SiteGround vs Cloudways: When Managed Cloud Hosting Becomes the Cheaper Option (October 2026)
SiteGround and Cloudways are a common pairing for bloggers outgrowing cheap shared hosting. They sell in different shapes. SiteGround is shared hosting with a low first year and a steep renewal. Cloudways rents you a small cloud server, priced by the hour, at the same rate from the first month. On 3 October 2026 the cheapest Cloudways server was $14 a month and SiteGround’s middle plan renewed at $29.99.
The prices here come from our dated logs for SiteGround and Cloudways. Cloudways has to be read in a browser: a plain page fetch returns $11 for its Micro server, while the price a buyer sees is $14.
The verdict
SiteGround is cheaper for your first year on any plan. From the second year, a Cloudways Micro server costs less than SiteGround GrowBig, and by the end of year four it also undercuts StartUp. If you are past the honeymoon year and comfortable managing a server panel, Cloudways is the better value.
SiteGround: StartUp $2.99 then $17.99, GrowBig $4.99 then $29.99, all prepaid yearly. Email and domain included.
Cloudways: Micro $14 a month, Small $28, priced by the hour. Email is an add-on, $1.50 per mailbox a month.
Prices read on 3 October 2026 from each vendor’s own pricing page · US dollars unless marked
At a glance
| SiteGround GrowBig | Cloudways Micro | |
|---|---|---|
| First-year price | $4.99 a month, $59.88 prepaid | $14 a month |
| From year two | $29.99 a month, $359.88 a year | $14 a month |
| Billing | 12 months prepaid | Hourly, $0.0208 an hour on Micro |
| Websites | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Resources | 50 GB storage, shared server | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB NVMe, 1 TB bandwidth |
| Free email included | Rackspace add-on, $1.50 per mailbox a month |
The crossover
Running each option forward at its published price gives the totals below. SiteGround is billed a year at a time, so each row shows what you have paid by the end of that year.
| Total paid by the end of | SiteGround StartUp | SiteGround GrowBig | Cloudways Micro | Cloudways Small |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $35.88 | $59.88 | $168 | $336 |
| Year 2 | $251.76 | $419.76 | $336 | $672 |
| Year 3 | $467.64 | $779.64 | $504 | $1,008 |
| Year 4 | $683.52 | $1,139.52 | $672 | $1,344 |
Against GrowBig, Cloudways Micro is cheaper by the end of year two, by $83.76, and the gap widens by $191.88 every year after. Against StartUp the crossover takes until year four, where Micro is $11.52 cheaper. A bigger Cloudways Small server at $28 stays more expensive than GrowBig through all four years, so the saving depends on Micro being enough for your traffic.
Two costs sit outside the table. Cloudways sells email separately, through Rackspace at $1.50 per mailbox a month, so a blog with two mailboxes adds $36 a year. And the server is yours to size: Cloudways charges for what you provision, whatever you actually use.
Who each one is for
Pick SiteGround for a first blog, a first year, or anyone who wants email and a domain in one bill and never wants to see a server panel. The SiteGround pricing page shows current offers.
Pick Cloudways if you are about to renew SiteGround GrowBig or GoGeek and your site runs comfortably on modest resources. The switch pays for itself in the first renewal year. Check today’s server prices on the Cloudways pricing page, ideally in a browser.
Still on cheaper shared hosting? Our Hostinger vs SiteGround page covers that decision first.
Price history from our logs
| Date | Tool | Plan | What we read | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 July 2026 | SiteGround | All tiers | StartUp $2.99 renewing $17.99, GrowBig $4.99 renewing $29.99, GoGeek $7.99 renewing $44.99, all on 12 months | Ground-truth capture for our Teaser Rate Test study |
| 3 September 2026 | SiteGround | StartUp | $2.99 intro, $17.99 renewal, 12-month term | Cost Index build |
| 3 September 2026 | Cloudways | Micro | $14 a month, page prints USD per month | Cost Index build, read in-browser |
| 4 September 2026 | SiteGround | All tiers | Unchanged on every figure | Our SiteGround pricing page |
| 4 September 2026 | Cloudways | All DigitalOcean tiers | Micro $14, Small $28, Medium $54, Large $99, all printed with USD per month | Our Cloudways pricing page, read in-browser |
| 3 October 2026 | SiteGround | All tiers | StartUp $2.99, GrowBig $4.99, GoGeek $7.99, prepaid for 12 months. Renewals $17.99, $29.99, $44.99 | Unchanged on every figure since 20 July |
| 3 October 2026 | Cloudways | DigitalOcean tiers | Micro $14, Small $28, Medium $54, Large $99, USD per month | Read in-browser. Unchanged |
Neither host has changed a price at any reading in our log. SiteGround held all six of its figures from 20 July to 3 October, and Cloudways held its DigitalOcean ladder at $14, $28, $54 and $99.
Questions people ask
Including the one about the $11 price you may have seen elsewhere.
Is Cloudways cheaper than SiteGround?
After the first year, often. Cloudways Micro is $14 a month with no contract. SiteGround GrowBig renews at $29.99 a month after its $4.99 first year, so by the end of year two GrowBig has cost $419.76 and Cloudways Micro $336, read on 3 October 2026.
Does Cloudways include email hosting?
Not in the server price. Cloudways sells Rackspace email as an add-on at $1.50 per mailbox a month, read on 3 October 2026. SiteGround lists free email on its shared plans.
Why might a tool or article show Cloudways at $11 a month?
When we fetch the Cloudways pricing page as plain HTML it returns $11 for the Micro server, because the real figures are drawn in by JavaScript. Read in a browser on 3 October 2026, Micro was $14 a month.
Written by
Blogging Titan Team
Blogging Titan is an independent team of bloggers documenting what actually grows a blog in the AI search era. We have been building, ranking, and monetizing WordPress sites since 2017, and every guide on this site is based on strategies and tools we have tested ourselves. Want a second pair of eyes on your blog? Request a free blog audit or start with the 2026 playbook.