xCloud vs Cloudways: Pricing, Performance, and Features Compared

Compare xCloud and Cloudways on pricing, server control, backups, caching, support, and migration to pick the right WordPress hosting platform.

84 features compared · 50 where the two differ · Last updated: 23/08/2026

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Quick verdict

Choose xCloud if…

You want root access and full control of the server underneath WordPress.
You already have (or want) your own Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS or GCP account.
You want to avoid lock-in — the server stays yours if you stop paying for the panel.
You need WordPress-specific tooling: blueprints, staging push/pull, incremental backups, 7G/8G firewall.
You run an agency and need team roles and white-labelling without a separate tier.

Choose Cloudways if…

You want one bill covering both the panel and the server, with nothing to provision yourself.
You would rather not hold cloud-provider credentials or manage a root account at all.
You want a long-established managed platform with a large support organisation behind it.
You need Cloudflare Enterprise as a first-party add-on rather than configuring a CDN yourself.

Still comparing providers? See the best Cloudways alternatives in 2026.

At a glance

xCloud vs Cloudways at a glance

The decision criteria first. The full feature-by-feature matrix is below.

Criteria	xCloud	Cloudways
Pricing model	Per-server panel subscription, or a managed plan bundling the server	Per-server managed plan; the server and the management are one bill
Starting price	$5/month managed (1 GB); free tier for connecting your own server	$11/month monthly billing, $8.25/month billed annually (DigitalOcean 1 GB)
Infrastructure included?	Included on managed plans; separate (paid to your provider) if you bring your own server	Always included — you cannot buy the panel on its own
Supported cloud providers	Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP, or any Ubuntu server via SSH	DigitalOcean, Linode/Akamai, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud, provisioned by Cloudways
Server locations	Every region your chosen provider offers — you pick the datacentre	The regions Cloudways exposes for each provider it resells
Number of sites/servers	Unlimited sites per server; servers billed individually	Unlimited sites per server, within the server's resources
Traffic/bandwidth limits	Bandwidth is your provider's; managed plans start at 1 TB	Bandwidth allowance per plan, starting at 1 TB on the 1 GB tier
WordPress management	Core, theme and plugin updates, blueprints and WP-CLI built in	WordPress-focused managed stack; no built-in theme/plugin update manager
Staging and cloning	1-click staging with push/pull, clone to same or another server	1-click staging and cloning included
Backups and restore	Full and incremental site backups, downloadable, plus full server backups	Automated full backups with restore; no incremental site backup
CDN and caching	Full-page cache built in; bring any CDN, Cloudflare integration included	Full-page caching built in; Cloudflare Enterprise available as a paid add-on
Redis/object caching	Yes — Redis object cache configured for WordPress	Yes — Redis available on the managed stack
Security and malware protection	7G and 8G firewall, Fail2Ban, vulnerability scanner, free SSL	Dedicated firewalls, Fail2Ban, free SSL, vulnerability scanning
Migration assistance	Built-in bulk site and server migration, plus cPanel migration, at no extra cost	Free migrations offered, subject to the current promotion's terms
Support channels	Live chat and ticketing, plus documentation	24/7 support; higher-touch tiers are a paid add-on
Agency/team features	Team accounts and role management included	Team collaboration available; agency programme is separate
White-label/reseller features	White-labelling included	White-label options available
Refund/cancellation terms	14-day money-back guarantee; cancel any time	Pay-as-you-go with a free trial; confirm current refund terms on Cloudways' site
Main limitations	Self-managed route means you hold a provider account and pay it separately	No root access and no bring-your-own-server, so the instance is not portable

Feature comparison

Every Feature, Side by Side

84 features side by side, including everything xCloud has shipped since the original comparison. 50 of them differ between xCloud and Cloudways — use the filter to see only those.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Only show differences50 of 84

