--- title: "Cloudways vs Bluehost: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/bluehost-vs-cloudways" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/bluehost-vs-cloudways" author: "Jennifer T." generated: "2026-10-15" note: "Markdown twin generated at build time from the same content as the HTML page. The HTML page is canonical." --- # Cloudways vs Bluehost Cloudways and Bluehost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Cloudways scores higher overall. By [Jennifer T.](https://hostidea.com/authors/jennifer-t) ยท Updated Oct 14, 2026 We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. Rankings come from the published methodology and sourced data, not from commissions. [Disclosure](https://hostidea.com/disclosure). ## Verdict [7.8 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways)Wins overall DigitalOcean's managed cloud layer: servers from $11 a month on five clouds, billed hourly, staging and caching included [7.6 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) Newfold's WordPress-recommended host: three shared tiers on 36-month terms, weekly backups, a 5 percent SLA coupon Cloudways wins 4 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.8 vs 7.6). ## How do the scores compare? Cloudways leads on 4 sub-scores, Bluehost on 2. Higher is better. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 8.0 | | Support | 7.5 | 7.0 | | Features | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Value | 7.0 | 7.5 | | Ease of use | 7.0 | 8.5 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 7.8 | 7.6 | | Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs HostingStep 243 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.97% | | Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 442 ms | 501 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, Bluehost is cheaper ($9.99/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 14, 2026 (Cloudways) and Oct 13, 2026 (Bluehost). USD. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | Starter | | Intro price | $14.00/mo | $3.99/mo | | Renewal price | $14.00/mo | $9.99/mo | | Required term | 1 months | 36 months | | Websites | unlimited | 10 | | Storage | 25 GB | 10 GB | | Money back | 0 days | 30 days | ## What does each include? | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | No | First year, with a 12-month or 36-month term | | Free SSL | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | Let's Encrypt | | Backups | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | Weekly website backups on every shared plan | | Free migration | Free migration of existing sites | Site migration tool | | Free CDN | No | Not stated | | Caching | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | Advanced static content caching and object caching | | Staging | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | WordPress staging site on every plan | | Email | No | Not stated | | Resource limits | A whole server per customer: 1 to 8 GB RAM and 1 to 4 vCPU on the listed sizes, larger sizes and other providers available | Not stated | | Data center choice | The provider's regions, chosen per server: DigitalOcean 9, Vultr 30, Linode 25, AWS 28, Google Cloud 28 | Not stated | | Uptime guarantee | No | 99.99% SLA; at most one coupon per month for 5% of the monthly hosting fee | | Security | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | Malware scanning on Starter; AI malware removal, web application firewall and DDoS protection from Business | | Free trial | 3 days without a credit card | Not stated | | Phone support | No | Business and above; Starter has chat only | | Windows hosting | No | No | | CDN | Not stated | Yes | | SSH and WP-CLI | Not stated | Yes | | Choice of data center | Not stated | Region selected at checkout (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) | ## Company facts | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | Bluehost account manager with cPanel | | Data centers | 1 | 2 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2011 | 2003 | Visit Cloudways (affiliate link: /go/cloudways)Visit Bluehost (affiliate link: /go/bluehost)