Cloudways Review 2027: Clear Hourly Prices, No Refund and Billing Rules You Must Read
Hello my friend. Cloudways does not own servers: it manages cloud servers that run on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud and bills by the hour. Its pricing page prints every plan, from $14 a month, with no lock-in and a 5-day free trial, but I found no money-back guarantee and Trustpilot shows billing disputes. Trustpilot gives 4.6 out of 5 from 3,766 reviews. I read its pricing page, Trustpilot and outside tests on 13 Nov 2026, bought no server and ran no test. My score is 14 out of 20.
// disclosure: I run SyncCrawl, where I do cheap SEO services for small businesses. No vendor pays for a place in my reviews. Cloudways is not a client and I earn nothing from its link. I bought no plan and measured no speed.
- Five cloud providers to choose from
- 5-day free trial, no card
- No money-back guarantee found
- Servers from $14 a month
- Trustpilot 4.6 of 5
- Hourly billing, no lock-in
- Every plan price is printed
- No minimum term, hourly billing
- 24/7 chat and ticket support
- No money-back guarantee found
- Add-ons bill separately
- Phone support costs $100 a month
// compare with Hostinger and ChemiCloud.
Should You Buy It? Three Quick Answers
Read these first, then the detail.
You want managed cloud and a printed price list
You want a managed server on a big cloud provider, without running Linux yourself, and you like seeing every price up front.
Trustpilot reviewers repeatedly praise patient, quick chat support.
You want a fixed bill or a refund
Billing is usage-based, add-ons bill separately and stopping a server does not stop charges. I found no money-back guarantee.
A failed payment can lead to deleted servers within 13 days.
Use the trial, then set a budget
Test your real site in the 5-day trial, then write down every add-on you switch on.
Delete servers and add-ons, not just stop them, when you leave.
What Customers Really Say
Trustpilot, snapshot read on 13 Nov 2026.
Trustpilot gives Cloudways 4.6 out of 5 from 3,766 reviews, with 638 in the last 12 months. Eighty-eight percent are five-star and 8% are one-star, so the low end is bigger than ChemiCloud’s. G2 lists 4.7 from 1,134 reviews, and users there most often mention helpful support.
Cloudways says it replies to every negative review, usually within 48 hours. Trustpilot does not fact-check reviews, and one reviewer alleges some five-star reviews come from single-review accounts, which I could not verify.
// Trustpilot, 3,766 reviews, snapshot read 13 Nov 2026.
Patient, quick chat agents
Reviewers from mid-September to mid-October 2026 describe knowledgeable chat staff and credit them with help on migrations, security blocks and plugin issues.
Billing after deletion
A one-star review from 30 September 2026 says charges for add-ons and a trial continued after the server was deleted. Cloudways replied that add-ons must be cancelled separately and escalated the case.
Generic support
A one-star review from 13 October 2026 calls support generic and says the service does not match premium pricing. One visible review is not a pattern, so weigh it with the praise.
The Bill You Will Really Pay
Prices are printed, but the extras are not in them.
The pricing page lists five Flexible plans on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS and Google Cloud. Plan prices are the same table for all providers, except that AWS and Google Cloud vary by region. Gizmodo quoted starting prices of $11 on DigitalOcean, $20.56 on AWS and $37.33 on Google Cloud, so the figures differ from today’s page and you should check your own provider in the cart.
There is no minimum term. For DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode the hourly rate is the monthly price divided by 672, and a full month is capped at the monthly price. A Black Friday offer on the page gives 80% off the first 2 months, up to $200 off a month, with prices reverting afterwards. For example a $54 server costs $10.80 a month during the promo.
// Flexible plans, pricing page read 13 Nov 2026.
| plan | price | hardware and bandwidth | hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | $14 a month | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB NVMe, 1 TB | $0.0208 an hour |
| Small | $28 a month | 2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB NVMe, 2 TB | $0.0417 an hour |
| Small+ | $37 a month | 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 60 GB NVMe, 3 TB | $0.0551 an hour |
| Medium | $54 a month | 4 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 80 GB NVMe, 4 TB | $0.0804 an hour |
| Large | $99 a month | 8 GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160 GB NVMe, 5 TB | $0.1473 an hour |
// Cloudways pricing page, 13 Nov 2026. The list covers all five providers, with region variation on AWS and Google Cloud.
