01 · The short version
What Cloudways really costs.
Key takeaways
- The cheapest server is $11 a month (DigitalOcean Standard, 1GB RAM).
- For a live business site, most people should budget for 2GB: $24–$28 a month.
- Billing is hourly and capped at the monthly price; there is no annual contract and no renewal price jump.
- Expect small extras: off-site backup storage is mandatory, and CDN, email, and premium support cost more.
- Try it free for 5 days, no credit card.
All prices below are regular list prices in US dollars from the official Cloudways pricing page, checked November 9, 2026. Tax may apply depending on your country, and promotions change often, so the checkout is always the final word.
02 · Server prices
Cloudways Flexible on DigitalOcean.
| Server | Standard (SSD) | Premium (NVMe) | Storage | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB RAM · 1 vCPU | $11 | $14 | 25GB | 1TB |
| 2GB RAM · 1 vCPU | $24 | $28 | 50GB | 2TB |
| 2GB RAM · 2 vCPU | $33 | $37 | 60GB | 3TB |
| 4GB RAM · 2 vCPU | $46 | $54 | 80GB | 4TB |
| 8GB RAM · 4 vCPU | $88 | $99 | 160GB | 5TB |
Standard servers use SSD storage; Premium servers use faster NVMe storage and network. Source: Cloudways pricing.
Standard or Premium?
Premium costs $3–$11 more per month at these sizes and adds NVMe storage and a faster network. For a store or a busy site the upgrade is reasonable; for a small brochure site Standard is usually enough.
Which size to start with
1GB is fine for testing and very small sites. For a live business site or anything with logged-in users, 2GB gives more headroom. You can scale up later in a few clicks, so starting small is low-risk.
03 · Other clouds
Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.
DigitalOcean
9 data center locations. Same price in every region.
Vultr
30 locations. Same price in every region.
Linode
25 locations. Same price in every region.
AWS
28 locations. Priced by region, usually higher.
Google Cloud
28 locations. Priced by region, usually higher.
Free trial
Covers DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode only.
On AWS and Google Cloud the price depends on the region you pick, and the hourly calculation uses a 30-day month. You see the exact price for your region before launching, so compare it against the DigitalOcean table above.
04 · How billing works
Hourly, capped, and paid after use.
Hourly metering
For DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode, the hourly rate is the monthly price ÷ 672 hours (28 days). AWS and Google Cloud use a 30-day month.
A monthly cap
Run a server all month and you never pay more than its listed monthly price, even in a 31-day month.
Invoice on the 1st
You are billed after use. The saved card or PayPal is charged when the invoice is generated.
Card or PayPal
Both are accepted. If a payment fails, the dashboard is restricted after 7 days, servers stop after 10, applications are deleted after 13, and backups after 28.
“Annual” via the wallet
There are no annual plans; you can prepay funds into a wallet and invoices are deducted from it.
Stopping is not cancelling
A stopped server is still billed. Delete servers and add-ons to stop charges.
06 · Worked examples
Three monthly bills, estimated.
Simple arithmetic from list prices, before tax. Backup storage depends on your site size; we show it as a range.
Small blog
1GB Standard, no CDN
≈ $11–$12/mo
$11 server + a few GB of backups at $0.033/GB (e.g. 10GB ≈ $0.33).
Business site
2GB Premium + CDN add-on
≈ $33–$34/mo
$28 server + $4.99 CDN + backups (e.g. 20GB ≈ $0.66).
Five client sites
4GB Standard, CDN on all five
≈ $72–$73/mo
$46 server + $24.95 CDN (5 × $4.99) + backups (e.g. 50GB ≈ $1.65).
07 · Keep the bill low
Six habits that keep the bill predictable.
Use the trial first
Five days on a real server is enough to migrate a copy of your site and see whether 1GB or 2GB is right.
Start small, scale up
Vertical scaling takes a few clicks, so begin with the smallest size that fits and upgrade when usage stays high.
Delete, don’t stop
Stopped servers are still billed. Delete test and old servers once you have a backup.
