Cloudways vs GridPane (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, GridPane grades higher than Cloudways: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cloudways grades higher on value for money. GridPane grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google
GridPane
WordPress server control panel with a free core plan
Which one is for you
Pick Cloudways if
- Fits if your site has outgrown shared hosting but you don't want to run a server
- Works for agencies hosting WordPress, Laravel or other PHP apps on servers they control
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want email included, as it's a paid add-on, like the CDN and malware protection
- Skip it if picking a server size sounds like homework, since you choose it yourself
- Tight if you want a proper look before paying, as the free trial lasts 3 days
- Watch out: offsite backup storage is $0.033 per GB per server on top, and prices exclude tax
- Pricey if you want autoscaling, as Autonomous starts at $99 a month for one site
Pick GridPane if
- Fits if you run many WordPress sites on servers you control
- Works for developers who want Git, WP-CLI and staging tools
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want hosting in one price, since you pay a server provider too
- Not for you if you host anything other than WordPress
- Tight if you're on Core: tickets, monitoring and backups need PeakFreq
- Watch out: the Panel and Developer Plus plans are closed to new sign-ups
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACloudwaysFair | 2.4GPAGridPaneFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BGraded against the managed hosts it's weighed against. A 1 GB DigitalOcean server is $11 a month, billed hourly with no intro price to expire, so two years cost $264. Rocket.net and Kinsta run $25 to $29 a month, though here you size the server yourself. | CCore is $0 for up to 25 sites, but you also pay a server provider, so it's free only if you bring a server. PeakFreq managed servers start at $19 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | DA 3-day free trial with no credit card. Three days is less than a week, too short to judge a host properly, so it lands at D. | BCore is free forever, with page caching, Redis, a firewall, SSL and cloning. Server costs are on top. |
| Features | CManaged servers on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud, with SSL, backups, staging, Object Cache Pro, Copilot and free migration. The gaps the listing names: email, the CDN and the malware protection service are paid add-ons. | CCaching, firewall, staging, cloning, Git and WP-CLI. It does the WordPress server job fully, but WordPress is all it does, and support tickets, monitoring and backups are paid. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating to go on. You choose and size the server yourself, which is more decisions than a shared hosting plan asks of you. | CNo store rating on record. You connect a server provider and set up servers before sites go live. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web console with no app on record, plus a published API and a choice of five cloud providers, with WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento and Laravel apps on top. | BWeb only, with Vultr, WordPress, WP-CLI and Git. |
| Best for | managed cloud servers without running them yourself | a control panel for many WordPress sites |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cloudways and GridPane. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cloudways starts at $11 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. GridPane starts at $19 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Cloudways starts $8 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 3 score higher than Cloudways for less, and 6 score higher than GridPane for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cloudways also covers malware protection.
- GridPane also covers managed WordPress and page speed.
At a glance
| Cloudways | GridPane | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $11 per month for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly | $19 per month and up (PeakFreq) |
| Free plan | None | Core plan: free forever, up to 25 websites on your own Vultr server or a managed PeakFreq server, with server page caching, Redis object caching, a 7G firewall, SSL certificates and cloning. |
| Free trial | 3-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloudways, LLC | GridPane, Inc |
| Price read from | cloudways.com | gridpane.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cloudways
- Offsite backup storage is billed at $0.033 per GB per server on top of the server price, and listed prices exclude tax.
- Email hosting, the Cloudflare CDN and the malware protection service are paid add-ons rather than part of the server price.
- You choose and size the server yourself, which takes more decisions than a shared hosting plan.
GridPane
- The free Core plan does not include server costs; you pay your provider, and Vultr is the one the plans page names.
- The Panel and Developer Plus plans are no longer open for sign-up, according to the plans page FAQ.
- Support ticket access, server monitoring and backups are listed under the paid PeakFreq plan, not Core.
- It is built for WordPress; no other platforms are advertised.
Key features
Cloudways
- Choice of cloud provider
- Servers run on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud, and you pick the provider, size and location, then scale up later.
- Managed server essentials
- Cloudways sets up and maintains the server with free SSL, backups, one-click staging and Object Cache Pro, and moves an existing site over for free.
- Copilot AI monitoring
- Cloudways Copilot watches the server's critical components and uses AI to diagnose issues and suggest fixes.
- Security and malware scanning
- Servers get malware scanning and vulnerability alerts, with a fuller malware protection service and a Cloudflare CDN sold as add-ons.
- Cloudways API
- Cloudways publishes an API, linked from every page, for working with the platform from your own scripts and tools.
GridPane
- Caching and firewall
- The Core plan lists server page caching, Redis object caching, a 7G firewall and A+ grade SSL certificates.
- Staging and cloning
- The site lists cloning tools and advanced staging, with Git, GP-CLI and WP-CLI for developers.
- Backups
- Local and remote backups are listed among the management features, and PeakFreq includes them.
- Snapshot Failover
- A Snapshot Failover feature is listed under management, along with full log access and one-click phpMyAdmin.
- Managed servers
- PeakFreq servers are run by GridPane on Vultr; the page also describes a service of fully managed single-site hosting.
- Multitenancy
- The site describes converting a site network into a software-as-a-service setup that manages thousands of sites from one codebase.
Plans
Cloudways
Flexible, 1 GB server$11
per month, billed hourly
DigitalOcean Standard server with 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB SSD and 1 TB bandwidth, for unlimited sites. $0.0164 an hour; Premium with NVMe is $14.
Flexible, 2 GB server$24
per month, billed hourly
DigitalOcean Standard server with 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD and 2 TB bandwidth. The Premium version with NVMe storage is $28 a month.
Flexible, 4 GB server$46
per month, billed hourly
DigitalOcean Standard server with 4 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs and 80 GB SSD, where Object Cache Pro is included. Premium is $54; an 8 GB server is $88.
Autonomous Growth$99
per month
Autoscaling WordPress for one site, with 150 GB bandwidth and 20 GB disk. Extra disk is $1 a GB, bandwidth $0.04 a GB and extra servers $0.07 an hour.
Autonomous Scale$199
per month
One site on two baseline autoscaling servers, with 250 GB bandwidth and 50 GB disk. Plus, with three servers and 1,000 GB, is $399 a month.
GridPane
Core$0
Up to 25 websites. You pay your server provider separately, or use a PeakFreq managed server.
PeakFreq$19
per month and up
Fully managed high-frequency servers built with Vultr. Adds support ticket access, server monitoring, staging features and local and remote backups.
Bespoke Hosting$2000
per year and up
Fully managed, tailor-made hosting for WordPress with pre-emptive support, done-for-you security, agency partnerships and top-tier SLAs.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cloudways or GridPane?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cloudways is cheaper to start with: $11 a month, against $19 a month for GridPane. Cloudways starts at $11 per month for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly, and GridPane starts at $19 per month and up (PeakFreq).
Which has a free plan, Cloudways or GridPane?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only GridPane has a free plan. Cloudways does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.