	xCloud	Cloudways
Hosting type	Cloud servers	Cloud servers
Lowest plan	Starts at $5/month	Starts at $11/month
Web Server – NGINX & OLS	Yes	Yes
Integrate Your Own Provider(Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, AWS or any Ubuntu)	Yes	No
Root access to server	Yes	No
Vertical Scaling	Yes	Yes
Unlimited websites creation	Yes	Yes
External Database	Yes	No
WordPress Multisite ( support for sub-domain and sub-folder )	Yes	Yes
Site Disable	Yes	Yes
Blueprints	Yes	No
Custom NGINX	Yes	No
Full page & Redis cache	Yes	Yes
Transactional email service	Yes	Yes
Easy integration with Mailgun, SendGrid, ElasticEmail, or any SMTP provider	Yes	Yes
Fully WordPress focused	Yes	No
WordPress theme, plugin, & core update	Yes	No
Automatic security updates	Yes	Yes
7G & 8G Firewall	Yes	No
Fail2Ban Integration	Yes	Yes
Firewall Management	Yes	Yes
Vulnerability Scanner	Yes	Yes
Accounts & roles management for team	Yes	No
Automatic FREE Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates	Yes	Yes
Custom SSL/TLS certificates	Yes	Yes
Automatic Cron job	Yes	Yes
Custom Cron Jobs	Yes	Yes
Multiple PHP versions in the same server	Yes	No
Compatibility & easy management for PHP 8.3	Yes	Yes
WP-CLI	Yes	Yes
Bulk site & server migration	Yes	No
cPanel Site Migration	Yes	No
Multisite with Subdomain Support	Yes	Yes
Full Site Backup	Yes	Yes
Incremental Site Backup	Yes	No
Site Backup download option for remote backups	Yes	Yes
Full Server Backup Management	Yes	Yes
File Manager	Yes	Yes
Reset File & Folder Permissions	Yes	Yes
Server & Site monitoring	Yes	Yes
Slack Integration	Yes	No
WhatsApp Integration	Yes	No
Server and Site Log	Yes	Yes
Add existing database	Yes	No
Clone site to same & another server	Yes	Yes
1-click staging	Yes	Yes
Staging With Pull Push	Yes	Yes
1-click magic login	Yes	No
Magic Login Disable	Yes	No
Live chat support	Yes	Yes
Clone & Deploy from GIT	Yes	Yes
Whitelabel	Yes	Yes
Moneyback guarantee	14 days	—
AI and agent control
MCP server — drive servers and sites from Claude, Cursor or any AI agent	Yes	No
Installable AI agent skills (servers, sites, WordPress, SSL, account)	Yes	No
AI bot blocker — block AI crawlers and scrapers at the server	Yes	—
Public REST API with scoped tokens	Yes	Yes
Security and WordPress integrity
Virtual patching for known vulnerabilities (Site Security PRO)	Add-on, $2/site	—
WordPress integrity monitor — verifies core files against checksums	Yes	—
Custom security headers (HSTS, CSP) from the panel	Yes	—
HTTP basic auth and per-site IP allow/deny	Yes	—
SSH lockdown — restrict SSH to trusted IPs, custom port	Yes	No
Performance and caching
Edge full-page cache on a global PoP network	Yes	—
Cloudflare Enterprise (330+ PoPs, Enterprise WAF)	Add-on, $5/domain	Paid add-on
HTTP/3 (QUIC) and Brotli compression, one click	Yes	—
Per-site PHP-FPM worker tuning and PHP extension manager	Yes	No
Auto-healing — restarts MySQL, NGINX, Redis or PHP if it stops	Yes	—
MySQL/MariaDB auto-tuning and OPcache control	Yes	No
Monitoring and observability
Broken link monitoring with one-click 301 redirect	Yes	No
Site Insights — PHP, MySQL and traffic analytics per site	Yes	—
Scheduled PageSpeed / Core Web Vitals monitoring with history	Yes	—
Telegram alerts for site, server and team events	Yes	—
Native macOS menu-bar app (xCloud Pulse)	Yes	No
Developer and deployment
Browser SSH terminal and command runner	Yes	No
One-click deploy from Git with stack auto-detection	Yes	—
Docker and Docker Compose application hosting	Yes	No
Node.js, Laravel and Next.js hosting with queue workers	Yes	—
One-click app library	125+ apps	—
Supervisor process management and site snapshots	Yes	—
Backups, migration and agency tooling
Off-site backups to your own S3, R2, Backblaze, Wasabi, Google Drive or pCloud	Yes	—
Full server clone and server-to-server migration	Yes	—
Branded client maintenance reports (PDF)	Yes	—
White-label reseller programme with Stripe billing and your own plans	Yes	—
Business mailboxes on your own domain	Add-on, $1/mo	—

Pricing

xCloud vs Cloudways: Pricing Comparison

Plan for plan, at the specs each side actually sells them at. These are the same figures this page has always carried.

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Ram/Bandwidth	SSD/NVMe	vCPU	xCloud	Cloudways
1GB/1TB	25GB	1	$5	$14
2GB/2TB	55GB	1	$12	$28
4GB/3TB	80GB	2	$24	$54
8GB/4TB	160GB	4	$45	$99
16GB/5TB	320GB	6	$88	$170

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Ram/ Bandwidth	SSD/ NVMe	vCPU	xCloud	Cloudways
1GB/1TB	32GB	1	$7.5	$11
2GB/3TB	80GB	2	$20	$24
4GB/3TB	120GB	2	$30	$46
8GB/4TB	256GB	3	$50	$88
16GB/5TB	384GB	4	$100	$149
32GB/7TB	512GB	8	$200	$240

Already on Cloudways?

