Cloudways vs DigitalOcean

Cloudways vs DigitalOcean: Managed Convenience vs Raw Cloud Control

Cloudways runs on top of DigitalOcean. If you choose Cloudways with a DigitalOcean backend, you are paying for the same server infrastructure at a roughly doubled price. What you are buying is the management layer, the stack optimisation, and the 24/7 live chat support. Whether that premium is worth it depends entirely on whether you want to be your own systems administrator.

Both platforms compete in the managed cloud segment of a rapidly expanding market. Our web hosting statistics cover the full picture of where managed cloud sits in the global hosting landscape.

This comparison is structurally different from every other in this series. Shared hosting comparisons ask which provider delivers better performance. This one asks a different question: how much of your server do you want to manage yourself?

DigitalOcean gives you raw cloud infrastructure. Droplets starting at $4 per month, 15 global regions, managed Kubernetes, managed databases, and full root access. Everything you configure is yours to control and yours to maintain.

Cloudways gives you a managed layer on top of cloud infrastructure, including DigitalOcean. Varnish and Redis caching pre-configured, staging environments included, agency tools built in, and 24/7 live chat available when something breaks. You never touch a command line unless you choose to.

Quick Verdict

DigitalOcean wins on raw corporate site metrics: faster load test (56ms vs 451ms), better desktop GTmetrix grade (B vs D), Grade A+ SSL with HSTS versus Cloudways’ Grade A, and better mobile Core Web Vitals compliance on their own sites.

Cloudways wins on managed value: the stack is pre-optimised for WordPress, live chat support is available 24/7, agency tools like staging and site cloning are built in, and you never need to configure Varnish, Redis, or server firewall rules yourself.

Neither result tells you what your customer site will perform like. For that, the underlying infrastructure choice and how well you configure it matters far more than whose corporate site loads faster.

Category Winners

Who Should Choose Which

Cloudways vs DigitalOcean: Full Feature Comparison

How We Tested

Important context for this comparison: Both Cloudways and DigitalOcean are infrastructure and platform providers, not shared hosting. The performance tests below measure their corporate marketing websites, which are heavily loaded with tracking scripts, interactive components, and marketing JavaScript.

These corporate site results do not reflect what a clean WordPress installation on either platform would score. A Cloudways-managed WordPress site with Varnish and Redis active would produce dramatically different results than Cloudways’ own marketing homepage. A DigitalOcean Droplet with a properly configured stack would differ from DigitalOcean’s own site.

The value of testing corporate sites for these providers is specifically in what it reveals about their infrastructure choices and their own technical culture, not as a predictor of customer site performance.

Tools used: Google PageSpeed Insights for mobile Core Web Vitals, GTmetrix for desktop rendering, K6 Load Cloud for concurrent traffic simulation, Check-Host and KeyCDN for global latency, Uptime Robot for 30-day availability, Qualys SSL Labs for encryption grade, HTTP/3 Check for protocol support, The Green Web Foundation for sustainability.

For complete individual test data, see our Cloudways review and DigitalOcean review.

Performance: Eight Tests, Head to Head

Test 1: Mobile Core Web Vitals (Google PageSpeed Insights)

Cloudways Corporate Mobile

DigitalOcean Corporate Mobile

The CLS result is the most telling difference between the two corporate sites. Cloudways has a CLS of 0.99, meaning elements visibly shift and jump around the page as it loads. DigitalOcean has a CLS of exactly 0 — the page is completely layout-stable.

Both sites run heavy marketing JavaScript that causes the INP failures. Neither result predicts customer site performance with any reliability. Cloudways’ own recommendation is explicit: the engine they provide (Redis/Varnish) is fast; the results above reflect their frontend code choices, not their infrastructure.

Winner: DigitalOcean on corporate site CWV compliance.

Test 2: Global Latency

Cloudways (Check-Host ping — Cloudflare edge)

DigitalOcean (KeyCDN TTFB from 8 global locations)

Both providers run Cloudflare. Cloudways’ 0.7ms to 1.5ms measures CDN edge ping. DigitalOcean’s 43ms to 89ms measures actual TTFB — the full round-trip including content delivery. Both results indicate excellent global delivery infrastructure.

For customer sites on either platform, global latency is primarily a function of CDN configuration and server region selection, not the underlying provider’s corporate site performance.

