Looking for a Cloudways alternative?
Cloudways gives you a managed panel on top of a cloud server you still have to size, scale and pay for. G7Cloud gives you a fully managed platform — email, DNS, restore-tested backups and an AI Website Builder included — at one fixed UK price.
Free plan forever · no card · 30-day money-back on paid plans
First, credit where it's due
Who Cloudways are
Cloudways, owned by DigitalOcean since 2022, is a managed hosting layer that sits on top of cloud providers such as DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud. You launch a virtual server of your chosen size, and Cloudways manages the stack on it through a single panel — with dozens of regions worldwide and the freedom to run several apps on one server. It is a genuinely popular middle ground between raw cloud servers and fully managed hosting.
So this page is not a hatchet job. It's a straight look at where the Cloudways model costs you money or ownership, where G7Cloud's fixed-price, own-your-code model works better — and, further down, where Cloudways is still the better fit.
The case for switching
Why people leave Cloudways for G7Cloud
Model differences, not marketing differences. Every claim below is about how the two platforms actually work and bill.
You still do capacity planning
On Cloudways you pick a server size, watch RAM and CPU graphs, and resize when an app outgrows the box. That's real work, and getting it wrong means slow sites or wasted spend. On G7Cloud every site runs in its own dedicated container and we manage the infrastructure — there is no server for you to size.
The add-ons stack up
The headline server price is only the start: premium CDN, off-site backup storage and higher support tiers are chargeable extras on Cloudways. G7Cloud plans include ScaleShield WAF and bot protection, scheduled backups with off-site targets (S3, R2, SFTP) and support from the engineers who run the platform — at one fixed price.
No email or DNS hosting
Cloudways does not host mailboxes — you bolt on a third-party email service and manage DNS elsewhere. Every paid G7Cloud plan includes email hosting (mailboxes, aliases, Roundcube webmail, spam filtering, DKIM/SPF managed for you) and full DNS hosting with zone import.
Backups you can actually trust
Most hosts take backups; almost nobody proves they restore. G7Cloud restore-tests every backup nightly — a real restore into a sandbox — so a backup that would fail gets flagged before you ever need it. Full, single-file and single-database restores are all built in.
A UK team, not a ticket queue
G7Cloud is built and run by engineers in the UK, and support comes from the people who operate the platform. You are not routed through support tiers or told the problem is with the underlying cloud provider.
An AI Website Builder is included
Every G7Cloud plan includes the AI Website Builder, which ships real database-backed sites — shops, bookings, CMS — with an admin panel you own. Cloudways is hosting only; new sites are still built somewhere else.
The honest bit
Where Cloudways is still the better fit
No platform wins everything. If the points below describe you, Cloudways may genuinely serve you better — and we'd rather tell you now than after a migration.
Choice of cloud provider and region
Cloudways lets you deploy on DigitalOcean, AWS or Google Cloud in dozens of regions worldwide. G7Cloud runs on our own UK infrastructure — excellent if your audience is in the UK or Europe, but if you need a server in Singapore or São Paulo, Cloudways is the better fit.
Server-level control
On Cloudways you get SSH access to your server and can tune it, cram many small apps onto one box, or resize it on demand. G7Cloud deliberately abstracts the server away — you get an in-browser terminal, SFTP and git deploys per site, but not a whole VM to administer. If you want to be your own sysadmin, keep the server.
A longer track record
Cloudways has been running since 2012 and hosts a very large fleet. G7Cloud launched in 2026 and is built in the open — newer, smaller, and honest about it.
G7Cloud vs Cloudways, side by side
Model-level comparison — how each platform is built and billed.
Cloudways on DigitalOcean starts at about $14/mo for an entry-size server, as of July 2026 — before add-ons such as premium CDN, off-site backup storage or higher support tiers. G7Cloud prices are fixed GBP and all-inclusive.
Want the full head-to-head? Read our complete G7Cloud vs Cloudways comparison.
Real prices, one ladder
What switching actually costs
Fixed GBP prices. No usage billing, no per-seat fees, no renewal increases. Every plan includes the AI Website Builder, free SSL and ScaleShield protection.
Business
Up to 3 sites plus full-stack AI apps — shop, bookings, CMS.
- 3 hosted sites — any type, incl. WooCommerce & Magento
- Full-stack AI apps — online shop, bookings, CMS & more
- Real database + admin panel on AI-built sites
- Stripe checkout on your AI-built shop (your own keys)
- AI Website Builder — 5 projects, publish 3
- 150K AI tokens per day
- Managed PostgreSQL & Redis add-ons
- Site cloning, phpMyAdmin, WP-CLI
- Everything in Starter included
Full feature breakdown on the pricing page. 30-day money-back guarantee on every paid plan.
Moving from Cloudways
We move you. Free. You approve every step.
Our team moves your sites from Cloudways with you — files, databases, email and DNS. You preview everything on a temporary URL first, and we only switch DNS when you approve the cutover. Your Cloudways server stays live until then, so there is no leap of faith. The migration is free on every paid plan.
- Assisted by our team — we do it with you, not to you
- Preview everything on a temporary URL before anything switches
- Your old site stays live until you approve the cutover
- 30-day money-back guarantee if it does not work out
Cloudways alternative — questions answered
Start free — no card
Build a real, database-backed site with the AI Website Builder on the Free plan, or host your existing site on managed UK infrastructure from £9/mo. Fixed prices, and you own the code.