--- title: "Hostinger vs Cloudways: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-hostinger" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-hostinger" 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." --- # Hostinger vs Cloudways Hostinger and Cloudways compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Hostinger 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 [8.0 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger)Wins overall Very cheap on a 48-month term, with an easy custom panel; the entry plan cuts backups and email [7.8 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) DigitalOcean's managed cloud layer: servers from $11 a month on five clouds, billed hourly, staging and caching included Hostinger wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.0 vs 7.8). ## How do the scores compare? Hostinger leads on 3 sub-scores, Cloudways on 1. Higher is better. | | [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 8.0 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 8.5 | | Support | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Features | 7.5 | 8.0 | | Value | 8.0 | 7.0 | | Ease of use | 8.0 | 7.0 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 8.0 | 7.8 | | Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs Kripesh Adwani 365 d; methods differ | 99.96% | 99.99% | | Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 447 ms | 442 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, Hostinger is cheaper ($10.99/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 13, 2026 (Hostinger) and Oct 14, 2026 (Cloudways). USD. | | [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | Premium | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | | Intro price | $2.99/mo | $14.00/mo | | Renewal price | $10.99/mo | $14.00/mo | | Required term | 48 months | 1 months | | Websites | 3 | unlimited | | Storage | 20 GB | 25 GB | | Money back | 30 days | 0 days | ## What does each include? | | [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | First year only, on 12-month and longer terms | No | | Free SSL | Yes | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | | Backups | Weekly on Premium; daily on Unlimited and Cloud Startup | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | | Email hosting | 2 mailboxes per website on Premium, unlimited on the other plans; free for the first year | Not stated | | CDN | Included on Unlimited and Cloud Startup; listed as available on Premium | Not stated | | Control panel | hPanel, Hostinger's own panel, with an AI assistant | Not stated | | AI tools | AI website builder credits: 5 on Premium, 15 on the other plans, one-time | Not stated | | Ecommerce | Available on every plan | Not stated | | Fair usage limits | 3 GB per database, 300 databases, 300 FTP accounts, 400 cron jobs | Not stated | | Uptime guarantee | 99.9% per month; 5% credit of that month's fee, claimed within 30 days | No | | Choice of data center | 12 regions across North America, Europe, Asia and South America | Not stated | | Phone support | No | No | | Windows hosting | No | No | | Free migration | Not stated | Free migration of existing sites | | Free CDN | Not stated | No | | Caching | Not stated | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | | Staging | Not stated | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | | Email | Not stated | No | | Resource limits | Not stated | 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 | | Data center choice | Not stated | The provider's regions, chosen per server: DigitalOcean 9, Vultr 30, Linode 25, AWS 28, Google Cloud 28 | | Security | Not stated | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | | Free trial | Not stated | 3 days without a credit card | ## Company facts | | [Hostinger](https://hostidea.com/reviews/hostinger) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | hPanel (Hostinger's own panel) | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | | Data centers | 12 | 1 | | Support channels | chat, email, knowledge-base | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2004 | 2011 | Visit Hostinger (affiliate link: /go/hostinger)Visit Cloudways (affiliate link: /go/cloudways)