Cloudways vs Rocket.net
We give Cloudways and Rocket.net the same GPA: 2.0 out of 4.0. Cloudways grades higher on the free plan. Rocket.net 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
Rocket.net
Managed WordPress hosting served through Cloudflare Enterprise
How we grade them
| 2.0GPACloudwaysFair | 2.0GPARocket.netFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts. Starter is $25 a month billed yearly, so two years cost $600, about $25 a month, the middle of that group. Monthly is $30 after a $1 first month, and it says renewals aren't raised. |
| 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. | FNo free plan and no trial. The first month on monthly billing is $1, which is cheap but not free, and there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| 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. | BCloudflare Enterprise CDN and firewall, a real-time malware scanner, daily backups kept 30 days, staging, automatic updates, free WP Rocket and WP Umbrella licenses and free migrations. Nothing in the managed WordPress 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. Caching and security come set up, so there are fewer plugins to fiddle with, but you're still moving and running a WordPress site. |
| 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, plus an official MCP server covering the whole API, and Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT connected from its AI panel. |
| Best for | managed cloud servers without running them yourself | fast WordPress sites with visitors worldwide |
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 Rocket.net. How we grade
Where they differ
- Rocket.net also covers managed WordPress.
At a glance
| Cloudways | Rocket.net | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | $25 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 monthly, first month $1) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 3-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloudways, LLC | Rocket.net |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | rocket.net |
| 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
Rocket.net
- WordPress sites with traffic spread across many countries
- Site owners who want caching and security handled without plugins
- Developers who want to run hosting from an AI agent or their IDE
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.
Rocket.net
- It hosts WordPress only and does not include email; the pricing page points to Google Workspace for mail.
- Storage beyond the plan is billed at $2 per GB and bandwidth at $0.08 per GB, unless you move up a plan.
- Enterprise plans with dedicated CPU and RAM start at $649 a month through sales and are excluded from the 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Visitors are unmetered, but each plan caps the number of WordPress sites, storage and bandwidth.
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.
Rocket.net
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and firewall
- Every site is served through Cloudflare Enterprise with its web application firewall switched on, and a server-side scanner checks files for malware in real time.
- Daily backups and staging
- Backups run automatically each day and are kept for 30 days. Free staging environments let updates be tested before they reach the live site.
- Bundled plugin licenses
- Plans include WP Rocket for caching and WP Umbrella for monitoring and maintenance at no extra charge.
- AI panel and MCP server
- Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT can be connected to any site for content, SEO and code work, and an official MCP server covers the whole Rocket.net API.
- Automatic updates and activity log
- WordPress core, plugin and theme updates can run automatically, and an activity log records changes made on each site.
- Free migrations and support
- Sites are moved over free from any host, and support by live chat and tickets is open 24/7 on every plan.
Plans
Cloudways
Pricing could not be confirmed. See cloudways.com.
Rocket.net
Starter$25
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth and unmetered visitors. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $30 a month.
Pro$50
per month for 3 sites, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
20 GB storage and 100 GB bandwidth. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $60 a month.
Business$83
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
40 GB storage and 300 GB bandwidth. On monthly billing the first month is $1, then $100 a month.
Expert$166
per month for 25 sites, billed annually ($200 billed monthly)
50 GB storage and 500 GB bandwidth for people managing several client sites. First month $1 on monthly billing.
Agency Tier 1$83
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
50 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth and the Agency Toolkit. Nine higher tiers run up to 200 sites at $1,333 a month, billed annually.
Ways to pay less
Cloudways
No public discounts listed.
Rocket.net
- Other savings
First month for $1 on monthly billing
Every plan billed monthly costs $1 for the first month, then its regular rate, such as $30 a month for Starter. Rocket.net says renewals are not raised.
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
Paying yearly gives two months free on any plan: Starter drops from $30 to $25 a month and Pro from $60 to $50.
