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Cloudways vs Hostwinds is a measured host against a cheaper one that nobody has measured. Hostwinds Basic opens at $4.54 and renews at $6.99, so three years cost $222.24 on annual terms. Cloudways charges $14.00 a month flat, which is $504.00 over the same stretch, or 2.3 times as much over 36 months. What the extra buys is evidence: Cloudways held 99.996% or better across five plans in the benchmark project we cite. Hostwinds appears in no independent benchmark we could find, and claims 99.9999% on its own site.
Cloudways vs Hostwinds: The Short Answer
Cloudways, at 4.1 against 3.4 in our reviews, because its claims can be checked and it bills by the hour. Hostwinds is the cheaper choice by a wide margin, has excellent support reviews, and sells VPS and dedicated servers in the same account. Confirm its refund window in writing before paying, because sources disagree on it.
Head to Head
| Criterion | Cloudways | Hostwinds Basic |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Managed cloud server | Shared hosting, with servers alongside |
| Price | $14.00/mo flat | $4.54/mo, then $6.99 |
| 36 months, annual terms | $504.00 | $222.24 |
| Renewal step | None | 1.5× over 12 months |
| Uptime | 99.996% to 99.999%, measured | 99.9999%, own claim |
| Load test | 288 ms at 1.7% errors | Not tested by any project |
| Support | Chat and tickets; phone as a paid add-on | Chat and tickets; 4.9 of 5 in reviews |
| Refund window | Billing stops when you stop | Disputed: 30 days or 3 |
| Not included | Included with cPanel | |
| Growth path | Resize the server hourly | VPS and dedicated in one account |
| Owner | DigitalOcean, 2022 | Independent since 2010, Seattle |
| Our score | 4.1 | 3.4 |
Less Than Half the Price
Hostwinds Basic bills twelve months at $4.54 and then $6.99, which is 1.5× over 12 months and one of the gentlest steps in shared hosting. Three years come to $222.24. Cloudways bills $14.00 from the first month with no promotional term, which is $504.00.
The gap never closes, because Hostwinds renews at half the Cloudways rate. Over five years Hostwinds totals about 46% of the Cloudways figure. Add Cloudways’ mailboxes, at about a dollar each per month, and the gap widens, because Hostwinds includes email with cPanel. Our page on hosting renewal prices puts both renewals beside the field.
⚠️ Hostwinds prices a standard SSL certificate at $75.00 and a wildcard at $150.00, though shared plans get free AutoSSL through cPanel, so most buyers never pay either. Our page on hidden hosting fees lists the rest.
| Host and plan | How it builds | 36-month total |
|---|---|---|
| ChemiCloud Starter, 36-month term | 36 prepaid months at $2.49 | $89.64 |
| InterServer Standard | 36 months at $2.50, price locked | $90.00 |
| DreamHost Launch, 48-month term | 36 of 48 prepaid months at $2.89 | $104.04 |
| Namecheap Stellar, 24-month term | 24 at $1.98, then 12 at $4.88 | $106.08 |
| Hostinger Premium, 48-month term | 36 of 48 prepaid months at $2.99 | $107.64 |
| HostGator Hatchling, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.75, renewal not reached | $135.00 |
| HostGator Hatchling, with daily backups | 36 at $3.75, plus CodeGuard at $35.88 a year | $242.64 |
| Bluehost Starter, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.99, renewal not reached | $143.64 |
| GoDaddy Economy, 36-month term | 36 months at $5.99, renewal not reached | $215.64 |
| GoDaddy Economy, with SSL from year two | 36 at $5.99, plus $119.99 in years two and three | $455.62 |
| Hostwinds Basic, annual | 12 at $4.54, then 24 at $6.99 | $222.24 |
| SiteGround StartUp, 24-month term | 24 at $2.99, then 12 at $14.99 | $251.64 |
| DreamHost Launch, annual | 12 at $2.89, then 24 at $10.99 | $298.44 |
| Scala Hosting Mini, annual | 12 at $2.95, then 24 at $11.95 | $322.20 |
| Bluehost Starter, 12-month term | 12 at $3.99, then 24 at $11.99 | $335.64 |
| IONOS Plus, annual | 12 at $1.00, then 24 at $14.00 | $348.00 |
| GreenGeeks Lite, 36-month prepay | 36 months at $2.95 | $106.20 |
| GreenGeeks Lite, annual | 12 at $2.95, then 24 at $13.95 | $370.20 |
| SiteGround StartUp, 12-month term | 12 at $2.99, then 24 at $17.99 | $467.64 |
| Cloudways, from | 36 months at $14.00, flat | $504.00 |
| A2 Hosting Turbo Boost, annual | 12 at $6.99, then 24 at $20.99 | $587.64 |
