Cloudways vs UpCloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Cloudways and UpCloud to help you choose the right tool for your business.
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.
UpCloud
7/10
A Finnish cloud infrastructure provider offering cloud servers, managed Kubernetes, managed databases, object storage, and networking to developers and businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/mo Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/mo Starter |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Automatic Backups | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| VPS Hosting | ||
| DDoS Protection | 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 | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
Cloudways vs UpCloud cost by team size
| Team size | Cloudways | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/moStarter |
| 5 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/moStarter |
| 10 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/moStarter |
| 25 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/moStarter |
| 50 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €3/moStarter |
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 Analytics score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose UpCloud
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- 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.
UpCloud
Pros
- Independent benchmarks recorded very low p99 disk latency on its MaxIOPS storage
- Advertises a 100% uptime SLA with 50x credits for downtime
- Fixed plan prices include data transfer, which keeps bills predictable
- Official Terraform provider, REST API, and CLI support infrastructure as code
- Broad managed portfolio covering Kubernetes, four database engines, object storage, and a CDN
- EU headquarters, ISO 27001 certification, and GDPR focus suit European buyers
Cons
- Reviewers find it several times more expensive than Hetzner for similar specs
- Fewer locations than larger providers, concentrated in Europe
- Smaller community and fewer third-party reviews than DigitalOcean or Vultr
- One user reports outbound port 25 is blocked by default, which hinders mail servers
- Pricing is changing in November 2026, so older published prices may be out of date
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloudways and UpCloud both score 7/10 on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria. The largest gap is in Analytics: 7/10 for Cloudways and 5/10 for UpCloud.
No, neither Cloudways nor UpCloud lists a free plan.
UpCloud is the better fit for developers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 6/10 for Cloudways.
