Hosting.com vs Cloudways
A fast shared host with an aggressive promo against a flat cloud price. The first year says one thing and the second says the opposite.
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Hosting.com
Speed-first shared hosting, the brand that used to be A2 Hosting.
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting with no limit on sites.
Prices last checked on
| Feature | Hosting.com | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4.1 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Price | From $2.99/mo | From $11/mo |
| Renews at | $13.99/mo | n/a |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Best for | Fast WordPress on a budget | Multiple sites |
| Category | Managed WordPress | Managed WordPress |
| Provider | A2 Hosting, LLC | Cloudways (DigitalOcean) |
| Visit Hosting.com | Visit Cloudways |
Our verdict
com wins the first year and Cloudways wins every year after it. The Starter plan runs $2.99 a month on promo, $35.88 for year one, then renews at $13.99 a month, $167.88 a year. Cloudways DO Starter is $11 a month, $132 a year, and never moves.
com costs $35.88 a year more than Cloudways, for one site against as many as your server can carry. com stays ahead on a single site until roughly the fourth year, when the flat price catches up for good.
com, the host that spent 23 years as A2 Hosting, earns its reputation on speed for shared hosting, with NVMe storage and a genuinely fast stack for the money. Cloudways is a different product, a managed DigitalOcean server with more control and more responsibility.
com is the renewal at 4.7 times the promo price, which is one of the steeper jumps in this market. The honest downside of Cloudways is that $132 in year one against $35.88 feels expensive when you are starting out, and the panel expects a little more from you. com.
With more than one site, or if you know you will still be here, take Cloudways.
“Genuinely quick for shared hosting, with LiteSpeed caching and NVMe storage, and SSH is there for the people who want it. The rename to hosting.com did not soften the renewal jump.”Editorial team, on Hosting.com
“Host unlimited sites and pay per server size. With multiple sites this is far cheaper than the competition. Slightly more technical, but the strongest price-to-performance you will find in managed hosting.”Editorial team, on Cloudways
Frequently asked questions
What does Hosting.com cost after the promo?
Starter, as hosting.com calls the plan, renews at $13.99 a month, $167.88 a year, against $2.99 a month on the one-year promo. That is roughly 4.7 times the introductory price and one of the steeper renewal jumps we track. Cloudways has no promo and no jump: $11 a month, $132 a year, permanently.
Which is cheaper over three years?
Hosting.com, narrowly: $35.88 plus two years at $167.88 comes to $371.64, against $396 at Cloudways. That holds for one website. Put a second site on the Cloudways server and the comparison flips immediately, because the server price does not change.
Is Cloudways harder to use than Hosting.com?
Yes, modestly. Cloudways manages a server for you but still expects you to think in servers, applications and staging. Hosting.com gives you a traditional control panel where a website is the unit. If nobody on your side wants to learn a new panel this month, that difference matters more than the price.
Is this the host that used to be A2 Hosting?
Yes. A2 Hosting was renamed to Hosting.com in 2025 after World Host Group acquired it, and a2hosting.com now redirects there. The plan on this page is the same shared hosting product, and the company on the terms is still A2 Hosting, LLC. The comparison with Cloudways did not change with the name.