Add-ons cost more
Enterprise Cloudflare CDN from $4.99 a domain, malware protection from $4 an app, Site Manager from $3 an app, and Rackspace email at $1.50 a mailbox, all monthly.
Backups are mandatory
The page says offsite backups cost $0.033 a GB and cannot be disabled. Extra disk is $1 per 10 GB.
Bandwidth overage
Overage is $0.02 a GB on DigitalOcean and Linode, $0.01 on Vultr in North America and Western Europe, and $0.12 on AWS.
Other plan families exist: Autonomous managed WordPress at $99, $199 and $399 a month, and managed Node.js plans from $20. I focus on Flexible because that is what most WordPress buyers compare.
What Happens If a Payment Fails
Printed on the pricing page.
Dashboard restricted
A failed payment restricts the dashboard first.
Servers stopped
Servers are stopped, but billing for stopped servers continues.
Apps and servers deleted
Apps and servers are deleted at this point.
Backups deleted
Backups are permanently deleted. Keep your own copy.
// from the Cloudways pricing page, 13 Nov 2026. Taxes apply by country and billing address.
What Tests Actually Found
Different setups, different results.
| source | year | test | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gizmodo | reviewed 2025, updated Feb 2026 | GTmetrix, Vancouver, DigitalOcean US server | TTFB 331 ms, fully loaded 1.1 s |
| Gizmodo | same review | Pingdom and Loader, three months | 99.98% uptime, average 322 ms |
| Themeisle | 2026 | uptime monitor on a test setup | 100% in July, August and October |
| Bloggerspassion | 2026 | 1 GB DigitalOcean Premium, New York | 490 ms average global TTFB |
// third-party tests as I read them on 13 Nov 2026. I ran none of them. Each used its own test site, provider and location.
The sources agree that Cloudways is quick and stable on a well-chosen provider, though the numbers are not comparable. One affiliate-supported review reports 127 ms on Vultr High Frequency in New York, and I treat that as a claim, not a measurement I checked.
Your result depends on which provider and data center you choose, so use the trial with your own site before you commit.
Who Answers When You Write
Chat is included. Phone is a paid add-on.
24/7 chat and tickets
Standard support is live chat and tickets on all plans, and the company description on Trustpilot claims a 90-second average response, which I could not verify.
Responsive, some slow tickets
Gizmodo’s testers found support responsive and helpful, though ticket replies took up to two hours.
$100 a month extra
Gizmodo says the Advanced Support add-on costs $100 a month and includes phone support. The pricing page also advertises a limited-time discount on it.
Three Conflicts Worth Knowing
Facts that do not line up.
5 days or 3 days
The pricing page says a 5-day trial on Flexible. Gizmodo reported a 3-day trial. I trust the page, read 13 Nov 2026.
$11 or $14
Gizmodo and other reviews quote $11 for the cheapest DigitalOcean plan. The pricing page I read lists Micro at $14 for all providers.
2009 or 2012
Two affiliate-supported review sites give different founding years, so I state none.
A Four-Question Decision Guide
Answer honestly, follow the arrow.
Cloudways suits people who accept usage-based billing in exchange for a managed cloud server. These four questions sort you quickly.
If the first two answers worry you, a fixed-price shared host may fit better.
How It Earned 14 out of 20
Four tests, five points each.
Price clarity: 4 / 5
Every Flexible price and the hourly rule are printed, though add-ons and overage add up.
Features and limits: 4 / 5
Five providers, NVMe storage, free managed migrations on Autonomous and no visit limits, with mandatory backups billed by size.
Terms and refunds: 2 / 5
No money-back guarantee found, a strict failed-payment schedule, and a billing dispute on Trustpilot.
