xCloud vs SiteGround: Hosting Models, Pricing, and Features Compared

Compare xCloud and SiteGround on pricing, server control, backups, caching, support, and WordPress management to find the better fit.

85 features compared · 52 where the two differ · Last updated: 23/08/2026

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Quick verdict

Choose xCloud if…

You want root access, custom NGINX and multiple PHP versions on the server under WordPress.
You want to bring your own provider — Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP or any Ubuntu box — and keep the server if you leave.
You want Redis object caching alongside full-page caching, rather than Memcached only.
You need agency tooling included: team accounts and roles, white-labelling, bulk site and server migration, blueprints.
You want to start small — $5/month managed, or a free tier for connecting a server you already pay for.

Choose SiteGround if…

You need email hosting: SiteGround includes free mailboxes, and xCloud only integrates transactional email (Mailgun, SendGrid, ElasticEmail, SMTP).
You want phone support — SiteGround's 24/7 priority support covers phone, live chat and tickets; xCloud has live chat, not phone.
You are a beginner, or handing a site to someone who is: SiteGround's autoinstall, autoupdates and Site Tools panel ask nothing of you at the server level.
You want infrastructure that is owned and fully operated by one long-established brand, with dedicated resources, automated scaling and a dedicated IP on the cloud tier.

At a glance

xCloud vs SiteGround at a glance

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

Criteria	xCloud	SiteGround
Pricing model	Panel subscription managing a server you own, or an xCloud managed plan bundling the server	Fully operated hosting billed as one package — shared plans at the low end, a separate cloud hosting tier above them
Starting price	$5/month managed (1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, 1 vCPU, 1 TB bandwidth); free tier for your own server	$100/month for the cloud tier's Jump Start plan (billed monthly, ex-VAT); shared plans start far lower — the matrix below cites $17.99/month
Infrastructure included?	Included on xCloud's managed plans; on the self-managed route the server is yours and billed by your provider — xCloud only sells the panel	Always included and never separable: SiteGround owns and operates the infrastructure on both the shared and cloud tiers
Supported cloud providers	Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP, or any Ubuntu server over SSH	None — you cannot bring a provider; SiteGround runs its own platform
Server locations	Every region your chosen provider offers — you pick the datacentre	SiteGround's own data centres, plus edge points on its free CDN
Number of sites/servers	Unlimited sites per server; each server billed individually	Unlimited websites on the cloud tier, within the plan's dedicated resources
Traffic/bandwidth limits	Your provider's bandwidth on a self-managed server; xCloud managed plans start at 1 TB	Not published as a fixed allowance on the cloud page; capacity follows the plan's dedicated resources and automated scaling
WordPress management	Core, theme and plugin updates, blueprints, WP-CLI, magic login	WordPress autoinstall and autoupdates, WP-CLI and SSH
Staging and cloning	1-click staging with push/pull, clone a site to the same or another server	One-click WordPress staging on the cloud tier, with Git
Backups and restore	Full and incremental site backups, downloadable for offsite storage, plus full server backup management	Daily offsite geo-distributed backups with one-click restore, plus on-demand backups
CDN and caching	Full-page cache built in, custom NGINX, bring any CDN	Free CDN included, NGINX Direct Delivery and Dynamic Caching
Redis/object caching	Yes — Redis object caching alongside full-page cache	Memcached is listed on the cloud hosting page; Redis is not listed there, so we do not claim it
Security and malware protection	7G and 8G firewall, Fail2Ban, vulnerability scanner, free Let's Encrypt SSL, custom SSL/TLS	Smart WAF, free SSL, dedicated IP, automatic security updates
Migration assistance	Built-in bulk site and server migration at no extra cost, plus a cPanel migration path	Migration tooling is offered, but SiteGround uses its own Site Tools panel rather than cPanel; confirm current terms on its site
Support channels	Live chat and ticketing plus documentation — no phone support	24/7 priority support by live chat, phone and tickets, plus a knowledge base and AI assistant
Agency/team features	Team accounts with role management included	Collaborators access on the cloud tier
White-label/reseller features	White-labelling included	White-label options on the cloud tier
Refund/cancellation terms	14-day money-back guarantee; cancel any time	30-day money-back guarantee per the matrix below; the cloud tier bills monthly at the stated rate, and SiteGround's shared tiers are the ones with promotional-versus-renewal pricing gaps — confirm renewal terms before buying
Main limitations	No mailbox hosting and no phone support; on the self-managed route you hold a provider account and pay it separately	No root access and no bring-your-own-server, so the environment is not portable; the cloud tier's $100/month entry point is a large step up from shared hosting

Feature comparison

Every Feature, Side by Side

85 features side by side, including everything xCloud has shipped since the original comparison. 52 of them differ between xCloud and SiteGround — use the filter to see only those.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Only show differences52 of 85