| Rocket.net Starter, annual | 12 at $25.00, then 24 at $30.00 | $1,020.00 |
| WP Engine Startup, annual | 12 at $27.00, then 24 at $35.00 | $1,164.00 |
| Liquid Web managed VPS | 36 months at $33.00 | $1,188.00 |
| Kinsta Starter | 36 months at $35.00, flat | $1,260.00 |
| InMotion Core, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.19, renewal not reached | $114.84 |
| InMotion Launch, 36-month term | 36 months at $4.99, renewal not reached | $179.64 |
One Host Is Measured, the Other Is Not
We run no tests, so the Cloudways figures belong to Hostingstep. It held uptime between 99.996% and 99.999% across five plans from October 2025 to May 2026. Its weakest published result is a load test on the Vultr High Frequency plan, at 288 ms with a 1.7% error rate.
Hostwinds appears in no independent benchmark we could find. Its own site claims 99.9999% uptime, which allows about 32 seconds of downtime a year, a standard telecoms networks aim for and shared hosting does not reach. We record it as a claim rather than a measurement, because nothing published tests it.
⚠️ That is not evidence that Hostwinds is slow or unreliable. It is a statement about what a buyer can check. A counted 99.996% across five plans tells you more than a round six nines with nothing attached. Our guide to reading an uptime report explains the difference between a promise and a count.
Support: Reputation Against a Channel
Hostwinds answers chat and tickets in house around the clock, and an aggregate of more than 400 business reviews in 2026 puts it at 4.9 of 5. That is consistent across a large sample, even if review aggregates are softer evidence than a benchmark.
Cloudways answers chat and tickets around the clock and sells phone support as an add-on. Neither publishes a measured response time, and no controlled test of hosting support exists in the sources we found. So this line is a reputation against a paid channel, and Hostwinds has the better reputation.
The Refund Window Is Disputed
Our refund table records a conflict on Hostwinds: one source says 30 days and two say three. Three days is not enough to move a real site and judge a host, so the difference matters. Ask support to confirm your window in writing and keep the reply.
Cloudways has no refund window in the usual sense, because there is nothing prepaid to return: stop the server and billing stops. For a project with an uncertain future that is the cleaner arrangement. Our guide to canceling hosting and getting a refund covers the prepaid case.
Two Different Growth Paths
Hostwinds sells VPS and dedicated servers in the same account and panel as its shared plans, so growing means changing product rather than company. It also offers a white-label reseller plan at $10.00 with WHMCS, which our roundup of reseller hosting covers.
Cloudways grows by resizing the server you already have, by the hour, or by adding applications to it. That is finer-grained and suits changing traffic; the Hostwinds route suits steady growth and a buyer who wants everything under one login. Our guide to moving from shared to VPS covers the signals either way.
What Each One Leaves Out
Cloudways includes no email and no cPanel; mailboxes come through Rackspace at about a dollar each per month, and phone support is a paid add-on. For a developer those are small costs, as our list of hosting for developers explains.
Hostwinds leaves out the thing this site exists to check: independent figures. It also has no phone line on shared plans in our records, and its refund terms are unsettled. Neither host publishes a support response time.
Who Owns Them
DigitalOcean acquired Cloudways in 2022 and sells the cloud underneath many of its servers. Hostwinds states that it has been independent since 2010 and runs from Seattle.
Ownership shapes renewal policy, and Hostwinds’ gentle step of 1.5× over 12 months has been set by the same owner throughout. That continuity is part of why its low renewal looks durable, though nothing guarantees it.
What an Unmeasured Host Costs You
Without independent figures, a buyer cannot tell whether a slow afternoon is the plugins or the server, and cannot compare a claim against a record before paying. When something goes wrong there is no baseline to point at, only the company’s own statement. Our guide to checking whether your host is throttling you covers what to do without one.
