The best Cloudways alternatives, compared honestly
Cloudways still does the job — managed cloud hosting on real DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud servers. But since DigitalOcean bought it in 2022, the markup over raw infrastructure has stayed steep, there's still no root access, and agency tooling has stalled. Here are five platforms worth switching to, ranked on their merits.
The best Cloudways alternative depends on how hands-off you want to be. In short:
- Best overall & closest replacement → RunCloud — the same one-click panel, pointed at your own cloud account so you pay infrastructure at cost and keep full root.
- Best value → Ploi — unlimited servers for $8/mo, PHP/Laravel-first.
- Best fully-managed WordPress → Kinsta — premium, hands-off, Google Cloud C2 and 24/7 WP engineers.
- Best for Laravel → Laravel Forge. Zero-server, just git-push → DigitalOcean App Platform.
Why people look elsewhere
What pushes people off Cloudways
Cloudways occupies a genuinely useful middle ground — real cloud VPS instances with 90% of the ops work removed. But the economics and the ceiling on control drive a steady stream of departures.
The managed-layer markup
Cloudways adds a fixed management fee to every server. Entry plans start around $11/mo where the underlying DigitalOcean droplet is a few dollars, and reviewers put the effective cost at roughly 2–3× direct infrastructure — a $24/mo Vultr server can land near $60/mo on Cloudways.
No root access, ever
Cloudways grants elevated SSH but no root or sudo on any plan, to keep its fleet consistent. Fine for most WordPress, but a wall if you need custom system packages, an alternative web server or kernel tuning.
Stalled since the acquisition
DigitalOcean acquired Cloudways in September 2022 for $350M. Reviewers report the agency tooling has stagnated since, with slower innovation and shifts in support quality compared with the pre-acquisition platform.
Locked to the bundle
You pay for the server and the management as one bill, so you can't shop for the cheapest host or move your management layer independently. Bring-your-own-cloud panels connect to an account you own.
Limited stack control
No choice of web server (no OpenLiteSpeed or Caddy) and limited access to low-level Nginx config. Panels like RunCloud expose far more of the server for tuning without giving up the GUI.
The savings don't reach you
Even flexible pay-as-you-go billing still bundles the managed fee, so the cheap-cloud-VPS savings you'd get renting directly are partly absorbed by the platform.
The shortlist
5 Cloudways alternatives worth trying
Ranked for the typical person leaving Cloudways — someone who wants managed convenience without the bundle markup, or a genuinely more hands-off option. Your best pick depends on whether you'd rather own the cloud relationship (and keep root) or hand the whole server off.
Point it at your own DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS or Hetzner account and it becomes the panel Cloudways gives you — one-click PHP/WordPress deploys, staging, cloning, automated updates and visual Nginx/PHP tuning — but you pay the cloud provider directly at cost and keep full root on your own box. Basic $8/mo (one server), Pro $15/mo (unlimited). Strong for both WordPress agencies and PHP devs.
If the appeal of Cloudways was "never think about the server," Kinsta does that better: premium managed WordPress on Google Cloud's C2 machines, a free Cloudflare-powered CDN, staging, daily backups and 24/7 WordPress engineers. From $35/mo for one site (~25k visits) — pricier than Cloudways, but genuinely hands-off and WordPress-specialised.
The value leader among server-management panels: unlimited servers for a flat $8/mo. Covers the same core provisioning, deployment and monitoring, PHP/Laravel-first, connected to your own cloud. Less granular on server config than RunCloud, but the cheapest way to manage many servers with full root.
Built by the Laravel team and the de-facto standard for deploying Laravel — and vanilla PHP, WordPress and Node too. Zero-downtime deploys, managed databases and GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket integration. Hobby $12/mo (unlimited Laravel VPS + 1 external server), Growth $19/mo. Instant provisioning via Laravel VPS, or connect DigitalOcean/AWS/Hetzner.
Skip server management entirely: push to Git and it builds and deploys, with automatic SSL and domains. Free static-site tier (up to 3 apps); dynamic services from $5/mo. Owned by the same company as Cloudways — the more hands-off, modern route to the same infrastructure if you don't need a full VPS.
Side by side
Cloudways alternatives compared
Cloudways itself is the top row for reference. "Bring your own cloud" means you rent the VPS directly from a provider and the platform manages it; prices are the cheapest recurring paid plan (billed monthly).
| Platform | Hosting model | Bring your own cloud | Root / SSH | Cheapest plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | Managed bundle | ✗ Bundled | SSH, no root | $11/mo | Existing users |
| RunCloud | Server panel | ✓ | ✓ Full root | $8/mo | Closest replacement |
| Kinsta | Fully-managed WP | ✗ | SSH, no root | $35/mo | Hands-off WordPress |
| Ploi | Server panel | ✓ | ✓ Full root | $8/mo unlimited | Value / many servers |
| Laravel Forge | Server panel | ✓ | ✓ Full root | $12/mo | Laravel / PHP devs |
| DigitalOcean App Platform | PaaS (git-push) | It is the cloud | Managed, no server | $5/mo (free static) | Zero-server deploys |
Pricing models and plans change often — check each vendor for current terms. Compiled July 2026 from each vendor's official pricing pages.
