Cloudways
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersSliema, Malta
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Cloudways firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cloudways
- Legal name
- Cloudways, LLC
- Website
- https://cloudways.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cloudways industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Managed Cloud Hosting
- NAICS
- Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cloud Managed Services (Operations, Monitoring, Patching) (BPAEACAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Cloud Operations Outsourcing (Cloud Managed Operations) (BPAEAMAC), Cloud Managed Services (M365/Azure/AWS/GCP) (BPAEABAE)
Keywords
Where Cloudways is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sliema
- HQ country
- Malta
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
Cloudways business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Managed Cloud Hosting Subscriptions: Primary revenue stream from subscription-based managed cloud hosting services. Customers pay recurring fees based on chosen cloud provider, server resources, and add-on features. Pricing varies by plan (Flexible, Autonomous) and billing cycle.
- Add-on Services: Additional revenue from premium add-ons including Copilot AI assistant (Starter $3.99/month, Recommended $9.99/month), Client Billing & Reporting tools (Free to $13.99/month), and advanced security features.
- Affiliate Program: Revenue generated through referral partnerships where affiliates earn commissions for driving new customer acquisitions. Part of the channel partner GTM motion.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Cloudways Flexible - Entry managed hosting |
| Subscription | Monthly | Cloudways Autonomous - AI-powered managed WordPress |
| Subscription | Monthly | Copilot AI Add-on - Starter |
| Subscription | Monthly | Copilot AI Add-on - Recommended |
| Subscription | Monthly | Client Billing & Reporting - Free Tier |
| Subscription | Monthly | Client Billing & Reporting - Growth |
| Subscription | Monthly | Client Billing & Reporting - Scale |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Cloudways product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that provisions, secures, scales, and maintains servers on behalf of customers across five underlying infrastructure providers (AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr). Its core product line consists of Cloudways Flexible (customizable managed hosting with full server control and 1-click scaling) and Cloudways Autonomous (fully managed Kubernetes-based WordPress hosting with automatic horizontal scaling and load balancing). The platform is sold on monthly subscriptions with a 3-day free trial and is targeted at agencies, SMBs, developers, and e-commerce operators.
Product overview
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that operates a platform architecture with two primary hosting products — Cloudways Flexible (customizable managed hosting with full control over cloud provider and server resources) and Cloudways Autonomous (fully managed, auto-scalable WordPress hosting built on Kubernetes). The platform is supplemented by AI-powered management tooling (Cloudways Copilot), agency billing/reporting tools (Client Billing & Reporting), and a WordPress multi-site manager (Site Manager). Cloudways distinguishes itself by offering managed hosting across five underlying cloud infrastructure providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud) with a unified control plane, 1-click deployments, and a marketplace of add-on services including Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, Malware Protection, SafeUpdates, DNS Made Easy, Rackspace Email, and Object Cache Pro. The platform supports WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel, and PHP applications.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cloudways Flexible Customizable managed cloud hosting platform that lets customers choose their underlying cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud), configure server resources, and deploy WordPress, Magento, Laravel, or PHP applications with full server control and 1-click scaling.
- Cloudways Autonomous Fully managed WordPress hosting built on Kubernetes (GKE) with automatic horizontal scaling, pre-configured autoscaling, built-in load balancing, and high-availability infrastructure designed for high-traffic eCommerce, LMS, and event/booking sites.
- Cloudways Copilot AI-powered intelligent hosting assistant that monitors servers and applications 24/7, detects critical issues, provides root-cause diagnostics, and offers 1-click SmartFix automated resolutions; sold as an add-on subscription (Starter $3.99/month, Recommended $9.99/month) for Cloudways Flexible plans.
- Client Billing & Reporting Bundled tool for agencies and freelancers that automates recurring client billing and payments via Stripe integration and generates white-labeled hosting reports covering WordPress/plugin updates, security, backups, and performance.
- Cloudways Site Manager Agency-grade WordPress management solution built in partnership with BlogVault that centralizes site updates, performance monitoring, security alerts, and multi-site control into a single dashboard with real-time insights and SSO.
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN Add-on Premium global content delivery network integration featuring edge page caching, Argo Smart Routing, and DDoS protection, offered as a paid add-on starting at $4.99/domain/month.
- Cloudways Malware Protection Automated malware detection and cleanup service protecting websites from malicious code, available as a paid add-on starting at $4/app/month.
- Cloudways SafeUpdates Automated WordPress update management tool that detects, tests, and safely deploys WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates, available as a paid add-on starting at $3/month.
- DNS Made Easy Add-on Integrated DNS management add-on providing instant propagation and fast TTLs for faster DNS changes, available at $0.50/month/domain.
- Rackspace Email Add-on Email hosting add-on providing reliable email mailboxes at $1/mailbox/month.
- Cloudways Advance Support Priority support add-on extending troubleshooting to include plugin/theme issues and performance optimizations, available at $25/month.
Quantifiable outcome
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Cloudways
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Cloudways technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability4 records
Feature8 records
Cloudways partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- BlogVaultcoreBlogVault is a technology partner for Cloudways Site Manager product development. The partnership enables built-in site management capabilities for WordPress security, backups, and migration features integrated into the Cloudways platform.