Winner: Tie — different measurement types, both excellent infrastructure.

Test 3: Desktop Rendering (GTmetrix)

Both TTFB results are strong: Cloudways 244ms, DigitalOcean 217ms. Both reflect fast origin servers behind Cloudflare edge caching.

DigitalOcean wins the grade comparison (B vs D) and wins significantly on TBT (736ms vs 2,200ms). DigitalOcean’s own site is more frontend-optimised than Cloudways’ marketing homepage.

The 29-second full load time on DigitalOcean sounds alarming. It is caused by deferred JavaScript and lazy-loaded below-fold content that GTmetrix counts. The LCP of 792ms confirms users can interact with the page in under a second.

Winner: DigitalOcean

Test 4: Concurrent Load (K6 Cloud, 50 Virtual Users)

DigitalOcean’s 56ms average is the strongest load test result across every provider reviewed in this series. Cloudways’ 451ms is stable (consistent flat line, no jitter) but significantly slower.

For customer sites on either platform, these results reflect their corporate website configurations, not production application performance. A Cloudways customer site with Varnish serving cached pages would not return 451ms. A DigitalOcean Droplet without caching configured would return significantly more than 56ms.

Winner: DigitalOcean on corporate site metrics.

Test 5: Uptime (Uptime Robot, 30-Day Monitor)

Both providers recorded perfect availability. DigitalOcean additionally offers a 99.99% uptime SLA on production services — stronger than the 99.9% standard — and maintains a public status page at status.digitalocean.com.

Winner: Tie on availability. DigitalOcean on SLA strength.

Test 6: SSL Security (Qualys SSL Labs)

DigitalOcean’s Grade A+ with HSTS enforced is the stronger SSL configuration. Cloudways holds Grade A but their own documentation notes that enabling HSTS manually in application settings would bring the grade to A+. For Cloudways customers, the same configuration option is available in the Application Manager.

Winner: DigitalOcean on SSL grade.

Test 7: Protocol Support (HTTP/3 Check)

Neither provider supports HTTP/3 on their corporate sites. For Cloudways, HTTP/3 can be enabled by adding the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on and toggling the setting in the Cloudflare Dashboard. For DigitalOcean customer applications, HTTP/3 can be enabled through Nginx, Caddy, or Cloudflare independently.

The DigitalOcean review notes their HTTP/3 absence is likely a deliberate configuration choice, as Cloudflare (which runs their site) enables HTTP/3 by default. Customer Droplets and App Platform applications can use HTTP/3 regardless.

Winner: Tie

Test 8: Environmental Impact (Green Web Foundation)

Both are verified green. DigitalOcean additionally maintains a public carbon neutrality commitment for its own data centre operations, providing a slightly more documented sustainability record.

Winner: Tie

Performance Summary

DigitalOcean wins three tests on corporate site metrics. Four are tied. Cloudways wins none of the technical tests. But this does not mean Cloudways is the weaker platform for customer sites — the corporate site comparison measures each company’s frontend choices, not the infrastructure they provide to customers.

Desktop and Mobile Speed Summary

Global Network and Load Test Summary

The Core Difference: Why These Two Providers Are Not Direct Competitors

What Cloudways Actually Sells

Cloudways does not own a single server. It is a managed platform that provisions, optimises, and monitors cloud infrastructure from DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode. When you choose Cloudways with a DigitalOcean backend, you are running your site on a DigitalOcean Droplet. Cloudways configures the server stack (Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, MySQL, Redis, Varnish), manages security firewalls, handles automated backups, provides the Application Manager dashboard, and staffs the 24/7 live chat.

The management premium is roughly $5 to $10 per month per server. A DigitalOcean Droplet with 1 GB RAM costs approximately $6 directly. Cloudways charges approximately $11 for the same Droplet plus their management layer.

For a WordPress agency managing 15 client sites, the Cloudways management layer eliminates hours of server administration per month. The $5 premium per server saves real labour time.

For a solo developer who knows Linux, the same premium buys less.

What DigitalOcean Actually Sells

DigitalOcean sells cloud infrastructure. Droplets are virtual machines. You get the server. You install the software. You configure the stack. You monitor the application. When something breaks, you fix it.

