--- title: "Cloudways vs HostGator: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-hostgator" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-hostgator" 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 HostGator Cloudways and HostGator 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 [7.4 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) Newfold's Texas-born cPanel host: four shared tiers on a 36-month term with a free domain, Cloudflare CDN and staging Cloudways wins 5 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.8 vs 7.4). ## How do the scores compare? Cloudways leads on 5 sub-scores, HostGator on 1. Higher is better. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 8.0 | | Support | 7.5 | 7.0 | | Features | 8.0 | 7.0 | | Value | 7.0 | 6.5 | | Ease of use | 7.0 | 8.0 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 7.8 | 7.4 | | 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 | 496 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, HostGator is cheaper ($10.99/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 14, 2026 (Cloudways) and Oct 14, 2026 (HostGator). USD. | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | Hatchling | | Intro price | $14.00/mo | $3.75/mo | | Renewal price | $14.00/mo | $10.99/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) | [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | No | First year on every plan; $22.99 is deducted from a refund if you cancel within the year | | Free SSL | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | Let's Encrypt, auto-renewed | | Backups | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | Weekly courtesy backups, restorable with one click; the terms call them a courtesy, so keep your own | | Free migration | Free migration of existing sites | A free site migration tool is listed on the plan cards; the comparison table on the same page says paid migration is available | | Free CDN | No | Cloudflare with Argo routing on every plan | | Caching | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | Static content caching and object caching on every plan; the feature list names an NGINX caching layer | | Staging | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | WordPress staging site on every plan | | Email | No | Unlimited POP3 and IMAP mailboxes with SpamAssassin; Pro Email is a paid product after a free trial | | 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 | No | | 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 | The plan page says 99 percent; the terms we read contain no uptime clause or credit schedule | | Security | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | Malware scanning, AI-powered detection and removal from Baby up, web application firewall, DDoS protection, DDoS scrub center | | Free trial | 3 days without a credit card | Not stated | | Phone support | No | Baby, Business and Pro; Hatchling is chat only | | Windows hosting | No | No | | SSH and languages | Not stated | SSH, WP-CLI, cron, PHP 8.2, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, unlimited MySQL and SFTP users | ## Company facts | | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | [HostGator](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostgator) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | cPanel behind the HostGator customer portal | | Data centers | 1 | 1 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2011 | 2002 | Visit Cloudways (affiliate link: /go/cloudways)Visit HostGator (affiliate link: /go/hostgator)