Cloudways vs Ploi (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cloudways and Ploi share a 2.2 GPA, and only Ploi has a free plan.
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. Ploi 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
Ploi
Server and site management panel for PHP and Laravel apps
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 Ploi if
- Fits if you run Laravel or PHP apps on your own servers
- Works for freelancers who need one free server and site
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments a month
- Watch out: servers are billed separately
- Not for you if you need 24/7 support, as the FAQ says there isn't any
- Watch out: euro prices are converted to dollars at a rate that can move
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACloudwaysFair | 2.2GPAPloiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CBasic is $10 a month for 5 servers, Pro $16 and Unlimited $36, with server costs paid to your provider. Prices are set in euros and converted. |
| 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. | CFree for 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments a month, plus a 5-day Pro trial with no card. 5 deployments is a cap you'll hit. |
| 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. | CProvisioning, Laravel-aware sites, queues, cron jobs, load balancing, an API and an MCP server. It does the server-panel job fully, but that's a smaller job than hosting. |
| 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 provider and set up servers and sites. |
| 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 a mobile app listed, plus DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and AWS EC2. |
| Best for | managed cloud servers without running them yourself | managing PHP and Laravel servers |
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 Ploi. 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. Ploi starts at $10 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Ploi starts $1 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 3 score higher than Cloudways for less, and 3 score higher than Ploi 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.
At a glance
| Cloudways | Ploi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $11 per month for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly | $10 per month (Basic, up to 5 servers) |
| Free plan | None | 1 server, 1 site and 5 deployments per month. |
| Free trial | 3-day free trial, no credit card required | 5-day trial of the Pro plan, no credit card required; it then drops to the free plan. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloudways, LLC | Ploi |
| Price read from | cloudways.com | ploi.io |
| 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.
Ploi
- Ploi does not include server fees; you pay your server provider separately.
- The pricing page prices in euros and shows dollar figures converted at an exchange rate that can vary.
- There is no 24/7 support, according to the pricing page FAQ.
- Team management, backups, monitoring and other features are listed by plan in a comparison table; the free plan stops at 1 server and 5 deployments a month.
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.
Ploi
- Server installation
- Servers are provisioned with NGINX, PHP and Redis/Valkey by default, on providers including DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and AWS EC2.
- Laravel-aware site management
- The panel detects Laravel apps, and also lists WordPress support, deployments, queues, cron jobs and multiple PHP versions.
- Load balancing and status pages
- Traffic can be spread over several servers, and custom status pages keep customers informed.
- Teams and access
- Servers can be shared with co-workers, and the pricing table lists team management, domain aliases and tenants.
- API and MCP server
- An API and an MCP server let AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor manage servers.
- Mobile app
- The features menu lists an app for managing sites and servers on the go.
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.
Ploi
Free$0
Up to 1 server and 1 site, with 5 deployments a month.
Basic$10
per month, billed monthly
Up to 5 servers, unlimited sites and deployments, and 60 API requests a minute.
Pro$16
per month, billed monthly
Up to 10 servers, unlimited sites and deployments, and 120 API requests a minute.
Unlimited$36
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited servers and sites, and 240 API requests a minute.
Ways to pay less
Cloudways
No public discounts listed.
Ploi
- Annual discount
10% off with yearly billing
The pricing page says yearly pricing saves 10%: Basic is $108 a year, Pro $172.80 and Unlimited $388.80 in dollars as displayed.
- Education
Student discount
The FAQ says Ploi offers student discounts and points to a requirements page.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cloudways or Ploi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Ploi is cheaper to start with: $10 a month, against $11 a month for Cloudways. Cloudways starts at $11 per month for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly, and Ploi starts at $10 per month (Basic, up to 5 servers).
Which has a free plan, Cloudways or Ploi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Ploi 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.