Bluehost vs Cloudways
Cloudways is the Bluehost alternative for businesses with mission-critical websites
Yes, Bluehost works great for smaller sites with low traffic. But price hikes and performance issues hit you once you start growing. Cloudways keeps your sites fast and affordable, even as they keep growing.
Get Started FREEUnlike Bluehost, Cloudways offers a free trial — no CC needed
“Cloudways is simple to use and helps you scale vertically as your projects get bigger.”
Brenly McCulloch
Marketing Director, Dick Dyer & AssociatesCategory leader in G2.com
Ease of Use
Bluehost score: 7.8
Web hosting average: 8.6
Quality of Support
Bluehost score: 7.3
Web hosting average: 8.3
Ease of Setup
Bluehost score: 7.7
Web hosting average: 8.5
Bluehost websites fall apart when you try to scale up
Bluehost is cheap when you are getting started and doesn’t charge you for traffic. Sounds like the perfect fit for small businesses, but here’s the downside…
- You’re locked into a 1-3 year contract, with a price hike upon renewal.
- Your site goes on a shared server that’s slow, risky, and not built for high traffic.
- Support is hard to reach and slow to respond when you need critical help.
Affordable WordPress Multisite Hosting Platform Built for Agile Teams
Pick a multisite cloud hosting plan that you can scale up/down to optimize your operational costs.
Premium
Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
High Frequency
StandardNote: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
Notes:
- Free trial is not available for Amazon Web Services. You need to upgrade your account to launch and access AWS servers.
- With Amazon (AWS), Disk Sizes are configurable and Bandwidth is on pay as you go basis.
- Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
Notes:
- Free trial is not available for Google Compute Engine. You need to upgrade your account to launch and access GCE servers.
- With Google (GCE), Disk Sizes are configurable and Bandwidth is on pay as you go basis.
- Note: $0.033/GB per server will be applied for offsite backup storage.
All Plans Come With
- 24/7/365 Support
- Free SSL Certificates
- Free Migration
- Team Management
- Dedicated Firewalls
- 24/7 Real-time Monitoring
- Automated Backups
- Staging Environment
- Auto Healing
- Regular Security Patching
- HTTP/2 Enabled Servers
- SSH and SFTP Access
- Optimized With Advanced Caches
- Cloudflare Add-on NEW
- Unlimited Application Installation
- Free Object Cache Pro (2GB & above)
Customers say “you get what you pay for” with Bluehost
“After using hosting providers like Bluehost, I’ve come to realize that you get what you pay for; if you’re paying pennies for hosting, you aren’t going to get a reliable service.”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
“I’ve had numerous clients complain that their website goes down frequently, or that they have email problems.”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
“I was maintaining a website on their servers quite cheaply, but the lag time in loading the website cost me traffic.”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
“I probably spent 12 hours with their customer service. It was impossible to speak to managers or to escalate issues.”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
“Ever since the support team switched me to new servers, my websites have been hacked twice. On two different accounts.”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
“I will never forget the time when my dedicated server went down for a whole week due to a major hardware failure!”
Verified Bluehost review on G2
Growing businesses choose Cloudways instead
High-performance, security and 24/7 support — even on the lowest hosting plans
Lightning fast servers
Get your site on dedicated cloud servers. Remove speed and uptime issues that come from shared hosting.
Easy-to-use interface
Sign up and get a new site live in minutes. Even with very little technical knowledge.
Always have a backup
Bluehost only backs up small sites (30 GB or less). Cloudways backs up all your sites every hour.
Out-of-the-box security
Keep your servers safe with 24/7 monitoring and other security features you don’t have to pay extra for.
Cloudways won’t leave you hanging as your business grows
Add more computing power whenever you want
With Cloudways’ Vertical Scaling, you can easily add more RAM and CPU power, storage, and bandwidth when your sites need an upgrade.
“Cloudways is amazing at scaling a server as per requirements”
Ahmad Alghouti
Pick your cloud provider for extra performance control
Businesses looking for an extra edge can choose to host their sites on their preferred server: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS or Google Cloud. You are in control.
“Speed, security and customer service. Working with AWS is a dream come true.”
Pedro Flores
Bring your team on board
Growing businesses need extra hands. With our collaboration tools, you can invite your co-workers to Cloudways and assign them limited or full access to your server or app.
“It’s easy to explain to non-techies how to use Cloudways.”
Rubén Castellanos
Managed security so you don’t have to do the dirty work
Your account comes with free SSL certificates, two-factor authentication, IP whitelisting, server patching, and DDoS protection. We manage security for you — no addons or plugins needed.
“I like that Cloudways takes care of the small things on the server side.”
Craig Booker
Unlimited sites in a single dashboard
Running multiple sites for your business? Cloudways let’s you set up and manage unlimited sites, all from the same place. Ideal for agencies.
“If you want an affordable and easy-to-manage web hosting platform, Cloudways it is.”
Richard Williams
“Cloudways is demonstrating that people can start their own website with great quality at affordable pricing options.”
Rubén Castellanos
Online Teaching PlatformsCloudways vs Bluehost
Customer support delivered by trained professionals who understand tech
With Cloudways you get free, 24/7/365 customer support with access to Live Chat. And if you’re managing sites where every minute matters, you can get priority support via phone, email, and Slack.
Cloudways customer support performance
Q3 2020 – Q1 2021
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2.1 minutes
Initial response time
-
30 minutes
Average time to solve and close a support inquiry
-
90%
Percentage of support inquiries closed with a happy and satisfied customer
Dedicated Account Manager
Private Slack channel
Phone Support
Don’t know where to start?
Discover how to setup your first cloud server
Search through +200 articles covering every area of Managed Cloud Hosting, from migration and setup to maintenance and scaling. No technobabble, just plain English.
