Choosing between Liquid Web and Cloudways is less about who runs faster servers and more about which managed-hosting philosophy you want to live with. Liquid Web runs its own data centers and ships a fully managed WordPress product with dedicated resources, root access on higher tiers, and an in-house 24/7 engineering support team. Cloudways takes the opposite road as a managed hosting overlay: you pick a cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, or GCP), Cloudways handles the stack on top, and the result is cheap entry pricing with cloud-grade scalability.
Both vendors target growing WordPress sites that have outgrown shared hosting, but they make very different bets about pricing model, support depth, and how much of the infrastructure you actually control. Liquid Web charges premium for white-glove managed VPS; Cloudways charges a thin margin on top of raw DigitalOcean prices and leaves more of the workflow to you.
This comparison walks through pricing, infrastructure, performance, support, developer tooling, and the workflow details that decide which host you should actually run your business on. By the end, you will know which one fits the way your team ships WordPress.
Quick Verdict
- →Pick Liquid Web if you want premium fully managed WordPress, dedicated resources, root access on higher tiers, and a 24/7 in-house engineer team that handles WordPress-level issues, not just infrastructure.
- →Pick Cloudways if you want cheap cloud VPS hosting with a managed control panel on top, pay-as-you-go pricing, and the freedom to pick your own underlying cloud provider.
In This Comparison
Liquid Web Overview
Liquid Web is a Michigan-based managed hosting company founded in 1997 that built its reputation on VPS, dedicated, and Cloud Sites infrastructure before launching Managed WordPress in 2015. The Managed WordPress product runs on dedicated resources with Nginx, OPCache, PHP 8.x, premium iThemes Security Pro bundled in, automatic plugin updates with visual regression testing, and the Stencil starter framework for agency teams. Managed WooCommerce is the same stack tuned for stores.
Liquid Web is bought by agencies, ecommerce stores, and businesses that want VPS-like flexibility without managing the underlying server themselves. SSH, SFTP, git, WP-CLI, and database access ship on every plan, with root available on the VPS-rooted tiers. For broader category context, see our guide to the best managed WordPress hosting providers. The brand fits teams that want real engineers on chat, not a self-serve cloud console with limited human help.
Cloudways Overview
Cloudways launched in 2011 as a managed hosting overlay (acquired by DigitalOcean in 2022) that sits on top of five different cloud providers: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode (now Akamai), AWS, and Google Cloud Platform. The company does not own data centers; it owns the control panel, the LAMP-plus-WordPress stack, the staging tool, the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on, and a thin layer of managed services. You pick a cloud, pick a server size, deploy WordPress, and Cloudways handles ongoing patches, backups, and basic support.
Cloudways is bought by developers, agencies, and small-to-mid business owners who want cloud-grade VPS performance without buying a fully managed product like Liquid Web or WP Engine. The trade-off is responsibility: Cloudways manages the stack, not your WordPress. Plugin conflicts, theme bugs, and WordPress-level optimization are still your problem. Support is responsive but stops at the server boundary. Pricing is cheaper than Liquid Web at the entry tier because you are paying for less hand-holding.
Pricing Compared
Liquid Web Managed WordPress starts at $19 per month for the Spark plan (one site, 15GB storage, 2TB bandwidth) and scales through Maker ($79/month, 5 sites), Designer ($109/month, 10 sites), and Builder ($149/month, 25 sites). Every plan bundles iThemes Security Pro, premium Stencil themes, automatic plugin updates with visual diff testing, and 24/7 in-house support. Pricing is allotment-based, so viral traffic spikes do not trigger surprise overage invoices.
Cloudways DigitalOcean Standard pricing starts at $14 per month for the smallest droplet (1GB RAM, 25GB SSD, 1TB bandwidth) and scales by droplet size: $28/month for 2GB, $54/month for 4GB, $99/month for 8GB. DigitalOcean Premium adds about 25 percent for NVMe SSDs. Vultr and Linode are similarly priced, AWS and GCP are 2-4x more expensive. Cloudflare Enterprise add-on is $5/month per domain, and Cloudways charges per server, not per site, so you can deploy multiple WordPress sites on a single droplet for no extra hosting fee.
On entry-tier dollars, Cloudways is cheaper. On dollars-per-managed-outcome (where someone else handles WordPress-level problems, not just server uptime), Liquid Web is competitive once you factor in the value of in-house engineer support, bundled iThemes Security Pro, and automatic plugin updates with visual regression testing.
Infrastructure and Performance
Liquid Web runs its own data centers in Michigan, Arizona, and Amsterdam with VPS-style isolation under the Managed WordPress product. Resources are dedicated rather than shared, so a noisy neighbor on the physical host cannot starve your site of CPU. Caching uses Nginx FastCGI plus an optional Cloudflare or Sucuri edge that you bring yourself. Network is owned and operated end-to-end.
Cloudways runs on someone else’s cloud. Performance depends entirely on which provider and region you pick: DigitalOcean Premium NVMe droplets in NYC1 are fast and cheap; AWS T3 instances in Mumbai are slower for the same money. Cloudways tunes the LAMP stack with Apache plus Nginx hybrid, MariaDB, Memcached, and Redis on higher droplets. Cloudflare Enterprise add-on adds global edge caching. For most WordPress workloads, a properly sized DigitalOcean droplet on Cloudways performs within margin of error of an entry-tier Liquid Web Managed WordPress plan. For an adjacent view, see our roundup of the best VPS hosting for business websites.
Management and Support
This is the deepest difference between the two. Liquid Web‘s Heroic Support runs 24/7/365 by phone, chat, and ticket with in-house engineers (not outsourced first-line), documented sub-59-second initial response, sub-30-minute resolution averages, and explicit coverage of WordPress-level optimization and custom plugin debugging on higher tiers. Migrations are free and handled by the team. The platform handles automatic plugin updates with visual diff testing before rollout, so a bad update gets caught before it ships.
