Cloudways vs Liquid Web
We give Cloudways and Liquid Web the same GPA: 2.0 out of 4.0. Cloudways grades higher on the free plan. Liquid Web grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, 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
Liquid Web
Managed WordPress, VPS and dedicated server hosting for businesses
How we grade them
| 2.0GPACloudwaysFair | 2.0GPALiquid WebFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price on record: Cloudways' pages answered our readers with a bot check, so no two-year figure can be worked out. With nothing to compare, it sits at C, the grade for no stated price. Email, the CDN and malware protection are extra on top. | CPro WordPress is $17.10 a month billed yearly for one site, with no intro price to expire, so two years cost $410.40. That sits between the cheaper and dearer quarters of hosts. More traffic costs more: 400,000 visits is $71.10 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | DA 3-day free trial with no credit card, which is nice. But three days is less than a week, too short to judge a host properly, so it lands at D. | FNothing free: no free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from the start. |
| 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. | BManaged WordPress with Object Cache Pro, a Cloudflare-powered CDN, a firewall, daily malware scans, Patchstack and staging with visual comparison, plus VPS plans with root access. Nothing in the core hosting job is missing. |
| 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 app store rating to go on. Managed WordPress is looked after for you, but the cheapest VPS is self-managed, so there you'd run the server yourself. |
| 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. | BA web dashboard with no app on record. VPS plans come with an API and cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx, and Cloudflare and Kadence are named too. |
| Best for | managed cloud servers without running them yourself | WordPress sites that may grow into a server |
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 Liquid Web. How we grade
Where they differ
- Liquid Web also covers managed WordPress.
At a glance
| Cloudways | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | $17 per month (self-managed VPS); managed WordPress $17.10 a month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 3-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloudways, LLC | Liquid Web, LLC |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | liquidweb.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Cloudways
- Sites that have outgrown shared hosting but do not want to run a server
- Agencies hosting many client apps on servers they control
- Developers running Laravel or other PHP apps alongside WordPress
Liquid Web
- Businesses that expect to move from WordPress hosting to their own server
- Teams that want a fully managed VPS with cPanel or Plesk
- Developers who want a cheap self-managed VPS with root access
Worth knowing
Cloudways
- Cloudways' pages answered our readers with a bot check, so its server prices could not be read and are not listed here.
- 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.
Liquid Web
- Dedicated servers, Magento hosting and white-label plans for agencies are sold separately from the plans listed here.
- WordPress prices rise with traffic: one Pro site with up to 400,000 visits is $71.10 a month, billed annually.
- The $17 VPS is self-managed; the same server fully managed costs $72 a month.
- Autoscaling and CDN overage are billed by use, and Performance Shield is an optional add-on; the plan page does not give their prices.
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.
Liquid Web
- Managed WordPress platform
- WordPress core and plugin updates are handled for you, with Object Cache Pro, a Cloudflare-powered edge CDN, a web application firewall and DDoS protection.
- Staging with visual comparison
- Pro and Elite WordPress plans include staging sites and visual comparison, which previews how plugin updates change pages before they go live.
- Security layers
- WordPress plans include daily malware scans, Kadence Security Pro and Patchstack virtual patching for known plugin flaws.
- VPS with root access
- VPS plans give root access on a 10 Gbps network, with cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx control panels, Windows servers and an API.
- Self or fully managed
- The same VPS can be self-managed or fully managed, where Liquid Web also handles system updates, firewall setup, PHP support and restores.
- Migrations
- A self-serve tool moves WordPress sites over, and Elite plans add migration by a specialist. Managed VPS moves include email and control panel accounts.
Plans
Cloudways
Pricing could not be confirmed. See cloudways.com.
Liquid Web
Self-Managed VPS, 4 GB$17
per month for 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM, billed monthly
80 GB SSD, 3 TB bandwidth, root access and a dedicated IP. You look after the operating system, security and software yourself.
Pro WordPress$17.10
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)
Up to 50,000 visits, 15 GB storage, 14 days of daily backups, staging and visual comparison. $35.10 at 150,000 visits.
Elite WordPress$26.10
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
Up to 50,000 visits and 15 GB, with 30 days of backups and migration done by a person. $53.10 at 150,000 visits.
Managed VPS, 4 GB$72
per month for 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM, billed monthly
The same server fully managed: 24/7 support, updates, firewall setup and Acronis backups, with cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx and Windows available.
Pro WordPress, 10 sites$89.10
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
Ten sites with up to 50,000 visits each. Plans for 25 sites start at $179.10 a month, billed annually.
Ways to pay less
Cloudways
No public discounts listed.
Liquid Web
- Annual discount
10% off WordPress plans billed yearly
Annual billing saves 10% on managed WordPress plans: Pro for one site is $17.10 a month instead of $19 billed monthly.
