With WPEngine, you’re paying for traffic you’re not utilising.
When you excede your plan limits, WPEngine charges you overages and you risk a crash.
High Performance. Effortlessly Delivered.
Looking for a WP Engine Alternative? Try Cloudways
Cloudways vs WPEngine isn’t just a showdown – it’s a clear win. Choose Cloudways for:
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Half the Price
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More Features
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Flexible Control
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5X Coverage
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Auto Scaling
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Actual Support
WP Engine VS Cloudways
Why Choose Cloudways as the WP Engine Alternative
Cloudways is more than a WP Engine alternative. It’s faster, more flexible, and built to help your site grow without limits.
Get More, Pay Less
Choose Cloudways for all the features you need while keeping your wallet happy. Who says you can’t have it all?.
Explore5X More Data Centers
Cloudway boasts 5 times the number of data centers as WP Engine, distributed across 3 times as many locations.
ExploreFlexible Control
Cloudways offers total freedom without plugin restrictions or hidden controls, unlike WP Engine’s rigid, limited setup.
ExploreG2’s Top Rated
While WP Engine doesn’t even make it to the top 5, G2 has recognized Cloudways as the #1 hosting outshining WP Engine and all other alternatives to WP Engine.
ExploreHandle Traffic Spikes
With Cloudways Autonomous™, your website can handle traffic spikes with seamless autoscaling and pay-as-you-go flexibility.
ExploreReal 24/7 Support
People claim WPEngine’s support is like a ghost – there, but not really. At Cloudways, we’re hauntingly reliable.
ExplorePeople Love Us
Our customers value our service almost just as much as we value them. Cloudways is the people’s choice of quality hosting.
ExploreThe WPEngine alternative that is
Faster. Limitless. Affordable. Cloudways is the Better Choice
Cloudways offers more power, speed, and no traffic limits – at a price that WP Engine can’t match. Check out the comparison table below and make the smart move .
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| Price | ||
| Price per month | Starting From $11 | Starting From $25 |
| Free Trial | 3-day trial without credit card | |
| Features | ||
| No. of websites | Unmetered on all plans | Starting from 1 |
| Monthly Visits | Unlimited on all plans | Starting from 25,000 |
| Bandwidth | Starting from 1 TB | Starting from 50 GB |
| Disk Storage | Starting from 25 GB SSD | Starting from 10 GB |
| Scaling | Instant • 1-Click | Overages at $2/1000 visitors |
| Support | ||
| 24/7 support | ||
| Slack Channel (Paid add-ons) | ||
| Customization Support (Paid add-ons) | ||
| Performance | ||
| Global Data Center Coverage |
55 Unique Locations, 116 Data Centers |
18 Unique Locations, 26 Data Centers |
| Infrastructure | GCP, AWS, DO, Vultr, Linode |
GCP, AWS (Premium), Azure (Premium) |
| Security | ||
| Malware Scanning | Proactive | Not proactive |
| Free SSL | ||
| DDoS Protection (Paid Cloudflare Enterprise) | ||
| Backups & 1-Click Restore | ||
| WAF (Anti-Hack System) Add-on | ||
| Add-ons | ||
| Add-ons |
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Cloudways is the WPEngine alternative that gives you
5X More Data Centers
Cloudways, with 5X the data centers in 3X as many locations compared to WP Engine, means faster load times & lower latency. With WP Engine’s handful of data centers, let’s just say their idea of ‘global’ is a bit more regional.
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Cloudways
116 Data Centers55 Unique Locations -
WP Engine
26 Data Centers18 Unique Locations
Cloudways is G2’s #1 Cloud Web Hosting Provider
While WP Engine doesn’t even make it to the top 5, Cloudways sets the standard above WP Engine and WP Engine alternatives as the top-rated cloud web hosting provider. Consider the bar officially raised.
Plugin
Freedom
True Server
Control
No Force
Updates
Full Developer
Access
Flexible Control with Cloudways
Cloudways puts you in the driver’s seat with flexible plugin control and no hidden limitations. While WP Engine imposes plugin bans and shields you from real server control, Cloudways hands you the reins.
Sign Up Now 3-Day Trial Without Credit CardHandle Traffic Spikes with Cloudways Autonomous
While WP Engine users may be worried about traffic limits, Cloudways Autonomous scales your site automatically, charging only for what you use without compromising performance. We’ll handle all the heavy lifting – you just keep growing.
Try Now
With Cloudways’ Pay-as-you-go model, you pay only for what you use – no under
utilisation, no crash risks!
Cloudways Support is Your Extended Team
Cloudways support acts like a true partner. You get fast, expert help any time. Unlike WP Engine, support here feels responsive and involved.
Priority Support
24/7/365 priority Live Chat and ticketing support from our Senior Engineers, with improved SLAs.
Plugin/Theme Troubleshooting
Our Support Engineers will help you troubleshoot errors and conflicts with plugins and themes.
Performance/DB Optimization
On-demand optimization tweaks to ensure your application is performing well.
Handle Traffic Spikes
With Cloudways Autonomous™, your website can handle traffic spikes with seamless autoscaling and pay-as-you-go flexibility.
Server Error Investigation
We’ll collaborate with your team for deeper investigation of common server errors (500, 502, 503, etc).
Proactive Monitoring
If your server or stack is down, we will go beyond sending you alert and proactively start investigating.
Customization
Customization of your stack/server, e.g. deploying additional packages, specific configurations etc.
