Cloudways vs WP Engine (2026): which one should you actually pick?
We weighed both across the credible independent testing and long-term user reports for each. Short version: WP Engine wins on premium managed WordPress — expert support, white-glove migrations, and headless (Atlas); Cloudways wins on price, multi-cloud flexibility, non-WordPress stacks, and no visit-based overage. They serve different buyers — here's how to decide.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links — at no extra cost to you. CuratorBits earns a commission via the Awin affiliate network if you sign up to Cloudways through our link below, and via Fiverr through the freelancer link in the footer. We are not a WP Engine affiliate, so there is no financial incentive on that side — our take on WP Engine is a straight editorial call. We build each comparison from the vendors' real terms, credible independent testing, and long-term user consensus — cross-checked before publishing.
The 20-second verdict
Pick WP Engine if you run a business or high-value WordPress site, you want a hands-off, expertly-supported managed-WordPress platform with white-glove migrations, staging, and headless (Atlas) options, and the premium price is justified — just plan around its visit-based billing.
Pick Cloudways if you want real cloud hosting at a much lower price, the freedom to choose your cloud provider, non-WordPress stacks (Laravel, PHP, Node), multiple sites on one server, SSH everywhere, and predictable pay-as-you-go cost with no visit caps or overage charges.
Cloudways vs WP Engine at a glance
Entry plan, side by side
Monthly entry rate for each vendor. WP Engine's Startup is $30/month if prepaid for a year, and that $30 is first-year new-customer pricing; $35 is what it costs billed monthly. WP Engine meters monthly visits and charges for overage; Cloudways caps nothing and charges for the server. Compare what happens above the limit, not just the headline.
| Cloudways | WP Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.6 / 5 |
| Type | Managed cloud hosting (multi-stack) | Premium managed WordPress |
| Starting price | $11/month (DigitalOcean Standard 1 GB); $14 Premium — pay-as-you-go | $35/month (Startup) billed monthly, $30 prepaid annually — billed by visits |
| Pricing model | Per server — no visit caps, no overage charges | Visit-based tiers; ~$2 per 1,000 visits over your limit |
| Infrastructure | Multi-cloud: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud — you choose | Managed WordPress platform (EverCache, global CDN) |
| WordPress support | 24/7 chat — quality can be inconsistent | Large WordPress-focused expert team + white-glove migrations |
| Stacks supported | WordPress + Laravel, PHP, Magento, Node, and more | WordPress only (plus Atlas for headless WordPress) |
| Sites / scaling | Many sites per server; scale RAM up; SSH + staging on every plan | Per-plan site limits; staging + dev tooling; scales by tier |
| Best for | Cloud flexibility, lower cost, multi-site, non-WordPress builders | Businesses wanting hands-off, expertly-supported WordPress |
Prices and specifics are from each vendor's published plans at the time of writing; check the live pricing pages before you buy, as tiers change.
Where WP Engine wins
Best-in-class managed WordPress. WP Engine is a premium, WordPress-only platform built around a large WordPress-focused support team, white-glove migrations, EverCache performance, and mature staging + developer tooling. If you want WordPress hosting to be genuinely hands-off and expertly supported, this is the higher ceiling.
Headless WordPress (Atlas). WP Engine's Atlas is a first-class headless-WordPress offering — relevant if you're building a decoupled front-end on top of WordPress, which Cloudways doesn't match out of the box.
Enterprise-grade support. The support team is larger and more WordPress-specialised than Cloudways' general managed-cloud support, and migrations are handled for you. We rated WP Engine 4.6/5. We're not a WP Engine affiliate, so that's a straight editorial call — for the right business it's worth the premium.
Where Cloudways wins
Price and predictable billing. Cloudways starts around a third of WP Engine's entry price and is pay-as-you-go per server — with no visit caps and no overage charges. WP Engine bills by monthly visits and adds roughly $2 per 1,000 visits over your plan's limit, which can sting on a traffic spike. For cost predictability, Cloudways is the safer call.
Multi-cloud and stack flexibility. You choose the cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud) and can run non-WordPress stacks (Laravel, PHP, Node, Magento) with SSH on every plan. WP Engine is WordPress-only. If you're not exclusively on WordPress, this is decisive.
