Cloudways vs Google Cloud Comparison
Compare Cloudways vs Google Cloud features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Cloudways
7/10
Managed cloud hosting platform that runs WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel and PHP apps on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud servers.
Google Cloud
7.6/10
Google's public cloud platform providing pay-as-you-go virtual machines, Kubernetes, serverless, databases, storage, networking, data analytics and AI services for businesses of every size.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7/10 | 7.6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 10/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Free Always Free |
| Features | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Cloudways vs Google Cloud cost by team size
Google Cloud costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Cloudways | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | FreeAlways Free |
| 5 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | FreeAlways Free |
| 10 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | FreeAlways Free |
| 25 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | FreeAlways Free |
| 50 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | FreeAlways Free |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Cloudways
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose Google Cloud
- Has a free plan (Cloudways does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $14/mo
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Cloudways
Pros
- You can choose from five cloud providers and more than 50 locations from one control panel.
- Hourly pay-as-you-go billing, with a 5-day trial that needs no credit card.
- Every server includes free SSL, Layer 3 and 4 DDoS mitigation, a firewall and offsite backups.
- Agencies get one-click staging, cloning and Git auto-deployment for many client sites.
- Ratings are strong, at about 4.7 on G2 and 4.6 on Trustpilot.
Cons
- Email hosting and domain registration are not included.
- Billing gets hard to track once add-ons and bandwidth overages are added, and some reviewers report charges after cancelling.
- Some reviewers say support quality has dropped since the DigitalOcean acquisition.
- Power users report limited low-level control.
- Phone support requires a paid premium support add-on.
Google Cloud
Pros
- Very broad managed catalogue that spans VMs, GKE, serverless, several database engines, a CDN and Cloud Armor, so most infrastructure can come from one vendor.
- Global footprint, which Wikipedia put at 40 regions and 121 zones in early 2024, helps teams deploy close to users and across zones.
- A 300 USD, 90-day credit plus a permanent Always Free tier, including a small VM, lets developers prototype at no cost.
- Capterra reviewers credit its scalability with helping them adapt quickly to changing client demand.
Cons
- Capterra reviewers repeatedly say the billing is complex, hard to audit and sometimes produces unexpected charges.
- Technical support requires a paid plan priced as a percentage of spend, and Premium starts at 15,000 USD a month.
- Reviewers report a steep learning curve and inconsistent documentation.
- The free e2-micro VM is limited to three US regions, so other regions incur standard charges.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Google Cloud scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.6/10 against 7/10 for Cloudways. The largest gap is in Customization: 6/10 for Cloudways and 9/10 for Google Cloud.
Google Cloud costs less for 10 users: free on its Always Free plan, against about $14/mo on its Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) plan for Cloudways, billed monthly.
Google Cloud has a free plan; Cloudways does not list one.
Google Cloud is the better fit for developers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 6/10 for Cloudways.