Cloudways support is responsive (chat-first, with phone available on the Advanced and Premium support add-ons) and 24/7, but the scope stops at the server boundary. Stack questions, server tuning, and platform issues are handled fast; WordPress plugin conflicts, theme debugging, and SEO setup are your responsibility. Automatic backups are scheduled but plugin updates are manual. Migrations are free via the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin for most sites.
Developer Tooling
Liquid Web ships SSH, SFTP, git push-to-deploy, WP-CLI, phpMyAdmin, and one-click staging on every plan. Higher tiers add root access on VPS-rooted plans, which lets you install custom packages, tune Nginx, or run custom monitoring. The Stencil framework provides starter themes with PHPCS, Sass, and Gulp out of the box.
Cloudways exposes SSH (master and per-app), SFTP, WP-CLI, git deployments, phpMyAdmin, one-click staging, and full root via SSH on any droplet you provision. Because you own the underlying server, you can install custom packages, swap PHP versions per-app, or run side processes. Cloudways’ web control panel handles server management, backups, monitoring, and team access in a clean dashboard. The developer surface area is genuinely large.
Side-by-Side Table
| Feature | Liquid Web | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | No, 14-day money-back | No, 3-day free trial |
| Starting Price | $19/month, 1 site | $14/month DigitalOcean droplet |
| Infrastructure | Own data centers | DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, GCP |
| Management Depth | Fully managed WordPress | Managed server, BYO WordPress care |
| Root Access | Yes, on VPS-rooted plans | Yes, full root via SSH |
| Staging Environment | One-click, included | One-click, included |
| Visit-Based Pricing | No | No, bandwidth-based per droplet |
| Auto Plugin Updates | Yes, with visual diff testing | No, manual updates |
| Bundled Security | iThemes Security Pro included | Cloudflare Enterprise add-on ($5/mo) |
| Multi-Site Per Server | Per plan site limits | Unlimited apps per droplet |
| Best For | Agencies, ecommerce, white-glove fans | Developers, agencies wanting cheap cloud |
Which Should You Choose
Pick Liquid Web if you want fully managed WordPress where the support team handles WordPress-level issues (not just server uptime), need dedicated resources without burstable noisy-neighbor risk, want bundled iThemes Security Pro and automatic plugin updates with visual diff testing, run an ecommerce store on Managed WooCommerce, or simply want a real engineer on every ticket.
Pick Cloudways if you have the WordPress chops to handle plugin conflicts and theme debugging yourself, want the cheapest credible cloud hosting with a clean control panel on top, need to deploy many sites cheaply on a single droplet, or want the freedom to pick your underlying cloud provider per project.
Try Liquid Web Managed WordPress
Fully managed WordPress with dedicated resources, bundled security, automatic plugin updates with visual regression testing, and 24/7 in-house engineer support.
Get Started with Liquid Web →FAQs
Is Liquid Web better than Cloudways?
Better depends on what you want managed. Liquid Web is a fully managed WordPress product where the support team handles WordPress-level issues. Cloudways is a managed server product where you still own WordPress care. If you want hand-holding, Liquid Web wins. If you have WordPress chops and want cheap cloud, Cloudways wins.
Does Cloudways manage WordPress for me?
Only at the server level. Cloudways manages the LAMP stack, patches, server-side caching, and infrastructure security. Plugin updates, theme conflicts, WordPress-level optimization, and SEO setup are your responsibility. Liquid Web Managed WordPress handles all of those for you.
Can I run multiple WordPress sites on one Cloudways droplet?
Yes. Cloudways charges per server, not per app, so you can deploy as many WordPress installs as the droplet’s RAM and CPU can handle. Liquid Web charges per-site within plan limits (Spark = 1 site, Builder = 25 sites).
Which host is cheaper?
Cloudways is cheaper at the entry tier ($14/month vs $19/month) and lets you stack sites on one droplet. Liquid Web is competitive once you factor in bundled iThemes Security Pro, automatic plugin updates, and 24/7 in-house WordPress support that Cloudways charges extra for or does not offer at all.
Does Liquid Web include a CDN?
Not bundled. Liquid Web is BYO-CDN: most users add Cloudflare (free or paid) or Sucuri in front of their site. Cloudways offers Cloudflare Enterprise as a $5/month per-domain add-on with edge caching and DDoS protection.
Can I get root access on Cloudways?
Yes, full root via SSH on every droplet. Liquid Web offers root on its VPS-rooted Managed WordPress tiers and on every standalone VPS, Cloud Sites, and dedicated server product.
Is Cloudways good for WooCommerce?
Yes, on a properly sized droplet (2GB RAM minimum, 4GB recommended for active stores). Liquid Web offers a dedicated Managed WooCommerce product with store-specific caching, abandoned-cart automation, and ecommerce-specialist support that goes deeper than Cloudways’ generic stack.
Does Cloudways have 24/7 phone support?
Only on Advanced and Premium support add-ons (extra fee). Standard Cloudways support is chat-first and 24/7, but phone is paid. Liquid Web includes 24/7 phone, chat, and ticket support on every Managed WordPress plan.
Final Word
Both Liquid Web and Cloudways are legitimate WordPress hosting choices that have powered serious sites for over a decade. The split is structural: Liquid Web is for teams that want fully managed WordPress with white-glove support, dedicated resources, and bundled security. Cloudways is for teams that want cheap cloud VPS with a clean control panel and the WordPress chops to handle the application layer themselves. Match the choice to how you actually want to spend your operations time. For the broader category view, see our roundup of the top WordPress hosting services.