In exchange, you get full control. You can run any software, configure any cache layer, install any database, tune any kernel parameter. You pay the raw infrastructure cost without a management layer. The cheapest DigitalOcean Droplet starts at $4 per month, which is lower than any Cloudways plan.

DigitalOcean also sells services Cloudways cannot match at all: managed Kubernetes clusters, managed PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, managed Redis and MongoDB, Spaces object storage, and the App Platform PaaS. These are enterprise-grade cloud services that have no equivalent in Cloudways’ offering.

This is why the comparison is not about which provider is faster. It is about which level of the infrastructure stack you want to interact with.

Pricing and Value

Cloudways Pricing

Cloudways pricing is tied to the underlying cloud provider you choose. Each IaaS provider has its own pricing tier. A DigitalOcean-based Cloudways plan starts at approximately $11 per month for a 1 GB RAM, 1 CPU, 25 GB SSD server. The same Droplet costs $6 directly on DigitalOcean.

The pay-as-you-go monthly model means no annual contracts, no lock-in, and no upfront commitment. Cloudways bills for actual resource usage. If you delete a server halfway through the month, you pay only for the hours it ran.

No free domain, no email hosting (Rackspace Email add-on available at $1 per mailbox per month), and no cPanel. The 3-day free trial requires no credit card.

DigitalOcean Pricing

DigitalOcean Droplets start at $4 per month for a basic 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB SSD instance. Hourly billing means you can spin up a server, test it, and delete it after two hours and pay cents. New accounts frequently receive $200 in free credits valid for 60 days.

Managed Kubernetes, managed databases, and Spaces object storage are separately priced services on top of Droplet costs. The App Platform PaaS has its own pricing tier based on the container resources used.

There is no free domain, no email hosting (DigitalOcean is not a webmail provider), and no cPanel. The Linux server is yours to configure.

Pricing Comparison

Pricing Winner: DigitalOcean on raw cost. Cloudways when factoring in the server management labour it replaces.

Features and Platform Types

Cloudways Platform Types

WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress with Varnish and Redis pre-configured. The most popular Cloudways use case.

WooCommerce Hosting: WordPress ecommerce with stack-level caching tuned for store workloads, one-click scaling during sale events.

Agency Hosting: Staging environments, site cloning, team member permissions, and white-label client management tools.

Bloggers and Publishers: High-traffic content hosting with CDN integration and image optimisation options.

SMB Hosting: Small business sites with automated backups, monitoring, and platform-managed security.

Developers: Git integration, SSH access, staging pipelines, and application-level control without server-level administration.

DigitalOcean Platform Types

Droplets: Virtual machines starting at $4 per month. Basic, General Purpose, CPU-Optimised, and Memory-Optimised configurations. Full root access.

App Platform: Fully managed PaaS. Push code and DigitalOcean handles build, deploy, and scaling. Supports Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP, and static sites.

Managed Kubernetes: Production-grade K8s clusters with automated upgrades, scaling, and monitoring. Control plane is free.

Managed Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, and Kafka. Automated backups, failover, and standby nodes. No DBA needed.

Spaces Object Storage: S3-compatible object storage with built-in CDN. Starting at $21 per month.

DigitalOcean Functions: Serverless computing for event-driven workloads. Pay only for execution time.

Feature Comparison

Ease of Use

Cloudways: Application Manager

Cloudways uses a proprietary Application Manager that separates server management from application management. You see your servers and your applications independently, which allows multiple WordPress sites on a single server without interference.

The panel is designed to eliminate command line interactions for standard tasks. Adding an SSL certificate, clearing Varnish cache, pushing a staging environment live, or scaling server RAM all happen through point-and-click interfaces.

The trade-off: the Cloudways panel does not include an email client, a file manager in the traditional cPanel sense, or domain registration tools. Accessing files requires SFTP (FileZilla or similar). Email requires a separate Rackspace add-on or Google Workspace integration.

DigitalOcean: Cloud Console

DigitalOcean’s Cloud Console is widely considered one of the best-designed dashboards in the cloud hosting industry. Creating a Droplet takes under 60 seconds. Server regions, sizes, SSH keys, backups, and monitoring are all configurable from a single clean interface.