You don’t need to be a developer to use Cloudways
“It’s easy to explain to non-techies how to use Cloudways.”
“Easiest way to use AWS servers without the need of high technical skills.”
“You can do a lot in Cloudways with no coding experience.”
Choose the platform you can grow with
Scale your sites quickly without worrying about upgrading hardware or fixing technical issues. Cloudways gives you more resources as your projects get bigger.
Get Started FREE Unlike Bluehost, Cloudways offers a free trial — no CC neededCloudways vs Bluehost
Cloudways is built for speed and performance from the ground up
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| Optimized caching techniques | Only with separate plugins |
Ready to use caches including Memcached, Varnish, Nginx, and Redis
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| Content Delivery Network (CDN) available |
Easily integrated
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| Auto healing servers |
Keeps your websites from crashing
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| Choose your server provider |
Keeps your websites from crashing
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Cloudways vs Bluehost
Cloudways gives you more security, on any plan
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| Free SSL certificates |
1-Click Free SSL certificate Installation
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| Dedicated firewalls |
We filter out malicious traffic from reaching your site
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| 24/7 real-time monitoring |
24/7/365 peace of mind everything works
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| Regular security patching |
Regular OS patches on your server, done for you
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| Automated backups |
Not available for large sites
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Available on all plans
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Cloudways vs Bluehost
Cloudways lets you try before you commit
No Trial
Free Trial
3 Days – No Credit Card Required
Migrating to Cloudways is free and easy
Your first site migration is on us. Tell us about your site and traffic. We’ll help you make the switch effortlessly.
No Bugs Guaranteed! Once your website
is on Cloudways, our migration experts will closely monitor your site to make sure that everything’s working a-okay.
“The support and ease of migration was extremely helpful. I easily understood the process and of course felt much more at ease with the whole transition because of the support that Cloudways provided.”
Jennifer Stinnett – Founder, eJenn Solutions
Cloudways vs Bluehost
Frequently Asked Questions
Which web hosting company gives the most value for money for long term plans?
The best long term web hosting value depends on balancing performance, scalability, and predictable pricing. While many hosts attract users with cheap introductory rates that increase sharply upon renewal, Cloudways offers transparent pay-as-you-go pricing that eliminates renewal surprises altogether.
With managed cloud servers starting at $11/month, Cloudways delivers enterprise grade performance, 24/7 expert support, and full scalability across top cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean. For small to medium businesses planning long term growth, this model often proves more cost effective and sustainable than traditional multi year shared hosting contracts.
Tip: When evaluating long term hosting value, compare the true renewal cost, resource scalability, and support quality, not just the first term discount. Cloudways flexible billing ensures you only pay for what you use, with no hidden renewal hikes.
Tip: When evaluating long term hosting value, compare the true renewal cost, resource scalability, and support quality, not just the first term discount. Cloudways flexible billing ensures you only pay for what you use, with no hidden renewal hikes.
What are the best web hosting deals and promo codes for 2025?
Web hosting deals in 2025 offer discounts up to 90% off across shared, VPS, and managed hosting plans. Prices typically start as low as $1 to $3/month for shared hosting, while managed cloud options provide better scalability and performance at higher value. Cloudways BFCM 2025 deal (Promo: BFCM5050) offers 50% off for 3 months plus 50 free migrations, along with 50% off for 3 months on all app level add-ons including Malware, Cloudflare, Rackspace, Elastic, DNS Made Easy, and Advanced Support. Valid from November 11 till December 4.
What is the ideal web hosting pricing for small businesses?
Web hosting for small and medium size businesses generally vary from $2 to $10/month (shared), $10 to $100/month (VPS/cloud) and up to $500/month (dedicated), WordPress specific plans often vary around $3 to $25/month. Consider intro vs renewal, plan length, included features (SSL, domain, backups) and extra costs. Cloudways comes as a managed cloud hosting provider starting from $11/month, offering pay-as-you-go billing, managed services, and predictable costs which is helpful for growing SMBs avoiding renewal surprises.
Who wins in a Bluehost vs Cloudways speed test?
Speed tests conducted by a number of external users all show that Cloudways easily comes out on top, offering faster services to all websites and applications.
What is Bluehost support?
Bluehost support includes chat and phone options. There are also Knowledge Base resources you can utilize.
What is a cheap alternative to Bluehost?
Cheaper Bluehost alternatives include Siteground and HostGator. In the long run, however, it's fully managed hosting services like Cloudways that end up helping you save on costs.
Why is Bluehost so cheap?
On the surface, it seems like Bluehost’s hosting plans offer good value for money. But users often end up paying for it in the long-run.
Bluehost’s lowest pricing tiers are for their shared hosting service, which is often very unreliable because your website has to share its resources with multiple other websites.
This is especially bad for agencies, because if one website gets a lot of traffic, then the uptime and load times of other websites on the server will suffer.
Additionally, Bluehost also offers very attractive hosting packages to first-time customers. But these rates only apply for their first term, after which renewal prices triple.
If you want access to similar features and low pricing, but with the superior performance that comes with dedicated servers, then Cloudways is one of the best alternatives.
How secure is Cloudways?
Shared hosting plans, while low cost, are especially vulnerable to security risks. If one website on the shared server is attacked, then all other sites on the server can be compromised.
Security is our #1 priority at Cloudways, forming the very foundation of our cloud hosting experience. No matter which hosting plan you’re on, your dedicated Cloudways server comes security features such as:
- Firewalls
- Bot Protection
- SSL Certificates
- Operating System’s Security & Patching
- GDPR Compliance
- Two-Factor Authentication
- End-to-End Encryption
- Suspicious Device Login Control