	xCloud	SiteGround
Hosting type	Cloud Servers	Shared Hosting
Lowest Plan	Starts at $5/month	$17.99/month
Web Server – NGINX & OLS	Yes	Yes
Integrate your own provider (Vultr, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner or any Ubuntu )	Yes	No
Root access to the servers	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	No
Blueprints	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	Yes
WordPress theme, plugin, & core update	Yes	Yes
Automatic security updates	Yes	Yes
7G & 8G Firewall	Yes	No
Fail2Ban Integration	Yes	Yes
Firewall Management	Yes	Yes
Vulnerability Checker	Yes	Yes
Accounts & roles management for team	Yes	No
Automatic FREE Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates	Yes	Yes
Automatic free Let’s Encrypt SSL	Yes	Yes
Custom SSL/TLS certificates	Yes	Yes
Custom NGINX	Yes	No
Automatic Cron job	Yes	Yes
Custom Cron Jobs	Yes	Yes
Multiple PHP versions in the same server	Yes	Yes
Compatibility & easy management for PHP 8.3	Yes	No
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	No
Full Server Backup Management	Yes	No
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	Yes
Clone site to same & another server	Yes	Yes
1-click staging	Yes	Yes
Staging With Pull Push	Yes	No
1-click magic login	Yes	Yes
Magic Login Disable	Yes	Yes
Live chat support	Yes	Yes
Clone & deploy from GIT	Yes	No
Whitelabel	Yes	Yes
Moneyback guarantee	14 days	30 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	—
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	—
Performance and caching
Edge full-page cache on a global PoP network	Yes	—
Cloudflare Enterprise (330+ PoPs, Enterprise WAF)	Add-on, $5/domain	—
HTTP/3 (QUIC) and Brotli compression, one click	Yes	—
Per-site PHP-FPM worker tuning and PHP extension manager	Yes	—
Auto-healing — restarts MySQL, NGINX, Redis or PHP if it stops	Yes	—
MySQL/MariaDB auto-tuning and OPcache control	Yes	—
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	—
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	167 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	Included

Pricing

xCloud vs SiteGround: 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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Sites	Storage	xCloud	SiteGround
1 Sites	10 GB web space	$5/month + 15GB extra storage	$17.99/month
10 Sites	20 GB web space	$12/month + 35GB extra storage	$29.99/month
Unlimited Sites	40 GB web space	$24/month + 40GB extra storage	$44.99/month

Already on SiteGround?

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 SiteGround 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 SiteGround: Frequently Asked Questions

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

What is the difference between xCloud and SiteGround?

They are different hosting models, not two versions of the same thing. SiteGround is a hosting company: it owns and fully operates the infrastructure, sells shared plans at the low end and a separate cloud hosting tier above them, and includes email, CDN and 24/7 support in the package. xCloud is a WordPress hosting control panel that provisions and manages a cloud server you own — on Vultr, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS, GCP or any Ubuntu box — with root access, alongside its own managed plans. The comparison below is worth reading with that difference in mind.

Does SiteGround provide root access?

No. SiteGround's cloud hosting page lists SSH access and WP-CLI, but not full root access — the platform is operated by SiteGround, so server-level administration stays with them. xCloud gives you root on every server it manages, which is what makes custom NGINX configuration, multiple PHP versions per server and external databases possible.

Does SiteGround support Redis?

Not according to its cloud hosting page. SiteGround lists Memcached for object caching, together with Dynamic Caching and NGINX Direct Delivery; Redis is not listed there, so we do not claim it either way. If Redis specifically matters to your stack, confirm it with SiteGround before buying rather than assuming parity.

Does xCloud support Redis?

Yes. xCloud configures Redis object caching for WordPress alongside its full-page cache, and because you have root access you can tune the server around it — custom NGINX rules, PHP version per site, and an external database if you want the data layer elsewhere.

How does SiteGround cloud hosting compare to xCloud?

SiteGround's cloud tier is the fairer comparison, and it starts at $100/month for the Jump Start plan billed monthly. For that you get dedicated resources, automated scaling, unlimited websites, free email, free CDN, a dedicated IP, daily offsite backups, staging with Git, and 24/7 priority support — all operated by SiteGround. xCloud's managed plans start at $5/month, or you can connect a server you already pay for, and you get root access and provider portability that SiteGround does not offer. The trade is operation: SiteGround runs the platform, xCloud hands you the controls.

See xCloud pricing

Does xCloud offer email hosting like SiteGround?

No, and this is a real SiteGround advantage. SiteGround includes free email hosting — actual mailboxes on your domain. xCloud provides transactional email only, integrating with Mailgun, SendGrid, ElasticEmail or any SMTP provider so your sites can send mail reliably. If you need inboxes, you'll pair xCloud with a separate mail provider.

Which is better for Laravel?

xCloud is the more workable option, with a caveat. It runs any Ubuntu server with root access and multiple PHP versions per server, so Laravel and other PHP applications can be deployed and tuned the way you would on your own VPS. The caveat is that xCloud markets itself as WordPress-focused, and its feature set is built around WordPress — so treat it as a capable server panel for Laravel rather than a Laravel-specific platform. SiteGround's plans are built around its own managed WordPress-oriented stack without root access.

Which is better for agencies?

xCloud, in most cases. It includes team accounts with role management, white-labelling, blueprints for repeatable site setups, bulk site and server migration, and a cPanel migration path for inheriting client sites from elsewhere. SiteGround's cloud tier does offer collaborator access and white-label options, so it is not absent here — but running many client servers across different providers, with root access and per-client isolation, is the workflow xCloud is built for.

Which gives more server control?

xCloud, clearly and by design. Root access, custom NGINX, multiple PHP versions on one server, external database support, custom cron jobs, and your choice of provider and region all come standard. SiteGround deliberately keeps the server out of your hands — you get SSH and WP-CLI, not root — because operating the infrastructure is the service you are paying for. Neither approach is wrong; they suit different teams.

Can I migrate from SiteGround to xCloud?

Yes. xCloud includes bulk site and server migration at no extra cost, and it can also import from cPanel — worth knowing because SiteGround uses its own Site Tools panel rather than cPanel, so plan on a standard WordPress migration rather than a cPanel backup restore. The usual approach is to migrate, test on the new server while DNS still points at SiteGround, then cut over. Remember to arrange mail separately if you were using SiteGround's included mailboxes.

Read the migration guide

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

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

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

Dan Spinoza

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

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

Blaine Moore

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