The panel includes a built-in browser-based SSH terminal, a 1-Click Apps Marketplace with pre-configured stacks for WordPress, LAMP, Docker, and more, and an integrated monitoring and alerting system.

The limitation is that configuration beyond initial setup requires Linux knowledge. Installing WordPress on a Droplet via 1-Click is straightforward. Configuring Redis, tuning PHP-FPM, setting up proper caching, and handling security patching are server administration tasks.

Ease of Use Comparison

Security and Reliability

Cloudways Security

Cloudways holds Qualys Grade A with TLS 1.2 and 1.3 support. HSTS is recommended but not enforced by default. For customers, the Application Manager handles SSL certificate provisioning and renewal via Let’s Encrypt automatically.

Server-level firewalls are managed by Cloudways. Auto-healing architecture restarts failed PHP or application services without human intervention. Automated backups are included on all plans.

DigitalOcean Security

DigitalOcean holds Qualys Grade A+ with HSTS enforced. TLS 1.3 is fully supported. Basic DDoS protection is included with all Droplets. The 99.99% uptime SLA for production services is backed by multi-region and multi-availability-zone architecture.

Managed Certificates via Let’s Encrypt and Cloudflare-managed SSL both support HSTS configuration at the application layer. GDPR compliance with Data Processing Agreements is available for EU customers.

Security Comparison

Customer Support

Cloudways Support

Cloudways provides 24/7 live chat and ticketing. Response times averaged under 2 minutes in testing. Support scope covers server issues (scaling, Varnish cache clearing, backup restoration) but not application code debugging or custom plugin fixes.

DigitalOcean Support

Standard plans use ticket-based support. No live chat or phone support is available at the standard tier. Premium Support plans provide faster response times and dedicated technical account managers.

DigitalOcean’s community documentation is widely considered the best in the cloud hosting industry. Tutorials cover everything from LAMP stack setup to Kubernetes configuration in plain, current language.

Support Comparison

Support Winner: Cloudways for accessibility. DigitalOcean for self-service documentation depth.

Who Should Use Which

Choose Cloudways if you:

• Run WordPress for clients and want staging, cloning, and team tools built into the platform
• Want Varnish and Redis pre-configured without server administration
• Need 24/7 live chat when something breaks
• Want to switch cloud providers (from DigitalOcean to AWS or Google Cloud) without migrating applications
• Need a WordPress or WooCommerce environment scaled instantly during promotional events
• Are comfortable with cloud concepts but not with Linux system administration

Choose DigitalOcean if you:

• Are a developer or DevOps engineer comfortable with Linux, SSH, and server configuration
• Need managed Kubernetes, managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB), or object storage
• Want the lowest possible cost for raw cloud compute
• Need full root access and custom server stack configuration
• Want a 99.99% uptime SLA with a public status page
• Are building an application that needs App Platform, Kubernetes, or serverless functions

Situation and Use Case Recommendations

Final Verdict

This comparison is not about which provider is better. It is about which layer of the infrastructure stack matches your technical capability and workflow.

Cloudways is best for: WordPress agencies and growing stores that want cloud infrastructure power with managed operations. The stack optimisation (Varnish, Redis), the staging tools, and the 24/7 live chat justify the management premium for teams that bill their time at more than $5 per hour.

DigitalOcean is best for: Developers, startups, and DevOps teams that need raw cloud infrastructure, native managed services (Kubernetes, databases, object storage), full root access, and the lowest cost per compute unit. The community documentation is exceptional for teams willing to self-serve.

DigitalOcean wins on corporate site technical metrics and raw feature depth. Cloudways wins on managed operations and accessibility. The right choice is determined by whether you have a server admin on your team.

For a managed VPS alternative to Cloudways, see ScalaHosting vs Cloudways.

Tactical Recommendations

Choose your Cloudways IaaS provider based on your audience geography, not default selection. Cloudways lets you deploy on DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, or Linode. DigitalOcean offers 15 global regions. If your audience is in Southeast Asia, choose a Singapore or Bangalore region. If your audience is in North America, choose New York or San Francisco. The management layer is the same regardless of which cloud you select.

Enable HTTP/3 on your Cloudways applications via Cloudflare. Cloudways does not enable HTTP/3 natively, but you can add Cloudflare’s free CDN in front of any Cloudways application and toggle HTTP/3 in the Cloudflare dashboard. This takes under five minutes and enables HTTP/3 and QUIC benefits for all your application traffic.

