Cloudways vs HostArmada
Cloudways and HostArmada compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Cloudways scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
CloudwaysWins overall
DigitalOcean's managed cloud layer: servers from $11 a month on five clouds, billed hourly, staging and caching included
cPanel host since 2019 with stated cores and RAM, 7 to 21 daily backups, nine locations and a 45-day refund
Cloudways wins 1 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.8 vs 7.7).
How do the scores compare?
Cloudways leads on 1 sub-scores, HostArmada on 1. Higher is better.
| Cloudways | HostArmada | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Uptime | 8.5 (better) | 8.0 |
| Support | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Features | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Value | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Ease of use | 7.0 | 7.5 (better) |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| Cloudways | HostArmada | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7.8 (better) | 7.7 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs Kripesh Adwani 365 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs Kripesh Adwani; methods differ | 442 ms | 254 ms (better) |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, HostArmada is cheaper ($11.95/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| Cloudways | HostArmada | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | Start Dock |
| Intro price | $14.00/mo | $2.15/mo (better) |
| Renewal price | $14.00/mo | $11.95/mo (better) |
| Required term | 1 months (better) | 12 months |
| Websites | unlimited | 1 |
| Storage | 25 GB | 15 GB |
| Money back | 0 days | 45 days (better) |
What does each include?
| Cloudways | HostArmada | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | No | No |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | Sectigo certificates through cPanel AutoSSL for every domain |
| Backups | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | Daily offsite backups, 7, 14 or 21 kept by plan; one full account copy is promised in the SLA; restores from cPanel |
| Free migration | Free migration of existing sites | 1, 3 or 5 website transfers by plan |
| Free CDN | No | Cloudflare is supported; no bundled CDN |
| Caching | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | Static web server cache on Start Dock and Web Warp; static and dynamic caching with Memcached, APC and OPcache on Speed Reaper |
| Staging | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | No |
| 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 | Entry processes 20 / 30 / 50, average CPU per day 40% / 60% / 90%, I/O 5 to 6 MB/s, files 250,000 / 350,000 / 500,000 |
| Data center choice | The provider's regions, chosen per server: DigitalOcean 9, Vultr 30, Linode 25, AWS 28, Google Cloud 28 | Nine locations on five continents, picked at checkout |
| Uptime guarantee | No | 99.9% per month with a credit of 10% of the monthly fee per hour of downtime, up to 100%, based on HostArmada's own records |
| Security | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | Network and web application firewalls, malware scanning and removal, CloudLinux with CageFS, brute-force protection, two-factor login for the client area |
| Free trial | 3 days without a credit card | Not stated |
| Phone support | No | 24/7, a US number, with chat and tickets |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| SSH, Git, Node.js and Python | Not stated | Every plan, with Perl, WP-CLI, Drush and Composer-style PHP frameworks listed |
| PHP versions | Not stated | 5.6 to 8.3 selectable per account |
| Website builder | Not stated | A third-party drag-and-drop builder inside cPanel |
Company facts
| Cloudways | HostArmada | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | cPanel with Softaculous, plus HostArmada's own client dashboard |
| Data centers | 1 | 9 (better) |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, ticket, phone, email, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2011 | 2019 |