Watch backup storage
Backups are charged per GB. Review retention and remove old applications you no longer need.
Pick the right cloud
DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode have flat pricing; AWS and Google Cloud vary by region and charge more for overage bandwidth.
Group small sites
Several low-traffic sites on one 2GB or 4GB server usually cost less than separate small servers.
08 · Autonomous
The autoscaling option, priced.
| Plan | Price | Baseline servers | Bandwidth | Disk | Autoscaling overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $99/mo | 1 | 150GB | 20GB | $0.07/hr per server |
| Scale | $199/mo | 2 | 250GB | 50GB | $0.10/hr per server |
| Plus | $399/mo | 3 | 1,000GB | 100GB | $0.12/hr per server |
Source: Cloudways pricing, Autonomous tab and FAQ. Extra disk is $1/GB and extra bandwidth $0.04/GB on every plan.
Autonomous is a different product: fully managed WordPress on Google Cloud that adds servers automatically during traffic spikes. Each plan covers one website, offers a 99.9% uptime SLA, unlimited managed migrations, and comes with a 3-day free trial. You can set an autoscaling budget so it pauses before costs run away. It makes sense for stores, course sites, and publishers with sudden peaks; for a steady small site, Flexible is far cheaper.
09 · Which product
Flexible or Autonomous: which one fits?
| Flexible | Autonomous | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $11/mo (DigitalOcean 1GB) | $99/mo (Growth) |
| Sites | Unlimited per server | One website per plan |
| Scaling | You resize the server | Adds servers automatically during spikes |
| Cloud | DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud | Google Cloud |
| Free trial | 5 days, no card | 3 days |
| Managed migrations | 1 free per account | Unlimited |
| WordPress Multisite | Supported | Not supported |
Sources: Cloudways pricing, Cloudways Migrator guide.
For most blogs, business sites, and client portfolios, Flexible is the sensible choice: it is a fraction of the price and hosts as many sites as the server can carry. Autonomous is worth considering only when a single site has unpredictable peaks, such as a flash sale or a launch, and you would rather pay for automatic scaling than watch server graphs yourself.
10 · Questions
Cloudways pricing: quick answers.
What is the cheapest Cloudways plan?
A 1GB DigitalOcean Standard server at $11 a month, billed hourly. It suits testing and very small sites.
Does Cloudways raise prices at renewal?
There is no prepaid term to renew. You pay the current hourly rate for the hours used, so there is no first-year discount followed by a jump. Prices can still change over time.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
We did not find one on the pricing page. Instead, Flexible has a 5-day free trial with no card, and billing stops when you delete the server.
Can I pay annually?
Not as a plan. You can prepay funds into your Cloudways wallet, and monthly invoices are deducted from that balance.
What happens if a payment fails?
According to Cloudways’ billing FAQ, the dashboard is restricted after 7 days, servers are stopped after 10 days, applications are deleted after 13 days, and backups after 28 days. Keep a backup payment method on file.
Is the price the same in every data center?
On DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode, yes. On AWS and Google Cloud the price depends on the region you choose, and the platform shows it before you launch.
Are there discounts?
Cloudways runs time-limited promotions from time to time, and one was live when we checked. We do not publish codes; check the live checkout.
Sources
Where these numbers come from.
All pages checked November 9, 2026. Vendor statements are not independent performance findings.
- Cloudways — pricing & billing FAQsServer prices, billing rules, extras, Autonomous plans
- TechRadar — Cloudways reviewIndependent review, updated October 2026
Editorial independence & affiliate disclosure
The Steady Stack is independent of Cloudways, DigitalOcean, and every other host mentioned. Some Cloudways links on this site are affiliate links: if you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Links to Kinsta, WP Engine, Rocket.net, SiteGround, and other providers are ordinary links with no affiliation. No company paid for placement, and we do not offer coupons or rewards for signing up. This is a document-based guide: we did not run lab benchmarks, and we do not present vendor claims as test results.