Cloudways vs Rootly
Compare Cloudways and Rootly on features, pricing, and buyer fit using the same researched criteria.

Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting — Flexible from $11/mo DigitalOcean Standard; Autonomous WordPress autoscaling separate line.
Best for
- • Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence
- • Agencies running WordPress plus other apps on one Cloudways account
- • Buyers who will actually use hourly Flexible billing and the $11 DigitalOcean Standard floor
Starting from $11.00/user/mo
No free plan
VS
Our verdict
No universal winner. Choose based on which criteria matter most for your team.
Cloudways is better for
- ✓ Starting pricing
Tie
- • Integrations
- • Security & admin
Choose Cloudways if: Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence
Choose Rootly if: Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor

Rootly
Incident response — Incident Response Essentials $20/user/mo; On-Call Essentials $20/user; Enterprise custom. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.
Best for
- • Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
- • Buyers who will add On-Call Essentials only if they need paging
- • Comparisons versus FireHydrant Pro $25 and incident.io Team $15
Starting from $20.00/user/mo
No free plan
Cloudways vs Rootly at a glance
Criterion-level leaders from verified research.
Scorecard preview
Criterion leaders based on verified research — open the Scorecard tab for evidence detail.
- Starting pricingCloudways
Cloudways
Rootly
- Free planDepends
Cloudways
Rootly
- User / licence minimumDepends
Cloudways
Rootly
- IntegrationsTie
Cloudways
Rootly
- Security & adminTie
Cloudways
Rootly
Which It Development is better for you?
Quick picks based on fit — not a universal ranking.
- → Cloudways
Best for starting pricing
Cloudways publishes a lower researched starting floor ($11/mo vs $20/mo for Rootly). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.
The biggest differences
Where the products diverge most clearly on verified criteria.
Starting pricing
Cloudways winsCloudways
Cloudways publishes a lower researched starting floor ($11/mo vs $20/mo for Rootly). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.
Rootly
Trails Cloudways on this criterion
Which should you choose?
Choose Cloudways if
- Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence
- Agencies running WordPress plus other apps on one Cloudways account
- Buyers who will actually use hourly Flexible billing and the $11 DigitalOcean Standard floor
Choose Rootly if
- Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
- Buyers who will add On-Call Essentials only if they need paging
- Comparisons versus FireHydrant Pro $25 and incident.io Team $15
Related comparisons
Alternatives to consider

WP Engine
Managed WordPress hosting — Essential Startup from $30/mo annual first-year; Core from $400/mo; Enterprise custom.

Plesk
Hosting control panel for web/server administration — Web Admin Edition from $16.99/mo on VPS licensing.

PagerDuty
On-call / incident response — Free ≤5 responders; Professional $21/user/mo annual ($25 monthly); Business $41 ($49 monthly); Enterprise contact.

incident.io
Incident response — Basic Free; Team $15/user/mo annual ($19 monthly); Pro $25/user; on-call add-on +$10–$20/user. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.
How we compare
A short look at the comparison process. Full methodology
1
Collect
Collect official product information, pricing, and product evidence.
2
Normalize
Map evidence to the same category evaluation criteria for both products.
3
Compare
Evaluate both products against identical criteria — ties and depends are allowed.
4
Explain
Show why each product wins, loses, or ties, with evidence behind the outcome.
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- Independent criterion outcomes
- No invented scores or prices
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