SiteGround is cheaper to start and simpler to run. Cloudways costs the same in year four as year one and does not cap you on visits.
- SiteGround StartUp is $3.99/mo for 12 months, then $17.99/mo. Cloudways is $11/mo with no term and no increase.
- SiteGround publishes a visit allowance — about 10,000/mo on StartUp, 100,000 on GrowBig. Cloudways does not meter visits; you are limited by the server you buy.
- GrowBig at $6.69/mo is the tier most small businesses actually need, because StartUp has no staging and only one site.
- Over four years: SiteGround StartUp $695.52, Cloudways $528, or $600 with a mailbox added at $1.50/mo.
These two get compared constantly, but they are not really the same product. SiteGround is shared hosting with a managed WordPress layer on top. Cloudways is a management layer over cloud servers you rent by the month. The practical question is what happens when your traffic goes up — and they answer it very differently.
All figures below come from each provider’s published pricing on 23 September 2026. We have not benchmarked these accounts ourselves, so there are no speed or uptime claims here.
The one difference that decides it: how they meter you
SiteGround sells plans against a stated number of monthly visits. StartUp is around 10,000, GrowBig around 100,000, GoGeek 400,000 and up. Go past your tier and the fix is to move up a plan.
Cloudways does not count visits on its Flexible plans. You buy a server — the entry DigitalOcean box is 2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB storage and 2 TB of transfer for $11/mo — and it serves whatever that hardware can serve. When it runs out, you resize the server rather than migrate to a different plan.
If your traffic is flat and predictable, visit-metered plans are easier to budget. If you are actively doing SEO or running ads, a resource-based plan avoids the awkward moment where a good month triggers an upgrade.
Cloudways vs SiteGround, plan for plan
SiteGround’s GrowBig is included because StartUp’s single-site, no-staging limit rules it out for many businesses.
| CloudwaysDigitalOcean 2GB | SiteGroundStartUp | SiteGroundGrowBig | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory price | $11/mo | $3.99/mo | $6.69/mo |
| Renewal price | $11/mo | $17.99/mo | $29.99/mo |
| Commitment | None — monthly | 12 months | 12 months |
| Websites | Multiple apps per server | 1 | Unlimited |
| Storage | 50 GB | 10 GB | 50 GB |
| Monthly visits | Not metered | ~10,000 | ~100,000 |
| Staging | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Daily backups | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| On-demand backups | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Email included | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free WordPress migration | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free trial | 3 days, no card | ✕ | ✕ |
| Four-year cost | $528 | $695.52 | $1,159.32 |
| View pricing | View pricing | View pricing |
Checked 23 September 2026. Four-year totals use the published introductory rate for year one and the renewal rate thereafter, excluding domains, tax and add-ons.
What each one costs once you add the missing pieces
Cloudways’ $11 does not include mailboxes. Adding one Rackspace mailbox through Cloudways is $1.50/mo, which takes the real monthly figure to $12.50 and the four-year total to roughly $600 — still below SiteGround StartUp’s $695.52, and well below GrowBig.
Offsite backup storage on Cloudways is billed at $0.033/GB per server, and DigitalOcean bandwidth beyond the included 2 TB is $0.02/GB. For a typical small business site these are cents, not dollars, but they are line items rather than inclusions.
Cloudways
- No visit cap — a good traffic month does not force an upgrade
- Price never increases; $11/mo in year four as in year one
- Staging and daily backups at the entry tier
- Several sites can share one server
- 3-day trial with no credit card
- Mailboxes cost extra at $1.50 each per month
- No free migration service included
- No free domain
- You make server-level decisions a shared host would make for you
- No money-back guarantee stated
Verdict: Better if the site is meant to grow, or if you would rather not think about hosting again in twelve months.
SiteGround
- Cheapest way to get started at $47.88 for the first year
- Daily backups on every tier, including StartUp
- Free WordPress migration, email, SSL and CDN
- Familiar shared-hosting tooling with less to configure
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- StartUp renews at $17.99/mo — a 351% increase
- StartUp covers one site only and has no staging
- Visit allowances are stated and enforced by tier
- 10 GB of storage on StartUp is tight for a media-heavy site
- GrowBig renews at $29.99/mo, making four years $1,159.32
Verdict: Better for a small, stable site where the lowest opening cost matters and you will reassess before renewal.
Which should you choose?
The verdict
No visit ceiling, and you scale by resizing rather than replatforming.
Start the 3-day trial$47.88 for the first year with daily backups and email included.
Check SiteGround pricingOne $11 server runs multiple apps; SiteGround needs GrowBig at $29.99/mo on renewal.
Compare Cloudways plansSources
Pricing and plan contents taken from Cloudways pricing and SiteGround web hosting on 23 September 2026. Backup charges from Cloudways offsite backup documentation and SiteGround’s backup knowledge base.
Hosting prices change without notice and vary by region. Check the provider’s own page before buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cloudways better than SiteGround?
Neither is better outright. Cloudways suits growing sites because it does not cap visits and its price never rises. SiteGround suits small, stable sites because it costs $47.88 for the first year and includes email and free migration.
What happens if I exceed SiteGround’s visit limit?
SiteGround states visit allowances per tier — roughly 10,000 a month on StartUp and 100,000 on GrowBig. Exceeding your allowance means moving up a plan. Cloudways does not meter visits on Flexible plans, so the equivalent limit is the server’s own capacity.
Does Cloudways include email?
No. Mailboxes are an add-on, listed at $1.50 per mailbox per month through Cloudways. SiteGround includes email on all its shared plans.
Which is cheaper over four years?
Cloudways at $528, or about $600 with one mailbox added. SiteGround StartUp comes to $695.52 and GrowBig to $1,159.32, because both renew at substantially higher rates after the first 12 months.
Can I move from SiteGround to Cloudways later?
Yes. SiteGround includes free WordPress migration on the way in, and Cloudways provides migration tooling. The real cost of moving is planning the DNS cutover, not the file transfer.
Keep reading
- Cloudways vs Hostinger vs SiteGround — all three compared, with four-year costs side by side.
- Cloudways vs Hostinger — flat monthly billing against a four-year prepayment.
- Cloudways review — how it works day to day.
- Our web development service — if you would rather hand it over.
A slow site is more often the build than the server. We will look at both and tell you which one is actually costing you.
Prefer to talk first? Message us on WhatsApp or read more about our ongoing website support.
Related reading
Kelvin Wambugu leads Nuru Digital Marketing, a Dubai-based creative growth agency serving brands across the UAE, MENA and Africa. His work spans SEO, paid media, brand strategy, conversion-focused web design and AI automation across e-commerce, hospitality, tourism, professional services and regional trade initiatives.