Use DigitalOcean’s App Platform for Node.js or Python applications before choosing a Droplet. The App Platform PaaS handles build, deploy, and scaling automatically for modern web applications. For a standard web app that fits App Platform’s supported runtimes, it removes the server management burden at a predictable cost without needing Cloudways.

On Cloudways, clear Varnish cache after every deployment. Cloudways’ Varnish caching is what produces fast customer site performance that does not appear in the corporate site tests. After deploying changes, clearing the Varnish cache from the Application Manager ensures visitors receive the latest version immediately rather than stale cached content.

On DigitalOcean, configure a managed database rather than running MySQL on your Droplet. Running a database on the same Droplet as your application creates resource contention. DigitalOcean’s managed database service starts at approximately $15 per month and provides automated backups, standby nodes, and connection pooling without server administration. For production WordPress sites, separating the database to a managed cluster improves reliability under load handling at scale.

If raw unmanaged VPS is the goal instead of managed cloud, see Contabo vs Hetzner first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Cloudways run on DigitalOcean infrastructure?

Yes. DigitalOcean is one of five cloud providers Cloudways supports as an underlying infrastructure option. When you create a Cloudways account and select DigitalOcean as your cloud provider, Cloudways provisions a DigitalOcean Droplet on your behalf, configures the server stack (Nginx, PHP, MySQL, Redis, Varnish), and manages it through their Application Manager. You pay Cloudways’ rate, which includes the DigitalOcean infrastructure cost plus the management markup.

Why is Cloudways more expensive than DigitalOcean directly?

Cloudways adds a management layer on top of the raw cloud cost. A DigitalOcean 1 GB RAM Droplet costs approximately $6 per month directly. Cloudways charges approximately $11 for the same Droplet because the price includes the managed stack configuration (Nginx, PHP, Redis, Varnish), automated backups, security firewall management, the Application Manager platform, and 24/7 live chat support. You are paying to eliminate the need for a system administrator.

Does DigitalOcean support managed WordPress?

No. DigitalOcean does not provide managed WordPress hosting. You can install WordPress on a Droplet using the 1-Click Marketplace installer in under five minutes, but ongoing updates, security patches, caching configuration, and backups are your responsibility. For managed WordPress with pre-configured performance optimisation, Cloudways is the appropriate choice. Hostinger and SiteGround are alternatives that include managed WordPress at shared hosting pricing.

Which is better for a WooCommerce store?

Cloudways for most WooCommerce deployments. The pre-configured Varnish and Redis stack handles WooCommerce’s authenticated session load without manual configuration. 1-click scaling allows you to increase RAM and CPU during promotional sales without server downtime. Cloudways also integrates Cloudflare Enterprise for WooCommerce sites needing CDN and advanced DDoS protection. DigitalOcean is viable for a WooCommerce store if you have server administration experience and want full control over the stack.

Does either provider include email hosting?

No. Neither Cloudways nor DigitalOcean provides email hosting. Cloudways offers a Rackspace Email add-on at $1 per mailbox per month. DigitalOcean does not offer any email solution. Both providers expect customers to use dedicated email services such as Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, or Rackspace independently.

What is Cloudways’ free trial?

Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial that requires no credit card. You can deploy a server, test the platform, and evaluate performance within the trial window without entering payment details. If you continue past three days, billing begins. DigitalOcean offers new account credits (commonly $200 valid for 60 days) rather than a time-limited free trial.

Does DigitalOcean include DDoS protection?

Yes. Basic DDoS protection is included with all DigitalOcean Droplets. For enterprise-grade DDoS mitigation, DigitalOcean customers can integrate Cloudflare or other external services at the application layer. Cloudways’ management layer includes basic DDoS protection via the Cloudflare edge that sits in front of the application, with Cloudflare Enterprise available as an add-on for advanced protection.

Which provider is better for agencies?

Cloudways. The built-in staging environments, site cloning, team member permissions with role-based access, and the ability to manage multiple applications across multiple cloud providers from a single dashboard make it the more practical agency platform. DigitalOcean’s Teams feature allows shared account access, but staging, cloning, and application-level management require custom tooling or third-party solutions.