What Hosting Supplier Should I Choose on Cloudways?

When you sign up to Cloudways and start your first server, you need to pick a cloud provider. Cloudways works as a managed layer on top of five infrastructure suppliers: DigitalOcean, Linode (now Akamai), Vultr, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The right choice depends on your budget, where your audience is based, and how much raw power your site needs.

Why Are There Different Hosting Suppliers on Cloudways?

Cloudways doesn’t own the underlying hardware. Instead, it rents server capacity from major cloud infrastructure providers and wraps it with a managed dashboard, one-click app installs, automated backups, and built-in caching. You pay Cloudways for the management layer; Cloudways pays the cloud provider for the actual compute. For a complete breakdown of features and pricing, read our full Cloudways review.

This means you get access to enterprise-grade infrastructure at a much lower price than managing it yourself, without needing to know how to configure Linux, set up firewalls, or install PHP from scratch.

The Five Cloudways Cloud Providers Compared

Here is what each provider offers on Cloudways, with the key strengths and tradeoffs for each.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is the most popular provider on Cloudways for a reason. Entry plans start at $14/month for 1 GB RAM, 1 CPU, 25 GB SSD, and 1 TB of included bandwidth. The pricing is predictable, the billing never surprises you, and the 1 TB bandwidth bundle covers the typical traffic of a small-to-medium WordPress site with room to spare.

Data centres are available in New York, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Singapore, Bangalore, and Toronto. That covers the majority of English-language web audiences without needing to think too hard about region selection. For most new Cloudways users running WordPress, WooCommerce, or a standard business site, DigitalOcean is the correct default.

The one limitation is that DigitalOcean does not have data centres in Latin America or some parts of Asia (Seoul, Osaka, or Tokyo, for example). If your analytics show strong traffic from those regions, Vultr is worth comparing.

Linode (Akamai)

Linode was acquired by Akamai in 2022, and the platform now benefits from Akamai’s CDN infrastructure behind the scenes. For WordPress workloads on Cloudways, the practical experience is comparable to DigitalOcean: similar pricing at around $14/month for the 1 GB plan, similar performance benchmarks, and similar ease of setup.

Linode’s main data centre locations on Cloudways include Dallas, Fremont (California), Newark, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Tokyo. The Tokyo location is a practical reason to choose Linode over DigitalOcean if your audience is in Japan, since DigitalOcean doesn’t have a Tokyo option at this tier.

The practical downside is community resources. When you search for a Cloudways-specific configuration issue, far more community threads reference DigitalOcean than Linode. If you are new to cloud hosting and expect to look things up, DigitalOcean’s larger user base makes troubleshooting easier. Choose Linode when a specific data centre location or existing Akamai infrastructure gives you a clear reason to.

Vultr

Vultr is the most geographically diverse of the three budget providers, with over 32 locations worldwide. Entry pricing is slightly lower than DigitalOcean, starting around $11/month for comparable specs. The extra locations include Miami, Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and Melbourne, none of which DigitalOcean covers at this tier on Cloudways.

For performance, Vultr is comparable to DigitalOcean in benchmark tests. The difference is not raw compute speed but network geography. If your site serves a large portion of visitors from South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, or South America, Vultr can cut 40 to 80ms off the time-to-first-byte compared to the nearest DigitalOcean alternative, because the server is physically closer.

For sites with audiences primarily in North America or Europe, the geographic advantage disappears and the choice comes down to marginal price difference. Either DigitalOcean or Vultr works equally well in those cases. Vultr is the pick when your traffic data tells you your audience skews Asia-Pacific or Latin American.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS on Cloudways uses Amazon’s Lightsail infrastructure and starts at around $36/month for 1 GB RAM, which is roughly 2.5x the price of DigitalOcean at the same specification. AWS also charges separately for data transfer beyond the included threshold, whereas DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode bundle bandwidth into the flat monthly price.

The case for AWS on Cloudways is not raw performance at the entry tier. At 1 GB or 2 GB, the compute difference compared to DigitalOcean is small. The case is network reach and compliance. AWS has over 30 regions globally, a private backbone that keeps traffic off the public internet longer, and a suite of compliance certifications (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2) that matter for certain business types. If your business already uses S3 for media storage, SES for transactional email, or other AWS services, putting your Cloudways server on AWS simplifies your infrastructure.

For a detailed look at AWS Lightsail pricing, the free tier, and how it compares to running Cloudways on AWS, see our Amazon Web Services review. For a typical WordPress site or small WooCommerce store, the cost premium does not justify switching from DigitalOcean.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

GCP on Cloudways starts at around $37/month and uses Google’s Premium Tier networking by default. This routes your server’s egress traffic over Google’s private fiber backbone rather than the public internet, which reduces latency and packet loss on intercontinental routes. GCP has over 40 zones across more than 30 regions globally, giving it broad geographic coverage comparable to AWS.

The performance advantage of GCP’s network shows up most clearly for sites with visitors spread across multiple continents. A site serving North America, Europe, and Asia simultaneously gets more consistent time-to-first-byte across all regions compared to a single DigitalOcean server, because Google’s network optimises the routing paths globally.

