--- title: "Cloudways vs GoDaddy: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-godaddy" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-godaddy" 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 GoDaddy Cloudways and GoDaddy 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 [7.2 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) The largest registrar's cPanel hosting: three plans on a three-year term with a free domain and daily backups Cloudways wins 5 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.8 vs 7.2). ## How do the scores compare? Cloudways leads on 5 sub-scores, GoDaddy on 1. Higher is better. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 8.0 | | Support | 7.5 | 7.0 | | Features | 8.0 | 6.5 | | Value | 7.0 | 6.0 | | Ease of use | 7.0 | 7.5 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 7.8 | 7.2 | | Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs HostingStep 365 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.99% | | Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 442 ms | 344 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, GoDaddy is cheaper ($11.99/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 14, 2026 (Cloudways) and Oct 14, 2026 (GoDaddy). USD. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | Economy | | Intro price | $14.00/mo | $5.99/mo | | Renewal price | $14.00/mo | $11.99/mo | | Required term | 1 months | 36 months | | Websites | unlimited | 1 | | Storage | 25 GB | 25 GB | | Money back | 0 days | 30 days | ## What does each include? | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | No | First year on every plan, marked with an asterisk whose disclaimer the page keeps collapsed | | Free SSL | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | One year on Economy; unlimited certificates for all sites on Deluxe and Ultimate, auto-renewed through AutoSSL | | Backups | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | Automatic daily backups, with recovery of the whole account from the previous day | | Free migration | Free migration of existing sites | No | | Free CDN | No | The page lists CDN and firewall among the included essentials without naming the provider | | Caching | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | No | | Staging | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | No | | Email | No | Free email is listed on every plan without a mailbox count | | 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 | 250,000 inodes and 100 GB per account in the hosting agreement; no CPU or RAM figures on the plan page | | Data center choice | The provider's regions, chosen per server: DigitalOcean 9, Vultr 30, Linode 25, AWS 28, Google Cloud 28 | No | | Uptime guarantee | No | 99.9% per month in the hosting agreement, with a credit of 5% of the monthly fee on request, usable for future purchases | | Security | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | DDoS protection and network monitoring on every plan; a site security suite is included on the cards | | Free trial | 3 days without a credit card | Not stated | | Phone support | No | 24/7 chat, phone and email through GoDaddy Guides | | Windows hosting | No | No | | Node.js and languages | Not stated | Node.js on every plan; the dashboard exposes CPU, memory, entry processes and I/O controls | ## Company facts | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [GoDaddy](https://hostidea.com/reviews/godaddy) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | cPanel behind GoDaddy's dashboard | | Data centers | 1 | 1 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, email, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2011 | 1997 | Visit Cloudways (affiliate link: /go/cloudways)Visit GoDaddy (affiliate link: /go/godaddy)