WP Engine vs Cloudways: Which is better in 2026?
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Our verdict
Both are the step up from shared hosting; they differ on how much they do for you and how much they charge for it. WP Engine is WordPress-only and opinionated — it tunes for WordPress, blocks risky plugins, manages the WAF and staffs support with WordPress specialists. That removes an entire category of maintenance and costs $20–77 per month with visit limits that generate overage charges when a post does well. Cloudways gives you real cloud instances on the provider of your choice with the server administration handled, hourly billing, no contracts and no visit caps — you resize when you grow rather than paying a penalty. The trade is that more remains yours: no email hosting, no cPanel, and support that helps with the platform more readily than with your application. Choose WP Engine when WordPress maintenance is the problem and the site earns enough to justify removing it. Choose Cloudways when traffic is unpredictable, you host more than WordPress, or you want cost that scales with resources rather than with popularity.
The numbers
At a glance
How WP Engine and Cloudways stack up on ratings, pricing, and plans — the highlighted cell wins the row.
| Metric |  WP Engine |  Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.3 | 4.3 |
| Reviews | 3 | 3 |
| Would recommend | 67% | 67% |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $14/mo |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes (60 days) | Yes (3 days) |
| Best for | Best managed WordPress hosting for revenue-generating sites | Best managed cloud hosting for growing sites and agencies |
From verified reviews
Rating breakdown
Sub-ratings from approved Saaspare reviews — the longer bar wins the category.
WP EngineCategoryCloudwaysVerified pricing
Pricing compared
Per month, billed annually where an annual price exists.
WP Engine
From $20/mo
- Essentials Startupper month, 1 site, 25k visits$20/mo
- Essentials Professionalper month, 3 sites, 75k visits$40/mo
- Essentials Growthper month, 10 sites, 100k visits$77/mo
- Core (managed WordPress)custom pricingCustom
Cloudways
From $14/mo
- DigitalOcean 1GBper month, billed hourly$14/mo
- DigitalOcean 2GBper month, billed hourly$28/mo
- Vultr High Frequency 2GBper month, billed hourly$41/mo
- AWS / Google Cloudfrom, per month$54/mo
Benchmark: Both sit above the Web Hosting median of $3.99/mo.
Feature by feature
WP Engine vs Cloudways features
Every feature either tool lists, grouped — a check means it's included.
Platform1 feature
| Feature | WP Engine | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Agency & white-label tools | Included | Not included |
Performance5 features
| Feature | WP Engine | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in CDN | Included | Included |
| Free SSL certificates | Included | Included |
| HTTP/3 and modern PHP | Included | Included |
| NVMe SSD storage | Included | Included |
| Server-level caching | Included | Included |
Management5 features
| Feature | WP Engine | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Automated daily backups | Included | Included |
| Choice of cloud provider | Not included | Included |
| Free site migration | Included | Included |
| Git deployment & SSH | Included | Included |
| Staging environments | Included | Included |
Support & Reliability3 features
| Feature | WP Engine | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 human support | Included | Included |
| Managed security & WAF | Included | Included |
| Uptime SLA | Included | Included |
Bottom line
Which should you choose?
Choose WP Engineif…
Best managed WordPress hosting for revenue-generating sites
Read the full WP Engine reviewChoose Cloudwaysif…
Best managed cloud hosting for growing sites and agencies
Read the full Cloudways reviewKeep exploring
