Cloudways vs Bluehost (2026): Both Companies Wrote This Comparison

The real numbers, side by side

Entry prices and renewal behavior, checked by hand in 2026.

What each vendor's page won't tell you

Both companies publish comparison pages, and neither gives you the full picture.

Bluehost's page admits Cloudways has the edge on scaling, but frames almost everything else in its own favor. It compares its $6.99 plan against a mid-tier Cloudways server instead of Cloudways' $11 entry, describes Cloudways migrations as "manual or paid" even though Cloudways includes one free managed migration, and leans on a hand-picked speed test. It also omits its own renewals (up to 2.5x), the $23.99 .com renewal, the $11.99/yr WHOIS privacy, and the lack of monthly billing on shared plans.

Cloudways' page uses Bluehost's renewal price as the comparison point, doesn't flag that email isn't included in its own bundles, and skips the cost of a complete setup. Add email, Cloudflare Enterprise ($4.99/domain), and premium support, and a realistic Cloudways bill can approach $45/mo, roughly four times the advertised $11. Our full Cloudways review breaks those line items down.

Neither page is exactly lying. Both are just built to answer "how do we make ourselves look better?" rather than "which one should I buy?"

Round 1: Pricing models and renewal

Bluehost is built around a low $3.99 intro: you prepay a longer term and get hosting, a free first-year domain, and bundled features. The catch is that shared hosting can renew at up to 2.5x, while domain renewal, WHOIS privacy, and email add separate costs, as detailed in our Bluehost pricing breakdown.

Cloudways uses no intro rate at all. Its entry DigitalOcean server is a flat $11/mo, billed monthly or hourly, and the list price is the price you keep paying, with no cheap intro period followed by a higher renewal.

Over five years on one small site, Bluehost Starter and Business run about $383 and $587, versus roughly $660 for Cloudways at $11/mo (more with add-ons). For a single site Bluehost is cheaper; Cloudways pulls ahead when you run several sites on one server or need staging and advanced caching.

Round 1 winner: Bluehost for upfront affordability, Cloudways for predictable pricing.

Round 2: WordPress hosting and features

Both support WordPress, but differently. Bluehost is designed to make WordPress easy for beginners, with WordPress tooling, automation, and bundled extras like Yoast SEO, and little server management required.

Cloudways hands you more performance tooling: one-click WordPress plus Varnish, Redis, Memcached, Breeze, and Object Cache Pro, with staging included so you can test changes before pushing them live.

Round 2 winner: Bluehost for simplicity, Cloudways for performance tools and control.

Round 3: Performance and infrastructure

All Bluehost plans now use NVMe storage and include Cloudflare CDN; the Starter tier is rated for around 40,000 visits/month, enough for most small sites. Cloudways runs on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, or Google Cloud, with the same caching stack.

That doesn't make Cloudways automatically faster, since its $11 DigitalOcean plan still shares CPU, but it does give you more control over server resources as your site grows.

Round 3 winner: Cloudways.

Round 4: Scaling and higher-tier hosting

With Bluehost shared hosting you move to a larger plan when you outgrow the current one, which suits a small site with steady traffic but gives you little control over the underlying infrastructure. Cloudways lets you scale server resources directly and run multiple sites on one server, which is far more useful for agencies and multi-site businesses.

Bluehost Cloud narrows the gap with 20+ vCPU threads, Cloudflare Enterprise, a 100% uptime SLA, and sub-30-second priority chat, which makes it much more comparable to Cloudways than the regular shared plans. Cloudways still offers more choice of underlying cloud provider and isn't WordPress-only, whereas Bluehost Cloud is primarily a managed WordPress product.

Round 4 winner: Cloudways for flexibility and infrastructure; Bluehost Cloud is a credible managed-WordPress option.

Round 5: Email, support, and extras

Bluehost bundles more into the plan, so depending on the tier you get email, domain services, and WordPress tooling on one bill. Cloudways is modular: email isn't included (Rackspace mailboxes at $1/mailbox/mo), Cloudflare Enterprise is a $4.99/domain/mo add-on, and advanced support runs close to $100.

That makes Bluehost easier if you want most services on one invoice, and Cloudways better if you'd rather choose only the services you actually need.

Round 5 winner: Bluehost for bundled extras and simplicity.

The verdict

Choose Bluehost if this is your first site, you want the lowest upfront cost, and you're comfortable keeping an eye on renewals. Just check the domain, privacy, and email costs, covered in our Bluehost pricing breakdown, before you buy.

Choose Cloudways if you run several sites or a revenue-critical one: you get better infrastructure, staging, a stronger caching stack, and monthly billing with no renewal jump. Just budget for the full setup, including email and advanced support, rather than the $11 starting price.

If you want Cloudways' predictable pricing but also want cPanel and support included, our VPS plans start at $4.49/mo with 24/7 human support and a renewal price that never changes. You can also compare options in our Cloudways alternatives and Bluehost alternatives guides.