VPS and app hosting · head to head
Cloudways vs Vultr
What each costs, whether there's a free plan, and what each is best for, from prices checked on their own sites.
| Fact |  Cloudways |  Vultr |
|---|---|---|
| From | $11/mo | $2.50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes · 3-day free trial, no card | Yes · Up to $300 free credit for new customers, with a code from Vultr's coupons page |
| Best for | Managed hosting on top of DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud servers. | Cheap servers in many regions |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
| Website | Visit | Visit |
The difference in short
- Vultr costs less to start: $2.50/mo against $11/mo for Cloudways.
- Both have a free plan, trial or credit to start with.
Cloudways pricing
All about Cloudways| Plan | Price | Specs / includes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean Standard (SSD) 1 GB - Micro | $11/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB SSD | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0164/hr), billed monthly in arrears; prices exclude taxes. Provider = DigitalOcean, server type Basic, Standard toggle. |
| DigitalOcean Standard (SSD) 2 GB - Small | $24/mo | 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 50 GB SSD | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0357/hr), billed monthly in arrears; excl. taxes |
| DigitalOcean Standard (SSD) 4 GB - Medium | $46/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 80 GB SSD | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0685/hr), billed monthly in arrears; excl. taxes. Labelled 'Most popular'. 8 GB / 4 vCPU / 160 GB is $88/mo. |
| DigitalOcean Premium (NVMe) 1 GB - Micro | $14/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB NVMe | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0208/hr), billed monthly in arrears; excl. taxes. This Premium (NVMe) view is the page default. |
| DigitalOcean Premium (NVMe) 2 GB - Small | $28/mo | 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 50 GB NVMe | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0417/hr), billed monthly in arrears; excl. taxes |
| DigitalOcean Premium (NVMe) 4 GB - Medium | $54/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 80 GB NVMe | pay-as-you-go hourly ($0.0804/hr), billed monthly in arrears; excl. taxes. 8 GB / 4 vCPU / 160 GB NVMe is $99/mo. |
Vultr pricing
All about Vultr| Plan | Price | Specs / includes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Compute Regular Performance, IPv6-only 0.5 GB | $2.50/mo | 1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GB SSD | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.004/hr). IPv6 only. The same size with IPv4 is $3.50/mo ($0.005/hr). |
| Cloud Compute Regular Performance 1 GB | $5/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB SSD | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.007/hr). Regular = previous-generation Intel CPUs and regular SSD. |
| Cloud Compute Regular Performance 2 GB | $10/mo | 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 55 GB SSD | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.015/hr). A 2 vCPU / 2 GB plan is $15/mo (65 GB, 3 TB). |
| Cloud Compute Regular Performance 4 GB | $20/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 80 GB SSD | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.03/hr, truncated in my read) |
| Cloud Compute High Frequency 1 GB | $6/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 32 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.009/hr). 3 GHz+ Intel Xeon, NVMe. |
| Cloud Compute High Frequency 4 GB | $24/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 128 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.036/hr). High Frequency 2 GB (1 vCPU, 64 GB NVMe, 2 TB) is $12/mo; 2 vCPU / 2 GB is $18/mo. |
What's good, and what to watch for
Cloudways
Managed hosting on top of DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud servers.
Vultr
- Hourly billing, with no long-term contracts
- Bandwidth over your quota is $0.01/GB
- 33 data center regions, and a free Kubernetes control plane
- Some locations have different hourly and monthly prices
- The $2.50 plan is IPv6-only, and automatic backups add 20%
Other VPS and app hosting options
Cheapest first where the prices compare.
Fly.io
Hostinger
UpCloud
DigitalOceanFAQ
Which is cheaper, Cloudways or Vultr?
Vultr costs less to start: $2.50/mo against $11/mo for Cloudways. Prices checked Oct 18, 2026 on each company's own site.
Do Cloudways and Vultr have a free plan?
Cloudways: Yes. 3-day free trial, no card. Vultr: Yes: Up to $300 free credit for new customers, with a code from Vultr's coupons page.
What else should I compare with Cloudways and Vultr?
Other VPS and app hosting options we've checked: Fly.io ($2.19/mo), Hostinger ($2.99/mo), UpCloud ($3.50/mo), DigitalOcean ($4/mo).
Keep comparing
Built from the prices and facts we checked on each company's own site. We haven't tested either hands-on.How we work