Render vs Cloudways
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Render and Cloudways.
Quick Verdict
3.7/5
Render
0 reviews
3.9/5
Cloudways
0 reviews
Cloudways is rated higher (3.9 vs 3.7). Modern cloud platform for deploying web apps, APIs, static sites, cron jobs, and PostgreSQL — zero DevOps required. Auto-deploys from Git with preview URLs per branch. 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.
Render Deploy web apps, APIs, and databases without managing infrastructure | Cloudways Managed cloud hosting on your choice of provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.7 (0 reviews) | 3.9 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | From $7/mo✓ | From $11/mo |
| Best for | Small teams shipping conventional Postgres-backed web apps who want Git deploys and managed operations without owning infrastructure. | 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 | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Storage | 1 GB | 25 GB✓ |
| Bandwidth | 0 TB/mo | 1 TB/mo✓ |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | 5 | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | €7.00✓ | €11.00 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €7.00✓ | €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 StatesGermanySingapore | United StatesUnited KingdomGermanyNetherlandsSingaporeAustralia+1 |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tiermanaged optioneu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access | managed optionddos protectionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Render → | Visit Cloudways → | |
Render
Pros
- + Git-based deploys with per-pull-request preview environments included
- + Coherent pricing: one instance-type table for web services, workers, and cron jobs
- + Free DDoS protection on every service and managed TLS out of the box
- + Managed PostgreSQL with point-in-time recovery on paid plans
- + render.yaml blueprints and a Terraform provider for reproducible environments
Cons
- - No public availability SLA outside negotiated Enterprise contracts
- - Included bandwidth is small (5 GB / 25 GB) with $0.15 per GB overage
- - No IPv6, no GPUs, no bare metal, and only five regions
- - Free tier sleeps on inactivity and free Postgres expires after 30 days
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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