are available for VPS deployment:
VPS server sizes are selectable at deployment and upgradable later through vertical scaling, which adjusts RAM, CPU, and storage without requiring a full server rebuild.
This is a meaningful advantage over self-managed VPS environments where resource changes often require planned downtime.
The billing model carries one important distinction from traditional VPS hosting: Cloudways does not offer a money-back guarantee. Because billing is hourly and charges stop the moment you delete a server, the platform’s position is that you pay only for the VPS resources you use. The three-day free trial absorbs most of the risk that a refund window would otherwise address.
All VPS configurations include:
A flat per-gigabyte fee applies to off-site backup storage.
Check the pricing widget below for current rates across all Cloudways VPS cloud providers and server configurations:
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | OS | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Starter Plan | 25 GB | 1 core | 1 GB | A$15.43 | Details |
To assess what a new Cloudways VPS customer actually experiences, I went through the full process: signing up, deploying a first VPS server, navigating the dashboard, and exploring both the server and application management interfaces in detail.
I started on the Cloudways homepage at cloudways.com and clicked Get Started Free.
The signup page opened with a clean layout confirming upfront that no credit card was required for the free trial.
Four social signup options were available:
I chose to sign up with email. The form collected first name, last name, email, and password, alongside two optional profiling fields covering self-description and monthly hosting spending. Neither blocked signup. An “I have a promo code” link appeared below the form for users with a discount code.
After clicking Sign Up, email verification followed. Once verified, I landed directly on the Cloudways dashboard without any tutorial gate.
The sidebar on the right of the registration page summarized what the trial includes:
The no-credit-card trial removes the most common friction point in VPS hosting signups, where users are often asked for payment details before they can evaluate the product.
The Cloudways dashboard opens to a home screen displaying three summary cards: Total Servers, Flexible Apps, and Autoscale Apps. Below the summary, an Applications panel shows all deployed apps with tabs separating Autoscale Apps from Flexible Apps, each displaying the app name, creation date, server assignment, and project association.
The left sidebar organizes navigation into two primary product sections:
Below those, the sidebar provides access to Teams, My Projects, Addons, Affiliate, and a More section.
The My Projects feature lets you group applications from across multiple VPS servers into named projects, which is particularly valuable for agencies managing several clients on separate server configurations. Creating a project involves naming it and selecting applications from any available server, with each server’s application list individually expandable and checkboxable.
The Resource Center is anchored at the bottom of the main dashboard area and surfaces three getting-started guides directly on the home screen:
Clicking into a VPS server opens the server management panel.
The left sidebar organizes all server-level controls into clear categories:
The Settings and Packages section is organized into five tabs: Basic, Advanced, Packages, Optimization, and Maintenance. The Packages tab is where the VPS server stack is managed.
Every Cloudways VPS server comes pre-installed with:
Each package displays its currently installed version, whether an upgrade or downgrade is available, and a Modify button for version changes. The server header confirms the VPS name, RAM, disk size, IP address, and cloud provider region at a glance.
Vertical Scaling is a standalone sidebar item allowing RAM, CPU, and storage to be adjusted independently without server recreation. This is the operational difference between Cloudways and traditional self-managed VPS where resource changes typically require downtime and manual reconfiguration.
Application-level management is accessed through the Cloudways Flexible section, where each application has its own interface covering domain, SSL, deployment, backups, staging, and credentials.
The one area where new VPS users may need extra attention is understanding the separation between server-level and application-level settings. Both are accessible from the same interface but are distinct management contexts.
Settings like PHP version and package management exist at the server level, not the application level, which takes a session or two to internalize but makes sense once the platform’s architecture is understood.
Cloudways provides support through live chat, a ticket system, and a comprehensive Knowledge Base.
I tested the live chat channel, as it is the most telling channel for understanding whether a support team delivers technically useful answers or stays at a surface level.
The live chat is accessible from within the Cloudways dashboard via a “Need a hand” button on the right-hand side of the screen.
Clicking it opens the chat interface and presents three routing options:
I selected Technical Help. From there, I was asked to choose the specific issue I was experiencing and selected SSH/SFTP, which matched the problem I wanted to explore: a user without the necessary permissions to execute commands with sudo, receiving a message that the user was not in the sudoers file.
A response arrived almost immediately. The bot correctly identified why sudo access was restricted on Cloudways’ VPS platform: as a managed hosting provider, Cloudways restricts root-level access to maintain a secure, consistent environment across all customer servers. That explanation was accurate and delivered without ambiguity.
