Cloudways Alternative: Managed Hosting Without the Markup

People search for a Cloudways alternative for different reasons. Some outgrew one server and want more control, some host three small brochure sites and wonder whether they need a cloud platform at all, and some simply want to compare what they pay for. This post explains what Cloudways actually is, what the management layer gives you, and when one of our three options (shared DirectAdmin hosting, a Fully Managed VPS or a self-managed Cloud VPS) fits better. It also says plainly when Cloudways is the better choice.

We sell hosting, so we are not neutral. We have tried to describe Cloudways the way its own site does and kept our side to facts we can stand behind.

What Cloudways is

Cloudways is a managed hosting platform. It does not run its own data centres. Instead, you pick a server from one of several third-party cloud infrastructure providers, and Cloudways installs and runs the software on it: the web stack, caching, SSL, backups, firewall and monitoring. You manage your servers and applications from Cloudways' own web dashboard rather than a traditional hosting control panel, and support comes from Cloudways, not from the cloud provider underneath. Its official site describes the platform as aimed at WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, PHP and Node.js applications.

So when you pay Cloudways, you pay for two things:

1. The server, which runs at a third-party cloud provider.
2. The management layer you pay for on top: the dashboard, the tuned stack, one-click staging and cloning, automated backups, security tooling, monitoring and support.

That layer has real value. It is the work a system administrator would otherwise do. The question is whether your sites need that much of it, or a different shape of it.

Three ways to get the same outcome

The outcome most people want is simple: sites that load quickly, stay patched, get backed up, and come back if something breaks. There are three common ways to get there, and they differ mainly in who does the admin. If the terms shared, VPS and dedicated are still fuzzy, start with what a VPS is, compared with shared and dedicated hosting.

1. Shared DirectAdmin hosting: one to ten sites

For a small business site, a blog or a few client brochure sites, a whole server is usually more than you need. Our web hosting and WordPress hosting plans run on DirectAdmin, and the parts that make shared hosting dependable are already done for you:

• CloudLinux isolation. Every account has its own CPU and memory limits (LVE), so a busy neighbour cannot take your site down. How that works is in LVE explained.
• WordPress Manager for staging, cloning and control over automatic updates.
• AccelerateWP caching for WordPress.
• Imunify360 (firewall, web application firewall and malware scanning) and free Let's Encrypt SSL, renewed automatically.
• Daily off-site backups, kept for 14 days.
• PHP 7.4 to 8.5, selectable per site.

Plans run from Pioneer Start at $2.49 a month for one site to Pioneer Pro at $11.99 a month for ten sites (US dollars, VAT included). There is no root access and no server to look after, which for most small sites is exactly the point.

2. Fully Managed VPS: your own server, our admin

When you need a server of your own, because of traffic, a custom stack, a WooCommerce shop with heavier checkout load, or software that cannot run on shared hosting, the Fully Managed VPS is the closest thing we offer to a managed platform. The difference is that a person sets it up with you instead of a dashboard doing it.

We install the OS (Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux or Rocky, chosen with you), restrict SSH to keys, configure the firewall and Fail2ban, set up the web stack, PHP, database and SSL, then keep it patched and monitored every five minutes. Backups cover the last 24 hours plus 14 days off-site, with a restore target of four hours. Two hours of admin time a month is included; beyond that it is $35 an hour.

Managed VPS S is $34.99 a month for 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM and 40 GB NVMe, and it scales up to XL with 8 vCores, 24 GB and 200 GB. Outside the scope: custom development and debugging your own code.

3. Self-managed Cloud VPS: root access, lowest cost per resource

If you are comfortable on the command line, the Cloud VPS gives you the same server sizes at the lowest price per resource: Cloud VPS S is $8.49 a month for 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM and 40 GB NVMe. You get full root access, a 1 Gbps port with unlimited traffic, Anti-DDoS, a daily snapshot of the previous 24 hours, a browser console and free reinstalls.

Everything else is yours to do: OS updates, firewall and SSH hardening, the web stack, SSL, monitoring and any backups beyond the snapshot. That is the management layer, done by you, for the price of your time.

Decision table: which Cloudways alternative fits

The middle column matters less than people expect. A well-cached WordPress site on shared hosting handles more visitors than most small businesses ever see. The right column is the real decision.

Check what you actually need before moving

Before choosing anything, measure the site you have. Two quick checks tell you a lot.

Time to first byte. This shows how long the server takes to start answering, before images and scripts load:

curl -o /dev/null -s -w "DNS: %{time_namelookup}s\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nTLS: %{time_appconnect}s\nTTFB: %{time_starttransfer}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n" https://example.com/

Run it a few times. If the TTFB is consistently low on cached pages, your current hosting is not the bottleneck and a bigger server will not make the site feel faster. If it is high on every request, look at caching first, then at resources.

PHP version and memory limit. On a server you control:

php -v
php -i | grep -E "memory_limit|max_execution_time"

On shared hosting without SSH, WordPress shows the PHP version under Tools → Site Health → Info → Server. In DirectAdmin you can change it per site; the steps are in how to change the PHP version in DirectAdmin.

Disk and database size. On a VPS or over SSH:

du -sh ~/public_html
mysql -e "SELECT table_schema, ROUND(SUM(data_length + index_length)/1024/1024, 1) AS mb FROM information_schema.tables GROUP BY table_schema;"

If the whole site is a few hundred megabytes with a database under 100 MB, it will sit comfortably on a shared plan. If you are measuring in tens of gigabytes, or the database is busy all day, a VPS is the safer starting point.

When Cloudways is the better choice

We would rather you end up on the right platform than on ours. Cloudways is likely the better fit if:

• You want to choose between several cloud infrastructure providers or run servers at a provider you already use. We run our own servers in one France data centre, in the EU.
• You need servers in several regions to be close to visitors on different continents. We have one location.
• You want a dashboard to do the admin rather than a person. Our managed service is ticket-based: replies within four hours, around the clock, no live chat. If you prefer clicking a button to spin up a staging server at any hour, a platform suits you better.
• You run many separate apps for clients and want each one on its own server, created and cloned from one interface, with team access per app.
• Your team already knows it. Switching costs time, and familiarity with a working tool is worth something.

If none of those apply, you are probably paying for a layer of flexibility you do not use, and one of the options above will be simpler.

When one of ours fits better

• You host one to ten ordinary sites. Shared DirectAdmin hosting with CloudLinux isolation, WordPress Manager and 14 days of off-site backups covers this, for a few dollars a month. There is no server to size or upgrade.
• You want a person who knows your server. On the Managed VPS we set it up with you, patch it, watch it and restore it. Two hours a month of admin time covers the routine changes most sites need.
• You want root access and the lowest cost per resource. The Cloud VPS gives you that, provided you take on the admin.
• You want predictable billing. No setup fees, no minimum term, monthly or yearly, with yearly at ten times the monthly price.

Moving over

If you decide to move, the risky part is the switch itself: DNS, email and SSL. Our team does the free migration of files, databases, email and SSL, and you run the site on the new hosting for a week before paying. If you would rather do it yourself, the steps are in how to move a website to a new host without downtime.

Every web hosting, WordPress hosting and VPS plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try a smaller option first and move up if it turns out too small. A Cloud VPS can be resized to the next size by ticket, keeping the disk and IP, with a short reboot.

The honest summary: a managed cloud platform is a good product for people who need its flexibility. For a handful of sites, shared hosting is often enough. For one important server, a managed VPS with a person behind it is often more useful than a dashboard. And if you enjoy the admin, a plain VPS is the cheapest way to run it.

Frequently asked questions