- DigitalOceanflagshipDigitalOcean is the parent company of Cloudways, providing the foundational infrastructure partnership. Cloudways operates as a subsidiary of DigitalOcean, leveraging their cloud infrastructure and distribution capabilities while maintaining its own managed hosting platform.
- OATS AfricaminorOATS Africa is Cloudways' first official agency partner in Nigeria, representing a regional channel partnership to expand distribution in the African market through local agency relationships.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreAWS is a core infrastructure provider for Cloudways, offering customers the ability to deploy on AWS cloud infrastructure with managed services including EC2, S3, RDS, and CloudWatch.
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)coreGoogle Cloud Platform is a core infrastructure provider for Cloudways, enabling customers to deploy on GCP with managed services including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and Cloud SQL.
- Linode (Akamai)coreLinode (now part of Akamai) is a core infrastructure provider for Cloudways, offering cost-effective cloud compute resources for customer deployments.
- VultrcoreVultr is a core infrastructure provider for Cloudways, offering global cloud compute resources for customer website and application hosting.
- CloudflarecoreCloudflare Enterprise integration provides Cloudways customers with enterprise-grade CDN, DDoS protection, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and performance optimization included with all hosting plans.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cloudways competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Hostinger: Hostinger is a large global hosting incumbent offering shared, cloud, and managed WordPress hosting at very low price points targeting SMBs and individuals. It competes with Cloudways at the lower end of the SMB market and is significantly larger by customer count.
- Bluehost: Bluehost is a mass-market hosting incumbent (owned by Newfold Digital) targeting SMBs and WordPress users with shared and managed hosting. It competes broadly with Cloudways in the SMB / WordPress segment at lower price points.
- Amazon Lightsail: Amazon Lightsail is AWS's simplified cloud hosting service for SMBs and developers, offering bundled compute, storage, and networking at predictable pricing. It is a broad incumbent competitor to Cloudways on the AWS infrastructure layer and could absorb more technically capable SMB customers.
Direct peers
- Pressable: Pressable offers fully managed WordPress hosting on a private cloud platform, focused on agencies and WordPress professionals. It overlaps directly with Cloudways Autonomous in the managed WordPress / agency category.
- WP Engine: WP Engine is a leading managed WordPress hosting platform focused on agencies, enterprises, and digital businesses, offering proprietary tooling (Atlas, Local, Smart Plugin Manager). It competes directly with Cloudways Autonomous and the Cloudways agency/WordPress positioning.
- SiteGround: SiteGround is a managed hosting provider targeting SMBs, agencies, and WordPress users with shared, cloud, and managed WooCommerce hosting. It directly competes with Cloudways on multi-tier managed hosting, agency tooling, and WordPress-specific features.
- Flywheel: Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting provider focused on designers, developers, and agencies. It is a direct competitor in the agency / managed WordPress segment, with overlapping target customers and product features.
- Kinsta: Kinsta offers premium managed WordPress hosting built on Google Cloud Platform, serving agencies, e-commerce, and high-traffic publishers. It is one of Cloudways' closest direct competitors in the managed WordPress / agency segment, with overlapping pricing tiers and target customers.
- Liquid Web: Liquid Web provides managed hosting and managed WordPress/WooCommerce hosting for SMBs, agencies, and high-traffic sites. It is a direct peer in the managed hosting category, with comparable multi-product portfolio and overlapping agency/SMB customer base.
Others
- DigitalOcean: DigitalOcean is Cloudways' parent company and one of its five underlying infrastructure providers. While not a direct competitor in the managed hosting layer, DigitalOcean offers its own simpler cloud hosting products (Droplets, App Platform) that overlap at the lower end and whose pricing/strategy directly influences Cloudways' economics.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cloudways social profiles
Digital presenceCloudways compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Cloudways financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cloudways leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Cloudways funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cloudways M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cloudways
What does Cloudways do?
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that provisions, secures, scales, and maintains servers on behalf of customers across five underlying infrastructure providers (AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr). Its core product line consists of Cloudways Flexible (customizable managed hosting with full server control and 1-click scaling) and Cloudways Autonomous (fully managed Kubernetes-based WordPress hosting with automatic horizontal scaling and load balancing). The platform is sold on monthly subscriptions with a 3-day free trial and is targeted at agencies, SMBs, developers, and e-commerce operators.
Is Cloudways a public or private company?
Cloudways is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Cloudways founded?
Cloudways was founded in 2011. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Cloudways based?
Cloudways is headquartered in Sliema, Malta, in the Europe region.
How does Cloudways make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Managed Cloud Hosting Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are add-on Services and affiliate Program.
Who are Cloudways's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Hostinger, Bluehost and Amazon Lightsail. Direct peers are Pressable, WP Engine, SiteGround, Flywheel, Kinsta and Liquid Web. DigitalOcean is listed as an others.
Does Cloudways have an API?
Yes. Cloudways exposes a public API. Developer documentation is at developers.cloudways.com.
What industry is Cloudways in?
Cloudways's product category is Managed Cloud Hosting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEACAF, Cloud Managed Services (Operations, Monitoring, Patching), with a secondary code of BPAEAMAC, Cloud Operations Outsourcing (Cloud Managed Operations). Its NAICS code is 541513 and its SIC code is 7373.