Side-by-Side
Cloudways vs WP Engine: Which Hosting Is Better in 2026?
A side-by-side comparison of Cloudways and WP Engine on price, renewal cost, performance and support.
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Feature Count | Custom | Premium |
| Regions | USA, Europe, Asia, Global | USA, Europe, Asia, Australia |
| Email Limits | No internal mail service | External email recommended |
| Ecommerce Ready | 9 ▼ | 10 ▲ BETTER |
| Intro price / year | $168/year▲ BETTER | $336/year▼ |
| Renewal price / year | $168/year | Renewal price not published |
| Contract term | 1-month term | Annual billing |
| Score: Features | 10 | 10 |
| Score: Support | 8 ▼ | 9 ▲ BETTER |
| Score: Value | 9 ▲ BETTER | 7 ▼ |
| Score: Updates | 9 ▼ | 10 ▲ BETTER |
| Score: Ease of Use | 7 ▼ | 8 ▲ BETTER |
| Active Installs | 500K+ | 1.5M+ |
| Best for | Developers, agencies, and high-traffic websites | Agencies, big brands, and high-performance requirements |
| Get Started | See Pricing | See Pricing |
Cloudways vs WP Engine: the verdict
Cloudways renews at the price it starts at, which almost nothing else in this comparison does. WP Engine does not publish a renewal price at all, so its second-year cost cannot be compared here. Cloudways is the cheaper way in, at $168 per year against $336 for WP Engine.
The widest gap in our scoring is value: Cloudways rates 9 against 7 for WP Engine. Across the 13 dimensions compared above, WP Engine takes 4.