Cloudways vs Flywheel (March 2026)
| CCloudways | FwFlywheel | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $11/mo | $13/mo |
| Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Free Tier | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Best For | Developers, Agencies | Creative agencies managing multiple client WordPress sites, Freelance designers needing workflow tools and collaboration |
Flywheel takes the lead with a 4.7/5 rating compared to Cloudways's 4.6/5, though both are solid choices depending on your priorities.
Quick Overview
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting platform with multiple cloud providers and developer tools.
- Best for: Developers, Agencies
- Starting price: $11/mo
- Category: Web Hosting
- Founded: 2011
- Pricing model: subscription
Flywheel
Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting platform powered by Google Cloud, designed for designers, agencies, and develope...
- Best for: Creative agencies managing multiple client WordPress sites, Freelance designers needing workflow tools and collaboration
- Starting price: $13/mo
- Category: Web Hosting
- Founded: 2012
- Pricing model: subscription
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cloudways | Flywheel |
|---|---|---|
| Website Builder | ✗ | ✗ |
| WordPress Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free SSL | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free Domain | ✗ | ✗ |
| SSD Storage | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Hosting | ✗ | ✗ |
| Daily Backups | ✓ | ✗ |
| 24/7 Support | ✓ | ✗ |
| Google Cloud Platform infrastructure | ✗ | ✓ |
| Managed caching | ✗ | ✓ |
| World-class CDN | ✗ | ✓ |
| Nightly backups | ✗ | ✓ |
| Managed security | ✗ | ✓ |
| Staging sites | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free site migrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free SSL certificates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Team collaboration tools | ✗ | ✓ |
| SSH/SFTP access | ✗ | ✓ |
| Plugin security alerts | ✗ | ✓ |
| Google Analytics integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Site templates | ✗ | ✓ |
Pricing Comparison
Prices last verified: March 16, 2026
Cloudways
Flywheel
Pros & Cons
Cloudways
- Multiple cloud providers
- Excellent performance
- Pay-as-you-go
- Free migrations
- No email hosting
- Learning curve
- No domain registration
- Extra cost for add-ons
Flywheel
- Exceptional uptime with self-healing infrastructure
- Blazing-fast performance with sub-0.6s TTFB
- WordPress-exclusive optimization and tuned servers
- Generous free perks including migrations and SSL
- WordPress-only hosting, no other CMS support
- Higher starting price than shared hosting options
- Limited to managed plans with no VPS flexibility
- Pricing scales quickly for high-traffic sites
Which Is Best for You?
Choose Cloudways if:
- Developers
- Agencies
- Growing businesses
- WooCommerce stores
- Budget is a priority ($11 vs $13)
Choose Flywheel if:
- Creative agencies managing multiple client WordPress sites
- Freelance designers needing workflow tools and collaboration
- High-traffic WordPress sites requiring managed performance
- Developers building WordPress projects with staging needs
- Higher user rating matters to you (4.7 vs 4.6)
Our Verdict
Choose Cloudways if you need hosting flexibility beyond WordPress, want control over your cloud infrastructure provider, or manage diverse applications and websites. It's particularly suitable for developers comfortable with more technical control, businesses requiring specific cloud compliance, or those wanting to optimize costs through provider selection and pay-as-you-go scaling.
Choose Flywheel if you're exclusively focused on WordPress, manage multiple client sites as an agency, or prioritize exceptional performance and uptime without server management complexity. Its specialized WordPress optimization, collaboration tools, and premium managed services make it ideal for creative agencies, freelance designers, and businesses where WordPress performance is critical to success.