Cloudways vs GreenGeeks
Cloudways and GreenGeeks compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Cloudways scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
CloudwaysWins overall
DigitalOcean's managed cloud layer: servers from $11 a month on five clouds, billed hourly, staging and caching included
cPanel on LiteSpeed since 2008 with a 300% renewable energy match, four locations, a free domain and a 30-day refund
Cloudways wins 4 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.8 vs 7.3).
How do the scores compare?
Cloudways leads on 4 sub-scores, GreenGeeks on 1. Higher is better.
| Cloudways | GreenGeeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.0 (better) | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.5 (better) | 7.0 |
| Support | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Features | 8.0 (better) | 7.5 |
| Value | 7.0 (better) | 6.5 |
| Ease of use | 7.0 | 8.0 (better) |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| Cloudways | GreenGeeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7.8 (better) | 7.3 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs Kripesh Adwani 361 d; methods differ | 99.99% (better) | 99.81% |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 442 ms | 411 ms (better) |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, GreenGeeks is cheaper ($13.95/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| Cloudways | GreenGeeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Premium Micro | Lite |
| Intro price | $14.00/mo | $2.95/mo (better) |
| Renewal price | $14.00/mo | $13.95/mo (better) |
| Required term | 1 months (better) | 12 months |
| Websites | unlimited | 1 |
| Storage | 25 GB | 25 GB |
| Money back | 0 days | 30 days (better) |
What does each include?
| Cloudways | GreenGeeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | No | Registration or transfer for the first year, per the plan page FAQ |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt certificates on every application | Let's Encrypt, deployed and renewed automatically |
| Backups | On-demand and scheduled server backups with one-click restore; offsite storage billed at $0.033 per GB per server | No |
| Free migration | Free migration of existing sites | A courtesy transfer within 30 days of sign-up, per the terms; charged after that |
| Free CDN | No | Free CDN integration is listed; HostingStep says no CDN was integrated on its test account |
| Caching | Lightning Stack (NGINX), Object Cache Pro and Redis included on every plan | LiteSpeed web server with LiteSpeed caching and HTTP/3 |
| Staging | Advanced staging and cloning on every plan | No |
| No | Not stated | |
| Resource limits | A whole server per customer: 1 to 8 GB RAM and 1 to 4 vCPU on the listed sizes, larger sizes and other providers available | No |
| Data center choice | The provider's regions, chosen per server: DigitalOcean 9, Vultr 30, Linode 25, AWS 28, Google Cloud 28 | Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam or Singapore |
| Uptime guarantee | No | 99.9% in the terms, limited to GreenGeeks' servers and primary connection, with no credit schedule |
| Security | Built-in firewall with IP blocking, WordPress vulnerability scanner, bot protection and dedicated firewalls per the pricing page | Advanced security suite and free hacked-site cleanup with restrictions, per the plan page |
| Free trial | 3 days without a credit card | Not stated |
| Phone support | No | 24/7 by phone, chat and ticket |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| SSH and SFTP | Not stated | Free on every plan, with the latest PHP and MySQL |
| Green hosting | Not stated | Energy use matched three times over with renewable energy credits through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation; EPA Green Power Partner since 2009 |
Company facts
| Cloudways | GreenGeeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | Cloudways platform (its own console); no cPanel | cPanel |
| Data centers | 1 | 4 (better) |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, ticket, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2011 | 2008 |