Official pages: RunCloud · Kinsta · Ploi · Laravel Forge · DigitalOcean App Platform · Cloudways
The context
Managed bundle vs. bring-your-own-cloud
Almost every Cloudways alternative falls into one of two camps. Understanding the split is the fastest way to pick the right one — it's really a choice between simplicity and control.
Two ways to buy
Cloudways and Kinsta bundle the server and its management into one bill. Panels like RunCloud, Ploi and Forge separate them: you rent the VPS from a cloud provider at its real price and pay a flat panel fee on top.
Where the money goes
On the bundle you pay a managed-layer fee on every server. On a panel you pay one flat subscription no matter how many servers you connect — so the more sites and servers you run, the more bring-your-own-cloud saves.
Who holds the keys
Panels give you full root on a box you own — install OpenLiteSpeed, tweak the kernel, add any package. The bundle trades that away for a locked-down, hands-off environment you never have to patch yourself.
The honest trade-off
The bundle is genuinely simpler: one vendor, one bill, one support desk, zero server ownership. BYO means you own the cloud relationship — and the incident response. Pick the axis that matters more to you.
A fair call
When Cloudways is still a reasonable choice
No product is all bad. Cloudways remains a solid managed host for plenty of situations — but for many people the economics or the control ceiling make a switch easy to justify.
Cloudways is fine if…
- You want the simplest possible managed cloud hosting and don't want a separate cloud account and panel to reason about.
- You run a handful of WordPress or PHP sites and the fixed managed fee is worth the near-zero ops.
- You value one vendor, one bill and one 24/7 support desk over squeezing infrastructure costs.
- You never need root access or a non-standard stack (custom packages, alternative web servers).
Switch if…
- You run many sites or servers and the per-server managed markup has become the biggest line on your bill — RunCloud or Ploi on your own cloud.
- You need full root, OpenLiteSpeed/custom packages or kernel tuning — any bring-your-own-cloud panel.
- You want premium, WordPress-specialised managed hosting with expert support — Kinsta.
- You'd rather not manage a server at all and just git-push — DigitalOcean App Platform or Laravel Forge.
Common questions
Cloudways alternatives — common questions
Why are people looking for Cloudways alternatives in 2026?
Cloudways still works well, but since DigitalOcean acquired it in September 2022 for $350 million, several things have pushed users to look elsewhere: the managed-layer fee keeps the effective cost roughly 2–3× the price of the underlying cloud VPS, Cloudways grants no root access on any plan, and reviewers report slower product innovation and shifts in support quality since the acquisition. Because you pay for infrastructure and management as one bundle, you also can't shop for the cheapest host.
What is the closest Cloudways alternative?
RunCloud is the closest like-for-like replacement. It gives you the same kind of control panel Cloudways offers — one-click WordPress and PHP deploys, staging, site cloning, automated updates and visual Nginx/PHP tuning — but you point it at your own DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS or Hetzner account, so you pay the cloud provider directly at cost and keep full root access on your own server. Its Basic plan is $8/month for one server; Pro is $15/month for unlimited servers.
Is Cloudways cheaper than managing your own server?
Not usually, once you run more than a site or two. Cloudways bundles a fixed managed-services fee into every server, so entry plans start around $11/month where the underlying DigitalOcean droplet costs only a few dollars, and reviewers put the effective markup at roughly 2–3× direct infrastructure. A bring-your-own-cloud panel like RunCloud, Ploi or Laravel Forge charges one flat subscription regardless of how many servers you connect, so the more sites you run, the more you save by renting the VPS directly.
What's the difference between a managed host and a server-management panel?
A managed host like Cloudways or Kinsta owns the whole stack: they rent you the server and manage it, bundled into one bill. A server-management panel like RunCloud, Ploi or Laravel Forge is bring-your-own-cloud: you open your own account with a cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, AWS), and the panel provisions, configures and deploys to it for a flat fee. The panel model is cheaper at scale and gives you full root, while the managed model is simpler because everything comes from one vendor.
Can I get root access on a Cloudways alternative?
Yes. Cloudways does not grant root or sudo on any plan, which blocks custom system packages, alternative web servers and kernel tuning. Any bring-your-own-cloud panel — RunCloud, Ploi, Laravel Forge or GridPane — runs on a server you own, so you keep full root and SSH access and can install whatever you like, including OpenLiteSpeed or Caddy.
What is the best Cloudways alternative for WordPress?
It depends on how hands-off you want to be. RunCloud is the best value for agencies that want to keep managing servers themselves: WordPress-optimised configs, one-click staging and cloning, connected to your own cheap cloud. If you'd rather never touch a server, Kinsta is the premium fully-managed WordPress host — Google Cloud C2 machines, a free CDN, staging and 24/7 WordPress engineers — from $35/month per site.
Does Cloudways still run on DigitalOcean?
Yes. Cloudways launches real VPS instances on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS and Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean — which powered roughly half of Cloudways' customers even before the deal — has owned Cloudways outright since September 2022. If you mostly used Cloudways for DigitalOcean droplets, DigitalOcean's own App Platform is a more hands-off, git-push route to the same infrastructure.