Dedicated Account Manager
Your primary contact at Cloudways is here to help and guide you, whatever you want to achieve.
Private Slack Channel (Premium support)
24/7/365 private Slack channel connects your team directly with our Senior Support Engineers. We partner with your team to help you grow.
Phone Support (Premium support)
Call our Senior Support Engineers any time for in-person support.
The Verdict Is In.
Cloudways is the Best WP Engine Alternative.
Cloudways stands out with faster speed, better support, and full control. It’s the smarter choice for users looking to move beyond WP Engine.
Alin-Lonel Banut
Verified Trust Pilot User
I’ve been a loyal Cloudways customer for over 6 years, and my experience has been nothing short of exceptional. What truly sets Cloudways apart is their outstanding customer support. The live chat team is incredibly professional, always quick to respond, and goes above and beyond to resolve any issues. Their dedication to customer care is truly impressive. If you’re looking for a hosting provider that combines top-notch performance with excellent support, I highly recommend Cloudways!
Shane Boring
@shaneboring
@wpengine has to have some of the WORST customer service on earth. WHY? HQ in Austin, TX, where BARE MINIMUM effort is challenged daily by sloths occupying human bodies. ….thanks for continuing to bill an account that I have ZERO access to, and that has been inactive for 12 mo+++.
Paul D
Creative Director & Owner
You pay for what you get. Instead of paying a low introductory fee and then getting high prices a year or two later, you just pay for what you need now. It’s easy to scale up and down. Cloudways makes cloud hosting easy to start. The process of setting up your websites and server is simple and quick. The UI/UX design is great too. Very intuitive and simple. It’s also fast and reliable which is something you don’t want to mess with for websites. Also their support team has been great. They’ve been quick to respond to any issues I’ve experienced.
it-guy
@johnffrenemy
@wpengine makes millions and try to gaslight when it could of just help the community is it time to boycott overpriced hosting. #boycottwpengine
Ant Ekşiler
@anteksiler
PhpMyAdmin access at @wpengine is always awfully slow. I can’t even list the tables.
Emil Andersen
@EmilAndersen
Unfortunately we’ve experienced a very slow server even though we are paying around 700 USD per month. I wouldn’t recommend WP Engine to anyone that are looking for a quick server. Furthermore it’s almost impossible to get to know you server details. Even the most basic information like RAM they wont tell you. Probably because they are putting your site on a shared hosting.
Jonathan Bailey
@Plagirismtoday
I want to give a quick shoutout to @Cloudways, the host of my site.With the events taking place this week, I’ve received nearly a month’s worth of traffic in three days. Their server is going strong, never slowed down and remains fast despite the pressure.Thank you!
Diana Urban
@DianaUrban
Gah I wish @wpengine didn’t have traffic caps for their web hosting plans. Anyone have great web hosting with 99.9% uptime and fast support?
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of support does Cloudways provide?
All customers get 24/7 live chat support with an average response time under 90 seconds. High-value accounts have access to dedicated account managers and priority escalation. Cloudways also maintains a comprehensive knowledge base with 500+ articles.
How does Cloudways handle traffic spikes?
With Cloudways Flexible, you can vertically scale your server with one click. With Autonomous, scaling is automatic — Kubernetes spins up additional pods in real time to handle traffic surges and scales down when demand drops, with full cost visibility.
Is Cloudways a good alternative to WP Engine?
Yes. Cloudways offers comparable managed hosting features — automated backups, staging environments, free SSL, and 24/7 support — while giving you more flexibility in infrastructure choice, pricing, and scalability. It’s trusted by 100,000+ businesses worldwide and rated 4.7/5 on G2.
Can I migrate my site from WP Engine to Cloudways?
Absolutely. Cloudways offers a free WordPress migration plugin for self-service moves and expert-assisted migration for complex setups. Most sites are fully migrated within hours, with near-zero downtime.
How does Cloudways pricing compare to WP Engine?
Cloudways Flexible plans start at $11/mo with pay-as-you-go billing, unlimited sites, and 1 TB bandwidth. WP Engine starts at $25/mo for a single site with 50 GB bandwidth. Cloudways typically delivers 50–60% lower hosting costs at equivalent resource levels.
Does Cloudways support WooCommerce?
Yes. Cloudways is optimized for WooCommerce with built-in caching (Varnish, Redis, Object Cache Pro), Cloudflare Enterprise CDN integration, and dedicated WooCommerce hosting guides. Cloudways Autonomous adds Kubernetes-based autoscaling for high-traffic stores.
Is Cloudways beginner-friendly?
The platform is designed for users with some technical comfort, but it’s far more accessible than managing raw cloud infrastructure. The dashboard abstracts server management into a clean UI, and 24/7 support is available to help with any setup questions.
Can I use any WordPress plugin on Cloudways?
Yes. Unlike WP Engine, which maintains a disallowed plugins list, Cloudways places no restrictions on which WordPress plugins you can install. You have full control over your application stack.
What’s the difference between Cloudways Flexible and Autonomous?
Flexible gives you full server control with your choice of 5 cloud providers — ideal for developers and agencies. Autonomous is a fully managed WordPress solution with Kubernetes-based autoscaling, built for high-traffic sites that need hands-free scaling.
Does Cloudways offer a free trial?
Yes. Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card required. You get full access to the platform to test performance, features, and migration tools before committing.
1. All information regarding WP Engine has been sourced from their official website and is accurate as of 2026.
2. The information in this section has been procured from G2 as of 2026 and may be subject to change.