GCP is also a natural fit for businesses that already use Google Analytics 4, BigQuery, Google Workspace, or other Google services, since server-to-service latency on the same network is lower. For a single-region site with one primary audience, the cost premium over DigitalOcean or Vultr does not pay off in meaningful performance gains.

Entry-Tier Pricing Per Provider

These are the approximate starting monthly costs on Cloudways as of 2025. Prices vary slightly by region and change over time, so check the Cloudways pricing page for current figures.

Note: AWS and GCP on Cloudways bill differently than the other three. Bandwidth overage on DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode is included in the base plan up to the threshold; AWS and GCP charge separately for data transfer out, which can add meaningfully to the bill on high-traffic sites. If you are on a tight budget, stick with DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Linode.

How to Choose Between Hosting Suppliers

There are several factors that make the difference in which hosting supplier you use on Cloudways:

Cost

DigitalOcean and Vultr are the most budget-friendly options, starting around $11-$14/month. For a deeper look at DigitalOcean’s standalone pricing and Droplet tiers, see our hosting guide. AWS and GCP are typically 2-3x more expensive for the same specifications. Budget also matters for bandwidth, since AWS and GCP charge extra for high data transfer, which gets added to your monthly bill.

Server Locations

All providers have locations across the world, but in different areas. If you want your website to perform best for audiences in Asia, Vultr covers more Asian cities. If you need strong EU or UK coverage, all five providers have European data centres. See our guide on choosing the best Cloudways server location for the full breakdown of regions.

Choosing the right location matters because better speed directly impacts revenue. Research shows you lose roughly 7% of revenue for every extra second of load time.

Scalability and Resources

Not all providers offer the same resource tiers. AWS and GCP have higher maximum limits, useful for sites that may need to scale to dozens of CPUs or hundreds of GB of RAM. DigitalOcean and Linode have defined scalability tiers that suit most sites but cap out lower than the cloud giants.

Can You Switch Cloud Providers on Cloudways?

Yes, you can switch cloud providers on Cloudways, but not with a simple in-place migration. Cloudways does not offer a one-click button to move a running server from DigitalOcean to AWS. The process involves a few steps:

1. Deploy a new server on the target provider inside your Cloudways account.
2. Use the Cloudways clone or migrate tool to copy your application across to the new server.
3. Test the cloned application on the new server before pointing your domain to it.
4. Update your DNS to point to the new server’s IP address.
5. Once the site is confirmed live on the new provider, delete the old server to stop paying for it.

Your Cloudways account stays the same throughout. The migration tool handles application files and the database, so the transfer is straightforward for most WordPress sites. The main cost to watch is running both servers at the same time during the transition period, typically a day or two.

This flexibility is one of Cloudways’ genuine advantages over traditional managed WordPress hosts. You can start on a cheaper provider and move to AWS or GCP later without rebuilding from scratch.

Provider Performance on Cloudways: What the Benchmarks Show

All five Cloudways providers use modern NVMe-backed SSD storage and physically similar infrastructure for small servers, so raw benchmark differences between DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode at the entry tier are small. The meaningful performance differences come from network latency (how close the server is to your visitors) rather than CPU or storage speed. Here is what independent testing and real-world monitoring typically shows:

DigitalOcean

Consistent TTFB under 200ms for cached WordPress pages from a server located in the same region as the test. DigitalOcean’s network infrastructure is well-peered and reliable. The NYC, Frankfurt, and Singapore data centres are the most popular on Cloudways, and each performs within a similar TTFB range when the test origin is nearby. For sites where the server region matches most of the audience, DigitalOcean is the most proven performer at the entry tier.

Vultr

Comparable to DigitalOcean on raw performance at the same specification. The advantage is location coverage: Vultr operates data centres in Miami, Seoul, and Osaka that DigitalOcean does not. For sites with audiences in Southeast Asia or Latin America, Vultr can deliver 40 to 80ms lower TTFB than the nearest DigitalOcean option. If your analytics show strong traffic from those regions, the Vultr location advantage is real.

Linode (Akamai)

Performance equivalent to DigitalOcean in shared benchmark tests. The Akamai acquisition has not materially changed Linode’s hosting performance for typical WordPress workloads. A practical reason to choose Linode is if you already have other infrastructure there, or if the specific Linode data centre location (Dallas, Fremont, or Newark) serves your audience better than DigitalOcean’s alternatives.

AWS Lightsail

Raw performance is comparable to the other providers, but the real advantage is network reach. AWS’s global backbone means data leaving your server travels on AWS infrastructure longer before entering the public internet, which tends to reduce packet loss on intercontinental routes. This matters for sites serving audiences on multiple continents. For a single-region site, the performance difference versus DigitalOcean does not justify the 2 to 3x higher cost.

Google Cloud Platform

GCP uses Google’s own fiber network for egress traffic, which delivers low latency for globally distributed audiences. Premium Tier networking (the default on Cloudways) routes traffic over Google’s backbone rather than the public internet. Like AWS, the performance advantage materialises at scale and across regions. For high-traffic sites where every millisecond of TTFB matters globally, GCP is competitive with AWS. For a site serving one primary region, the cost premium does not pay off versus DigitalOcean or Vultr.

