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Comparison · updated November 1, 2026
Hostinger vs Cloudways (2026)
The two cheapest routes to decent WordPress hosting work very differently: a long prepay on shared or cloud plans, or a pay-as-you-go server you size yourself.
| Hostinger | Cloudways | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $2.49/mo on a 48-month prepay (Premium); renews at $10.99/mo | From $11/mo (DigitalOcean 1 GB "Micro" server, billed hourly) |
| Renewal / ongoing | Premium renews at $10.99/mo; Business ($3.49) at $16.99/mo; Cloud Startup ($7.99) at $25.99/mo | Pay-as-you-go, billed hourly; no long prepay required |
| Commitment | 48 months prepaid for the headline rate | None; billed hourly |
| Included mailboxes (Hostinger Mail, stored in France and Germany) | Paid add-on | |
| Server locations | US (Phoenix, Boston, Asheville), Europe (FR, DE, LT, NL, UK), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil | Depends on the cloud provider you choose (DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud and others) |
| Money-back | 30 days | Pay-as-you-go; check trial terms |
| Hostinger plans → | Cloudways plans → |
What you'll actually pay
Hostinger Premium at $2.49/mo needs 48 months paid up front ($119.52 at time of checking), then renews at $10.99/mo. That's genuinely cheap for four years, and you get email included. The catch is the lump sum, and the renewal is roughly four times the intro price.
Cloudways starts at about $11/mo for a 1 GB DigitalOcean server, billed hourly. There's no promo and no renewal jump, and you can host several small sites on that server if resources allow. Add the cost of email elsewhere and offsite backup storage ($0.033/GB), and it's usually more per month than Hostinger's promo, but you can leave any time.
Rule of thumb: one site, a beginner, and a four-year horizon favours Hostinger. Several sites, or uncertainty about how long you'll keep the site, favours Cloudways.
Ease of use
Hostinger's hPanel, auto-installer and AI site builder are built for beginners. Cloudways is a managed layer on top of a cloud server: it handles the server software, but you choose the provider, size and location, and you'll see more technical settings. It's not hard, but it assumes you know roughly what a server is.
Data centres
Hostinger publishes its locations: web and cloud plans can be hosted in the US (Phoenix, Boston, Asheville), France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil, and you can move a web or cloud plan between locations later from the dashboard. Cloudways locations depend on the underlying provider; DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud all offer far more regions, including Canada. Neither choice matters much for a cached site behind a CDN, but it does for stores and logged-in users.
Performance
We haven't run our own tests yet (see our methodology). Hostinger is not among the 2026 Top Tier hosts listed in the WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks overview we reviewed. In Review Signal's 2023 benchmarks, Cloudways did not earn Top Tier in the $25–50/month or WooCommerce tiers (reported by WP Tavern). Results are plan- and year-specific. On Cloudways, performance depends heavily on the server size you choose; an undersized 1 GB server will struggle with WooCommerce.
Who should pick which
- It's your first site
- You want email included
- You're happy to prepay four years for the lowest total
- You run several sites or client sites
- You want monthly billing with no lock-in
- You want to choose your cloud provider and region
FAQ
Is Cloudways cheaper than Hostinger?
Not in the first years for a single site: Hostinger's prepaid promo wins. For several sites on one server, or if you'd otherwise pay Hostinger's renewal rates, Cloudways can come out even or ahead.
Can I use Cloudways without technical skills?
Yes for basic WordPress, but expect a learning curve. If you never want to think about server size, Hostinger or a fully managed host is simpler.
More: Hostinger review, Cloudways review, cheapest managed WordPress hosting, SiteGround vs Hostinger.
Sources
- Hostinger WordPress hosting, checked November 1, 2026
- Cloudways pricing, checked November 1, 2026
- WP Tavern on Review Signal 2023, checked November 1, 2026
- Hostinger server locations, checked November 1, 2026