The honest comparison
WPenguin vs Cloudways
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform. Pricing below verified 2 July 2026 from published pricing pages — their prices and limits can change.
Cloudways and WPenguin look similar from a distance: both give you a cloud server of your own, both run the WordPress stack for you, and both charge a flat monthly fee with unlimited sites. The difference is where the responsibility stops.
Cloudways manages the server. WPenguin manages the server and the sites on it. On Cloudways, plugin updates, security incidents, malware, and broken sites are your job — their (genuinely good) 24/7 support covers the platform, not your WordPress. On WPenguin, an AI assistant and real WordPress engineers watch every site, apply tested updates, and fix problems before you hear about them.
Credit where due: Cloudways is a polished platform with real 24/7 infrastructure support, hourly billing, and a low entry price. If you want to manage WordPress yourself and only outsource the server layer, it's a fine choice.
- You enjoy managing WordPress yourself and only want the server layer handled
- You want hourly billing or a very low entry price for small experiments
- You already have your own update, backup, and security workflow you trust
- You want the sites cared for, not just the box they sit on
- You bill clients for your time and the maths of DIY stopped working
- You want one flat GBP bill with nothing metered per site
- You want bulk fleet management by asking, not by clicking through dashboards
Side by side
The maths for a 12-site agency
Cloudways: $88/mo for the 8GB server, plus SafeUpdates at $2–3 per site per month if you want updates handled ($24–36 for 12 sites), plus offsite backup storage billed per GB — roughly $112–130/mo (~£90–105) before your own time. Malware cleanup and site fixes remain your job at any price.
WPenguin: £139/mo. Updates tested and rolled back across all 12 sites, security and malware handled, offsite backups included, and engineers on the hook when something breaks. If your time bills at even £50/hour, the difference pays for itself the first time you don't spend an evening debugging a plugin conflict.
Common questions
Is Cloudways cheaper than WPenguin?
At sticker price, yes — $88/mo vs £139/mo for the same server size. But Cloudways sells the server layer; updates cost $2–3 per site per month extra, offsite backups are billed per GB, and malware cleanup and site fixes aren't available at any price. For a fleet of a dozen sites the gap narrows to £30–50/mo — which buys an engineering team instead of your evenings.
Can WPenguin migrate my sites off Cloudways?
Yes — migration is free, however many sites you have, with zero downtime. We move the files, databases, and media, and nothing switches over until everything checks out.
Do I lose flexibility by leaving Cloudways?
No. WPenguin is standard WordPress on a standard dedicated server — full wp-admin on every site, install any plugin. And migration out is free too, so you're never locked in.
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