Support and record: 4 / 5
4.6 from 3,766 reviews and praise for chat, one point off for the one-star share and paid phone support.
// my opinion from its pricing page, Trustpilot and outside tests, with no server bought.
Hosts to Compare
Reviews to open next.
Want one fixed shared-hosting price?
Hostinger sells shared plans with a refund window. Read the Hostinger review.
Want cPanel and a 45-day refund?
ChemiCloud claims a 45-day refund. Compare the ChemiCloud review.
Want another managed host?
FastComet is another host to weigh. See the FastComet review.
Straight Answers on Cloudways
How much does Cloudways cost?
Its pricing page lists Flexible servers from $14 a month for 1 GB RAM and 1 vCPU up to $99 for 8 GB and 4 vCPU. Billing is hourly, capped at the monthly price. Older reviews quote $11 for the cheapest DigitalOcean plan, so check the cart for your provider.
Does Cloudways have a free trial?
Yes. The pricing page offers a 5-day trial on Flexible with no credit card, excluding AWS and Google Cloud, and deletes the server when the trial ends unless you add a payment method. Gizmodo reported a 3-day trial, so the length has changed.
Does Cloudways have a money-back guarantee?
I found none. The pricing page describes pay-as-you-go billing with no lock-in, and Gizmodo’s review says there is no money-back guarantee and suggests using the trial instead. Ask support if you need a refund in writing.
Is billing really hourly?
Yes. For DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode the hourly rate is the monthly price divided by 672, and a full month is capped at the monthly price. Usage is invoiced on the 1st for the previous month. Stopping a server does not stop billing.
What happens if a payment fails?
The pricing page lists a schedule: the dashboard is restricted on day 7, servers are stopped on day 10, apps and servers are deleted on day 13, and backups are permanently deleted on day 28. Keep your own copy of anything important.
Is Cloudways fast?
Outside tests used different setups. Gizmodo measured a 331 ms time to first byte and a 1.1 s fully loaded time on DigitalOcean. A Bloggerspassion review reported a 490 ms global average time to first byte on a 1 GB DigitalOcean plan. I ran no test of my own.
How reliable is Cloudways uptime?
Gizmodo measured 99.98% over three months with two short outages, and Themeisle recorded 100% for July, August and October 2026. The Autonomous plans list a 99.9% uptime SLA. I did not read the SLA for Flexible servers.
Does Cloudways have phone support?
Standard support is 24/7 live chat and tickets. Gizmodo says the Advanced Support add-on costs $100 a month and includes phone support. Trustpilot reviewers praise chat agents, while one October 2026 reviewer calls support generic.
What do customers complain about?
A one-star Trustpilot review from 30 September 2026 says charges continued for add-ons and a trial after the server was deleted. Cloudways replied that billing is prorated and that add-ons must be cancelled separately. I cannot verify either side.
How did you score Cloudways?
It scored 4 for price clarity, 4 for features and limits, 2 for terms and refunds and 4 for support and record, which totals 14 out of 20. I bought no server and ran no tests of my own.
Where the Numbers Came From
Seven pages, then more reviews.
- Cloudways pricing page (plans, hourly billing, trial, add-ons, payment rules, promo)
- Trustpilot: Cloudways (score, star split, praise, complaints, company replies)
- Gizmodo: Cloudways review (prices, trial, no refund, GTmetrix, uptime, support)
- Themeisle: Cloudways review (monthly uptime record on a test setup)
- Bloggerspassion: Cloudways review (TTFB test on a 1 GB DigitalOcean plan)
- G2: Cloudways reviews (4.7 rating from 1,134 reviews)
- ThatMy: Cloudways review (Vultr TTFB claim, affiliate-supported)
More reviews to read
- Hostinger review
- ChemiCloud review
- GreenGeeks review
- FastComet review
- Hosting.com review
- 1984 Hosting review
// facts as of 13 Nov 2026. Third-party tests are not mine and use different setups. Complaints and company replies are individual claims I could not verify. I could not open Cloudways’ terms or refund pages. I also run cheap SEO services for small businesses.