--- title: "ScalaHosting vs Cloudways: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-scalahosting" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/cloudways-vs-scalahosting" 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." --- # ScalaHosting vs Cloudways ScalaHosting and Cloudways compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. ScalaHosting 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 [8.1 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting)Wins overall Dallas and Sofia host with its own SPanel, an anytime prorated refund and a credit table that reaches 100 percent [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 ScalaHosting wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.1 vs 7.8). ## How do the scores compare? ScalaHosting leads on 3 sub-scores, Cloudways on 0. Higher is better. | | [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 8.0 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 8.5 | | Support | 8.5 | 7.5 | | Features | 8.0 | 8.0 | | Value | 7.5 | 7.0 | | Ease of use | 7.5 | 7.0 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 8.1 | 7.8 | | Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs Kripesh Adwani 365 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.99% | | Response time (published)WPBeginner vs HostingStep; methods differ | 526 ms | 442 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, ScalaHosting is cheaper ($11.95/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 13, 2026 (ScalaHosting) and Oct 14, 2026 (Cloudways). USD. | | [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | Mini | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | | Intro price | $2.95/mo | $14.00/mo | | Renewal price | $11.95/mo | $14.00/mo | | Required term | 36 months | 1 months | | Websites | 1 | unlimited | | Storage | 10 GB | 25 GB | | Money back | 30 days, then prorated at any time | 0 days | ## What does each include? | | [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | Start, Advanced and Entry Cloud; not on Mini | No | | Free SSL | Yes | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | | Automated backups | Daily, 7 restore points kept for the last 7 days | Not stated | | Free migration | Website and email migration | Free migration of existing sites | | Control panel | SPanel (free, with SShield security and spam protection) or cPanel | Not stated | | CDN | CDN integration | Not stated | | WP-CLI and SSH | Yes | Not stated | | Malware protection | Real-time, on every plan | Not stated | | Staging | Not listed on the plan cards | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | | Uptime guarantee | 99.9%; credits from 10% at 99.8% up to 100% below 99%, claimed through billing | No | | Money-back guarantee | Full refund within 30 days; prorated refund of unused time at any time after that; new clients only; web, reseller and VPS hosting | Not stated | | Choice of data center | Dallas, New York, Seattle or Sofia on ScalaHosting's own infrastructure; partner cloud and AWS regions for cloud plans | Not stated | | Phone support | Yes | No | | Windows hosting | No | No | | Backups | Not stated | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | | Free CDN | Not stated | No | | Caching | Not stated | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included 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 | | [ScalaHosting](https://hostidea.com/reviews/scalahosting) | [Cloudways](https://hostidea.com/reviews/cloudways) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | SPanel (ScalaHosting's own) or cPanel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | | Data centers | 5 | 1 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, phone, knowledge-base | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2007 | 2011 | Visit ScalaHosting (affiliate link: /go/scalahosting)Visit Cloudways (affiliate link: /go/cloudways)