None of that means Hostwinds performs badly. Its support reviews describe a company that looks after customers. It means the case for it rests on price and reputation, and the case for Cloudways rests on measurement. If a named project publishes Hostwinds figures, this comparison changes and our score for it moves with the evidence.
The Five-Year View
Neither host has a promotional term that ends in a surprise after the first year. Cloudways stays at $14.00, and Hostwinds at $6.99. So the monthly gap settles at seven dollars and keeps adding up: by month 60 Hostwinds totals about 46% of the Cloudways figure, and email is included on its side. Our page on what web hosting costs runs both shapes across the field.
Which Site Belongs Where
A personal site or small business on a budget. Hostwinds, at less than half the price with email included and support reviews behind it.
A store, a membership site or anything that earns. Cloudways, because you can check how it behaves. Our list of hosting for ecommerce covers that case.
A project that may close within months. Cloudways, for billing that stops when you do.
A buyer who wants shared, VPS and dedicated in one place. Hostwinds.
Moving Between Them
The usual path runs from shared hosting to a server as a site grows, and both hosts offer one. On Hostwinds the move stays inside the account; on Cloudways it means starting a server on a chosen cloud and migrating the site with its plugin. The domain can stay at its registrar either way, as our guide to pointing a domain to a new host explains.
Moving off Hostwinds means moving email too, because Cloudways will not host it. Moving the other way, a shared plan with cPanel gives you mailboxes back in the same account. That detail decides more small-business moves than performance does.
Where Each One Is Weakest
Hostwinds is weakest on evidence and clarity. No named project measures it, its uptime figure is a claim, and its refund window is disputed. Each of those can be resolved by the company, and none has been.
Cloudways is weakest on price for a small site and on its own load result. A 1.7% error rate on one cloud is not clean, and nearly two and a half times the three-year cost buys uptime a quiet site may never need. Our Cloudways review covers each cloud.
Winners by Category
Price: Hostwinds, at $222.24 against $504.00 over 36 months. Renewal: Hostwinds, at $6.99. Measured uptime: Cloudways, which is measured at all. Load evidence: Cloudways, which completed the test. Support reputation: Hostwinds, at 4.9 of 5. Email: Hostwinds, with cPanel. Billing flexibility: Cloudways, hourly.
How We Research
We run no tests. Cloudways figures come from Hostingstep with their windows. For Hostwinds we found no independent measurement, and our table says so rather than filling the cell. Its support score comes from an aggregate of business reviews in 2026, which we label as a review aggregate rather than a measurement.
Prices, extras and refund terms come from the providers’ own pages and reviews, read on 20 September 2026. The criteria behind our scores are on our about page, and our comparison of Bluehost against Hostwinds sets it beside a measured shared host from Newfold Digital.
Cloudways vs Hostwinds FAQ
Hostwinds, by a wide margin. Basic costs $222.24 across 36 months on annual terms and renews at $6.99, against $504.00 at Cloudways’ flat $14.00. Over five years Hostwinds totals about 46% of the Cloudways figure.
It is the company’s own figure, and no independent project we could find measures it. Six nines allows about 32 seconds of downtime a year. Cloudways’ 99.996% to 99.999% comes from outside monitoring across five plans.
Hostwinds on reputation, at 4.9 of 5 across more than 400 business reviews in 2026. Cloudways answers chat and tickets and sells phone support as an add-on. Neither publishes a measured response time.
Sources disagree: one says 30 days and two say three. Ask support to confirm your window in writing before paying. Cloudways has no refund window, because billing stops when you stop the server.
Hostwinds does, through cPanel. Cloudways does not; mailboxes come through Rackspace at about a dollar each per month, billed separately.
The Verdict
Cloudways takes this, at 4.1 against 3.4, because its performance can be checked and its billing fits any length of project. For a site that earns, being able to verify the host matters more than the monthly difference.
Hostwinds is the better buy for a personal site or a small business watching costs: less than half the price, email included, a gentle renewal and the better support reputation. Buy it with a confirmed refund window and without leaning on six nines. If you move later, our guide to migrating web hosting covers the order.