Moving Is Two Supported Routes, Not A Rebuild

You do not have to rebuild the site to change host. Both routes below are documented, and both bring the files and the database across together.

xCloud's built-in migration
Connect the site you are running on Cloudways and let xCloud pull it across. It is the path most people take, and it handles the files and the database together.
Read the migration guide
Migrate Guru, if you prefer a plugin
A free WordPress plugin, fully compatible with xCloud. Useful when you would rather drive the move from inside the site you already control.
Read the plugin guide

Before you start: if a token migration fails, our guide's first checks are to disable 2FA and Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode on the source site. A migration that stalls is almost always a security setting rather than the data.

xCloud vs Cloudways: Frequently Asked Questions

Direct answers to what people ask before moving between xCloud and Cloudways.

What is the difference between xCloud and Cloudways?

The difference is who owns the server. Cloudways sells a managed instance it provisions and controls, billed as one package. xCloud is a WordPress hosting control panel that manages a server you own on any provider — with root access — and also offers its own managed plans if you would rather not hold a provider account. That is why xCloud gives root access and portability where Cloudways does not.

Is xCloud cheaper than Cloudways?

At entry level, on list pricing, yes: xCloud's managed 1 GB plan is $5/month against Cloudways' $11/month monthly (or $8.25/month billed annually) for a comparable DigitalOcean 1 GB instance. Total cost is not that simple, though — if you use xCloud's self-managed route you pay your cloud provider separately, so compare the panel fee plus the server bill against Cloudways' single bundled price.

See xCloud pricing

Which is better for WordPress?

Both are built around WordPress. xCloud adds WordPress-specific tooling that Cloudways does not ship: blueprints for repeatable site setups, a theme/plugin/core update manager, incremental site backups, and the 7G/8G firewall rules. Cloudways' advantage is that nothing about the server is ever your problem. If you want WordPress-level control, xCloud; if you want to ignore the server entirely, Cloudways.

Which is better for WooCommerce?

For WooCommerce, the deciding factors are object caching, the ability to scale the server, and staging you trust. Both platforms provide Redis object caching and full-page caching. xCloud additionally lets you vertically scale the underlying server and choose its region directly with your provider, and its staging supports push/pull so a checkout change can be tested and promoted. Neither platform is benchmarked here — we publish no head-to-head store performance test.

Which platform is better for agencies?

xCloud includes team accounts with role management and white-labelling without a separate tier, plus bulk site and server migration for onboarding client sites in batches. Cloudways offers team collaboration and white-label options too, and runs a separate agency programme. If you manage many client servers across providers, xCloud's bring-your-own-server model usually costs less at scale; if you want one vendor and one invoice, Cloudways is simpler.

Can I use my own VPS with xCloud or Cloudways?

With xCloud, yes — connect Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP or any Ubuntu server over SSH, and you keep root access. With Cloudways, no: servers are provisioned and managed by Cloudways on the providers it resells, and you cannot attach an existing VPS or get root on the instance.

Can I migrate from Cloudways to xCloud?

Yes. xCloud includes bulk site and server migration at no extra cost, so sites move across without a rebuild, and there is a cPanel migration path if some sites live elsewhere. The usual approach is to migrate, test on the new server while DNS still points at Cloudways, then cut over.

Read the migration guide

Does either platform include backups?

Both include automated backups with restore. The difference is granularity: xCloud offers incremental site backups in addition to full site and full server backups, and lets you download backups for offsite storage. Cloudways provides automated full backups and restore.

Do xCloud and Cloudways support Redis or object caching?

Both do. Each platform configures Redis object caching alongside full-page caching for WordPress, so the difference here is not the feature itself but how much of the server you can tune around it — xCloud exposes custom NGINX configuration and root access, Cloudways does not.

Which platform gives more server control?

xCloud, clearly. It provides root access, custom NGINX configuration, multiple PHP versions on the same server, external database support, and the ability to run any Ubuntu host you choose. Cloudways deliberately abstracts the server away — that is the product — so there is no root access and no custom server-level configuration.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

I'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting

Leo Koo

How Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud

Ed Ellingham

xCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.

Dumitru Butucel

xCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.

Waqar Ahmed

Trust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍

Rahul Singh

xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!

Brian Geovanny

I've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.

Kevin Pineda

Came from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.

Gerson El

I came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.

Jared McDowell

I had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.

Dan Spinoza

So far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.

Massimo Villa

I've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.

Tony Lewis

How Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently

Kevin Heinrichs

I like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose

David McCan

I went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.

Blaine Moore

Dear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.

Rahil Maknojia

How Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites

Gary Moody

xCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.

Jorge de los Reyes Martínez

How Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud

Lori Newman

I too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps

John Aperture

Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.

Karl Fanega

I use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.

Jay Pagano

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