Multiple sites and control. Host as many sites as a server's RAM allows and scale it up as you grow — no per-site plan tier. For the full breakdown of providers, performance analysis, and the dashboard, read our in-depth Cloudways review.
Sources
Every price on this page was checked against the vendor's own published pricing page. Vendors change these without notice — if a figure here disagrees with the vendor today, the vendor is right.
- Cloudways — pricing — re-read on 9 August 2026 with the droplet toggle switched, which changes the answer: DigitalOcean Standard 1 GB is $11/month (25 GB SSD) and Premium 1 GB is $14/month (25 GB NVMe). The page opens on Premium, so a figure read without touching the toggle is the dearer one. Cloudways' own "starting at $11/month" FAQ and its "$14/mo" og:description are therefore both correct and describe different droplets.
- WP Engine — plans — the Startup plan's site and visit limits, and both prices — $35/month billed monthly and $30/month prepaid annually. Re-checked 9 August 2026 by switching the page's own annually/monthly selector; its footnote restricts the $30 to a new customer's first year and says renewal pricing is subject to change.
Correction, 9 August 2026. This page quoted WP Engine at $30/month without qualification. That is the annual prepaid rate, restricted by WP Engine to a new customer's first year; billed monthly, Startup is $35. The error flattered WP Engine in a comparison whose other side — Cloudways at $11–14 depending on DigitalOcean droplet type — is the standard pay-as-you-go monthly rate, which is also what you pay when a Cloudways promotion ends, so the gap read narrower than it is.
Ratings are CuratorBits' own editorial scores, not a vendor or third-party figure. See how we build a review.
Try Cloudways
3-day free trial, no credit card required. Pay-as-you-go means no annual lock-in — and no visit-based overage surprises. If you want cloud flexibility, lower cost, or non-WordPress stacks, this is the one to start with.
Get Cloudways →Affiliate link via the Awin affiliate network — we earn a commission for qualifying signups, at no extra cost to you.
Who should pick which
Choose WP Engine if WordPress is your whole world and you want it handled for you: a business or high-value site, premium expert support, white-glove migrations, staging, and headless (Atlas) — with budget to match and traffic that fits its visit tiers.
Choose Cloudways if you want cloud flexibility and value: a much lower price, multi-cloud choice, non-WordPress stacks, multiple sites on one server, SSH and staging everywhere, and predictable pay-as-you-go billing with no visit-overage charges.
Neither is universally "better" — WP Engine is the premium hands-off WordPress specialist; Cloudways is the flexible, cost-predictable cloud generalist. Pick by which trade-off fits your project.
Common questions
Is Cloudways or WP Engine better?
Neither is universally better — they target different buyers. WP Engine is better for hands-off, expertly-supported managed WordPress (including headless via Atlas). Cloudways is better for cloud flexibility, lower cost, non-WordPress stacks, and predictable billing.
Is Cloudways cheaper than WP Engine?
Yes, substantially. Cloudways starts at $11/month pay-as-you-go on a DigitalOcean Standard 1 GB droplet ($14 on the Premium one). WP Engine's Startup is $35/month billed monthly, or $30/month prepaid for a year — and that $30 is first-year new-customer pricing. It also bills by monthly visits with overage charges of about $2 per 1,000 over your limit. The gap widens if your traffic exceeds your WP Engine tier.
Does WP Engine charge for extra traffic?
Yes. WP Engine's plans are visit-based, and traffic above your plan's monthly-visit limit incurs an overage charge of roughly $2 per 1,000 visits. Cloudways has no visit caps or overage charges — you pay for the server, not the traffic.
Can I host non-WordPress sites?
On Cloudways, yes — it supports Laravel, PHP, Node, Magento, and more, with SSH on every plan. WP Engine is WordPress-only (with Atlas for headless WordPress), so for other stacks Cloudways is the pick.
Which has better WordPress support?
WP Engine — it runs a large, WordPress-specialised support team and handles migrations for you. Cloudways offers 24/7 support too, but it's general managed-cloud support and quality can be more variable.
Read the full Cloudways review
This comparison is the short version. For the performance analysis, the dashboard, pricing tiers, and the honest caveats, read the in-depth review: