Devilbox vs Cloudways
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Devilbox and Cloudways.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Devilbox
0 reviews
3.9/5
Cloudways
0 reviews
Cloudways is rated higher (3.9 vs 3.6). Devilbox is a free, open source Docker PHP development environment for local WordPress and PHP development. Pre-configured with Nginx/Apache, MySQL, PHP, and email testing. Managed hosting layer that sits on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, Vultr, or Linode. You get managed control with one-click staging, Breeze caching, and 24/7 support.
Devilbox Docker-based local development environment for multiple PHP stacks | Cloudways Managed cloud hosting on your choice of provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews) | 3.9 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free | paid |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $11/mo |
| Best for | WordPress and PHP freelancers, agencies and plugin shops running many projects across multiple PHP versions who want one reproducible, zero-config local environment. | Agencies, freelancers and SMBs running WordPress/WooCommerce/Magento/Laravel who want managed cloud hosting with provider choice and no ops staff |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 1 GB |
| Storage | — | 25 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 1 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | — | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | — | €11.00 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | — | €11.00 |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | United StatesUnited KingdomGermanyNetherlandsSingaporeAustralia+1 |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen source | managed optionddos protectionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Devilbox → | Visit Cloudways → | |
Devilbox
Pros
- + Completely free and MIT-licensed with public source — no paid tier or account required
- + Automatic vhosts, DNS and browser-trusted SSL for unlimited projects with zero manual configuration
- + Per-project PHP version switching across 5.2 to 8.2, plus five database engines and profiling tools
- + Reproducible environments that eliminate drift between developers and between local and production
- + Nightly automated image builds with CI tests on both amd64 and arm64 architectures
Cons
- - Upstream maintenance has slowed — last recorded push April 2024, PHP images stop at 8.2
- - Requires Docker and Compose literacy; debugging container issues is on you
- - Resource-hungry: a full stack wants 6-8 GB of free RAM plus disk for images and data
- - No managed option, no vendor, no support contract behind the project
- - PHP-centric despite extra language backends — wrong shape for non-PHP stacks
Cloudways
Pros
- + Choose the underlying cloud (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, GCP) and region per server
- + Entry pricing from $11/month on DigitalOcean with hourly billing and no contract
- + Managed stack with free migration, staging/cloning, automated backups, caching and 24/7 human support
- + Unlimited sites and visits per server on Flexible plans
- + Autonomous line adds real autoscaling, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and a no-credit-card 3-day trial
Cons
- - Management markup of roughly $5-$35/month over buying the same server direct
- - No formal uptime SLA on the Flexible line
- - AWS/GCP plans include only 1-2 GB transfer; overage at $0.12/GB (AWS) adds up fast
- - Root-level control is limited — no custom kernels, bare metal, GPUs or own object storage
- - Owned by DigitalOcean since 2022 while reselling competing clouds — a roadmap consideration
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