The bot then offered a practical alternative, pointing to the Server Settings section within the Cloudways platform as the appropriate place to manage common server parameters.
It listed specific options available there:
The guidance was clear, and the suggested alternatives were genuinely relevant to the kind of tasks a user might attempt via sudo. For the majority of parameter adjustments, the platform panel covers what would otherwise require command-line access.
I clicked the Get more help option to speak with a human agent. Within seconds I was connected to Faraz, a human support agent.
Faraz acknowledged my concern immediately and confirmed what the bot had established: root access cannot be granted on Cloudways VPS due to the platform’s security policies.
He reinforced the reasoning behind those restrictions without sounding dismissive, and then directed me to a Knowledge Base article that covered the root access policy in detail.
That referral is useful because it gives the customer a documented reference point rather than just a verbal confirmation, which matters when evaluating how the platform handles VPS-level access questions.
The response was clear, consistent, and professionally delivered. The one gap was the absence of alternative approaches beyond the panel settings: users who genuinely need lower-level control over their VPS environment were not offered a path forward, because on Cloudways that path does not exist.
That is an honest answer rather than a failure of support, but it is a meaningful finding for technically demanding VPS buyers.
Cloudways maintains a Knowledge Base with over 300 articles organized across nine topic categories:
A “New to Cloudways? Start here!” section on the Knowledge Base landing page surfaces the most important onboarding articles directly, covering VPS server launch, domain configuration, taking a site live, DNS setup, and WordPress cache plugin configuration.
The documentation is technically detailed, including SSH commands for verifying installed package versions, which is the level of depth VPS users typically need.
The bot and human agent responses were consistent and well-grounded in the platform’s actual policies. The Knowledge Base is extensive and the documentation quality is appropriate for VPS-level use cases. Human agent availability has offline periods where escalation routes to email rather than live resolution, which is the most important support limitation for production VPS workloads.
Yes, I recommend Cloudways VPS for developers, agencies, and technical users who want managed cloud server resources with infrastructure flexibility and no long-term contracts.
The combination of five cloud providers under a single VPS management interface, pay-as-you-go hourly billing, and vertical scaling without server recreation gives Cloudways a competitive position in the managed VPS category. Object Cache Pro, free SSL, staging environments, and SSH access are included across all configurations without requiring a plan upgrade.
The three-day free trial with no credit card is a confident offer that reflects a platform willing to be evaluated on its actual VPS experience rather than marketing promises.
The areas to read carefully before committing are the root access restriction and the support availability pattern. Root access and sudo privileges are not available on any Cloudways VPS plan. Redis configuration is limited to the platform panel UI.
These are deliberate design choices consistent with a managed hosting model, but they are material limitations for users who expect self-managed VPS-level control. Human agent support has offline windows where queries route to email follow-up rather than live resolution.
Within those parameters, Cloudways VPS is a well-built platform that earns a genuine recommendation for developers and agencies who want cloud VPS infrastructure without the complexity of server administration.
You can always read your complete Cloudways review for more information.
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | OS | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start for free | Unlimited | - | A$0.00 | Details | ||
| DigitalOcean Starter Plan | 25 GB | 1 core | 1 GB | A$15.43 | Details |
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Yes. Cloudways is one of the more capable managed VPS platforms available, offering five cloud provider options, pay-as-you-go billing, vertical scaling, Object Cache Pro, free SSL, and one-click staging across all configurations. It is particularly well-suited for WordPress developers, WooCommerce stores, and agencies managing multiple client sites.
No. Cloudways restricts root access and sudo privileges across all VPS plans as part of its managed hosting security model. SSH and SFTP access are available, but command-level root access is not granted. Server parameter management is handled through the Cloudways platform panel.
Yes. Cloudways provides a three-day free VPS trial with no credit card required. The trial gives full access to the platform including server deployment and application management.
No. Cloudways does not offer a traditional money-back guarantee. Because VPS billing is hourly and stops immediately when a server is deleted, the platform’s position is that you pay only for the resources you use. The three-day free trial is the primary evaluation mechanism at no cost.
Cloudways supports five cloud providers for VPS deployment: DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud, and Linode. Each is selectable at server creation time, and the choice determines the starting price, available server sizes, and regional data center options.
Cloudways accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express credit and debit cards. PayPal is supported for recurring payments. Multiple payment methods can be registered on a single account. Cryptocurrency is not accepted. Invoices are generated on the first of each month for the previous month’s VPS usage.
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