Cloudways vs Hosting.com
Cloudways scores higher; Hosting.com costs less over three years. Which matters depends on whether the site earns yet.
Cloudways
Managed cloud without the sysadmin work
Hosting.com
Formerly A2 Hosting — developer-friendly shared hosting
Three-year cost, side by side
One introductory term followed by two years at the renewal rate — the number almost nobody quotes you up front.
Over three years Hosting.com costs $96.36 less — about $2.68 a month averaged out. It also scores lower, so the question is whether Cloudways earns the difference.
Arithmetic on published monthly rates. Real bills vary with term length, currency, region and taxes.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Cloudways if…
- No intro-price bait: the price you see is the price forever
- Pick your own cloud provider and region
- Free staging and one-click backups
- Excellent for Laravel and WooCommerce
Choose Hosting.com if…
- SSH and Composer even on shared plans
- Anytime money-back guarantee (prorated)
- Multiple selectable PHP versions
- Good for Laravel on a budget
What holds Cloudways back
- No email hosting included
- No domain registration
- 3-day trial rather than a money-back guarantee
What holds Hosting.com back
- Turbo plans cost significantly more
- No India datacenter
- Dated cPanel experience
Line by line
Plans compared
Entry plans on both sides, with what each renews at. Storage and traffic limits decide more than the brand name does.
Hourly billing, no contract
No renewal increaseSweet spot for WooCommerce
No renewal increaseSSH + Composer included
Renews at $10.99 ×3.7LiteSpeed + NVMe
Renews at $20.99 ×3.0Only the plans we have recorded — providers add and retire tiers often, so check the current line-up before buying. Monthly equivalents; longer terms are usually billed up front.
Compare something else
16 hosts tracked — any pair works. Browse curated comparisons →
Cloudways: cloudways.com/en/pricing — checked 27 Jul 2026
DigitalOcean 1GB. Hourly billing, no intro discount so no renewal jump. 3-day trial, not a refund window. DO 2GB now ~$28.
Hosting.com: a2hosting.com/web-hosting + priceworld round-up — checked 27 Jul 2026
Rebranded from A2 Hosting in 2025 after World Host Group acquired it; figures re-checked against hosting.com.
Scores are editorial assessments, not lab measurements — see how they are built. Confirm prices at each provider's checkout before buying.