The practical takeaway: For the vast majority of sites, all three budget providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode) will perform within a few milliseconds of each other when the server is in the right region. The right provider choice is mostly about geography (where your audience is) and price (budget vs scale). Provider performance only becomes a meaningful differentiator when you are running high-traffic sites that need AWS or GCP’s global backbone, or when your audience is in a region only one provider covers well.

Which Cloudways Provider Is Best for WooCommerce?

For WooCommerce specifically, the right Cloudways provider depends on your store’s order volume, where your customers are based, and whether you use payment gateways or data processing tools with regional compliance requirements. Here is how each provider stacks up for online stores.

DigitalOcean for WooCommerce

DigitalOcean is the right starting point for most WooCommerce stores handling under 5,000 orders per month. The NYC and Frankfurt data centres cover the majority of English-language ecommerce audiences in North America and Europe. Pricing is predictable, and the 1 TB bandwidth bundle covers most store traffic volumes without overage charges.

The flat billing also makes budgeting easier for a store with variable traffic spikes around sales events. You know what you are paying each month regardless of how much traffic a Black Friday promotion sends. Start here unless you have a specific reason to choose a different provider.

Vultr for WooCommerce

Vultr is worth choosing if your customers are primarily in Asia or Latin America. Vultr’s Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, and Sao Paulo locations can reduce checkout latency for customers in those markets. Lower latency on the checkout page directly affects cart completion rates: customers on slow connections are more likely to abandon at payment if the server takes too long to confirm the transaction.

For a store where 30% or more of orders come from Asia-Pacific, Vultr’s regional advantage is worth more than the marginal price difference versus DigitalOcean. Check your WooCommerce order report by country before deciding; if the top countries are US, UK, Canada, and Australia, DigitalOcean covers those just as well.

Linode for WooCommerce

Linode is a solid choice and performs comparably to DigitalOcean for WooCommerce workloads. The practical difference is community resources. When you encounter a configuration issue specific to WooCommerce on Cloudways (caching rules for cart pages, session handling, object cache settings), DigitalOcean has a larger body of Cloudways-specific how-tos and forum threads. Finding answers takes longer on Linode.

Choose Linode if you already have existing Akamai infrastructure (a CDN account, DNS management, or other services there) or if a specific Linode data centre location serves your customer base better than the nearest DigitalOcean option. The Tokyo Linode location, for example, is a reason to choose Linode if your store has a significant Japanese customer base and you want DigitalOcean-comparable pricing without switching to Vultr.

AWS for WooCommerce

AWS on Cloudways is more than most WooCommerce stores need. It becomes worth the cost when you are processing 10,000 or more orders per month, when your business needs AWS-specific compliance certifications (PCI-DSS with AWS Payment Services, or healthcare-adjacent product handling), or when your store already uses other AWS services such as S3 for product media storage or SES for transactional order emails.

For a typical store, the 2 to 3x cost premium versus DigitalOcean does not translate into a 2 to 3x improvement in store performance or customer experience. The AWS advantage is compliance reach and infrastructure integration, not raw WooCommerce speed at the entry tier. Start with DigitalOcean and revisit AWS when your order volume and compliance requirements actually demand it.

GCP for WooCommerce

GCP on Cloudways is a good fit for stores that use Google’s analytics stack or BigQuery for order data analysis and want low-latency connections between their server and those services. GCP also performs well for stores with geographically diverse customer bases who need consistent speed across multiple continents, since Google’s Premium Tier network routes traffic over its private backbone.

Like AWS, the cost premium is only justified at meaningful scale or when integrating with other Google services that your team already uses. For a store that exports order data to BigQuery for reporting, the server-to-BigQuery connection on the same Google network is faster and simpler to configure than an equivalent setup from DigitalOcean.

For a new WooCommerce store, start with DigitalOcean. Revisit when you hit 5,000 or more orders per month, or when your analytics reveal that a significant portion of your customers is in a region where another provider has a closer data centre.

Which Provider Should You Pick?

• First WordPress site or small blog: DigitalOcean 1 GB or 2 GB plan
• Agency or ecommerce on a budget: DigitalOcean or Linode 2-4 GB plan
• Asia-Pacific or Latin America audience: Vultr for better region coverage
• High-traffic site or enterprise compliance: AWS or GCP
• Not sure? DigitalOcean is the default choice for good reason: broad regions, stable pricing, and the largest Cloudways user base means the most community support available

Final Word: What Hosting Supplier Should I Choose on Cloudways?

For most users starting on Cloudways, DigitalOcean is the default choice. It offers the best balance of price, performance, and global coverage. For a deeper look at DigitalOcean as a standalone platform, see our full DigitalOcean review. Vultr is worth considering if your main audience is in Asia or Latin America. AWS and GCP are for sites that need serious scale or already use those ecosystems. Sign up to Cloudways now and you can switch providers later if your needs change. The account stays the same regardless of which infrastructure supplier you start on.