SoftwareGlimpse

WP Engine vs Cloudways

Choose WP Engine when managed WordPress-specialist hosting is the job — not Cloudways multi-cloud/multi-app by default, and not a Plesk/cPanel panel licence. Choose Cloudways when managed multi-cloud hosting is the job — not a Plesk/cPanel panel licence, and not WP Engine’s WordPress-only specialist path by default. Overall: WP Engine 7.7 vs Cloudways 7.6. Not hands-on lab tested; confirm live pricing and packaging. Compare published pricing, ITSM, observability, source control, hosting, web data, security, and integrations.

Independently recommendedLast updated Aug 18, 20266 evidence sources2 screenshotsHow we compare
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WP Engine logo

WP Engine

7.7/10

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

Best for

  • • Teams whose only hosting job is managed WordPress
  • • Buyers who will pay for WP Engine specialist support and WP workflow
  • • Organisations that will land on Core or Enterprise, not only the first-year Startup tile

Starting from $30.00/user/mo

No free plan

Visit WP Engine
Read review

VS

Our verdict

Our verdict

Overall tie

Choose WP Engine when managed WordPress-specialist hosting is the job — not Cloudways multi-cloud/multi-app by default, and not a Plesk/cPanel panel licence. Choose Cloudways when managed multi-cloud hosting is the job — not a Plesk/cPanel panel licence, and not WP Engine’s WordPress-only specialist path by default. Overall: WP Engine 7.7 vs Cloudways 7.6. Not hands-on lab tested; confirm live pricing and packaging.

WP Engine is better for

  • ✓ Security & admin

Cloudways is better for

  • ✓ Integrations

Tie

  • • ITSM depth
  • • Observability depth
  • • Source control depth

Choose WP Engine if: Teams whose only hosting job is managed WordPress

Choose Cloudways if: Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence

See detailed comparison ↓
Cloudways logo

Cloudways

7.6/10

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

Visit Cloudways
Read review

Comparison scorecard

Criterion-by-criterion results for WP Engine and Cloudways. Numeric bars appear only when both products have approved scores.

  • Starting pricing

    Published floor price and what that floor actually includes.

    Depends

    Published starting floors: WP Engine ~$30 vs Cloudways ~$11 — confirm live packaging (managed hosting vs panel licences differ).

    WP EngineDepends
    CloudwaysDepends

  • Free plan

    Whether a usable free plan is published, and what it gates.

    Depends

    Compare published free tiers, trials, and first-month promotions — confirm what each path unlocks for your workload.

    WP EngineDepends
    CloudwaysDepends

  • User / licence minimum

    Seat floors, per-employee minimums, and small-team pricing traps.

    Depends

    Confirm seat floors, host/GB/CI-minute units, add-ons, and whether the SKU is ITSM, observability, on-call, CI, panel, managed hosting, or proxy GB before purchase.

    WP EngineDepends
    CloudwaysDepends

  • ITSM depth

    Service desk, ITSM workflows, CMDB, and employee request handling.

    Tie

    WP Engine and Cloudways are close on ITSM depth (9/10 vs 9/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineTie
    CloudwaysTie

  • Observability depth

    Infrastructure monitoring, APM, logs, traces, and alerting depth.

    Tie

    WP Engine and Cloudways are close on observability depth (8/10 vs 8/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineTie
    CloudwaysTie

  • Source control depth

    Git hosting, PRs, CI/CD, and developer collaboration depth.

    Tie

    WP Engine and Cloudways are close on source control depth (9/10 vs 9/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineTie
    CloudwaysTie

  • Hosting panel depth

    Server/hosting control panels, managed WordPress, and site operations.

    Tie

    WP Engine and Cloudways are close on hosting panel depth (9/10 vs 9/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineTie
    CloudwaysTie

  • Web data / proxy depth

    Proxy networks, scrapers, and web data collection depth.

    Tie

    WP Engine and Cloudways are close on web data / proxy depth (9/10 vs 9/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineTie
    CloudwaysTie

  • Security & admin

    Admin controls, access, compliance posture, and security packaging.

    WP Engine

    WP Engine leads on security & admin (8/10 vs 7/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP EngineStronger
    CloudwaysWeaker

  • Integrations

    Important third-party integrations.

    Cloudways

    Cloudways leads on integrations (7/10 vs 8/10). Landscape or cluster fit from vendor documentation.

    WP Engine7/10
    Cloudways8/10

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Affiliate disclosure: some links may be affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Rankings and scores are never based on commission. Full disclosure

Methodology disclosure: scores and recommendations follow SoftwareGlimpse evaluation criteria (version 1.0.0). Affiliate relationships do not determine rankings.

How we recommend: product claims are tied to recorded research where available.

AI-assisted disclosure: drafts may be AI-assisted from approved facts and assessments. Humans approve publishable editorial judgments. AI does not invent live prices or claim hands-on testing.