Apr 14, 2026 · 3 min read

Cloudways Review for Developers — Managed Hosting That Gives You SSH

Cloudways occupies a unique spot: it’s managed hosting that still gives you SSH access. You pick your cloud provider (DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, Vultr), and Cloudways handles the ops — SSL, backups, firewall, OS updates, monitoring. But you keep full SSH access to install whatever you need.

For developers, this is the sweet spot between “I don’t want to manage servers” and “I need to install custom packages.”

What Cloudways gets right

Choose your cloud provider

Most managed hosts lock you into their infrastructure. Cloudways lets you pick:

Provider	Starting price	Best for
DigitalOcean	$14/mo	Best value
Vultr	$14/mo	Good performance
AWS	$37/mo	Enterprise, specific regions
GCP	$37/mo	Google ecosystem

You get the provider’s infrastructure with Cloudways’ management layer on top.

SSH access (the killer feature)

Unlike Railway or Render, you can SSH into your server. This means you can:

Install Ollama for local AI inference
Run custom Python environments
Set up cron jobs for background tasks
Debug production issues directly
Install any system package

For AI developers, this is critical. Many AI tools require system-level access that PaaS platforms can’t provide.

Predictable pricing

$14/month is $14/month. No usage surprises, no bandwidth overages, no “your bill is 5x what you expected” moments. Compare with Railway where a traffic spike can double your bill.

Multiple apps on one server

Host 5 different projects on a single $28/mo server. Each gets its own domain, SSL, and configuration. For developers running multiple side projects, this is much cheaper than paying per-app on Railway or Render.

Managed security

Cloudways handles:

SSL certificates (auto-renewal via Let’s Encrypt)
OS-level firewall configuration
Automated backups (daily)
Security patching
DDoS protection (basic)
Bot protection

You don’t think about any of this. It just works.

What Cloudways gets wrong

No email hosting

Cloudways doesn’t include email. You need a separate service (Zoho Mail free tier, Google Workspace $6/mo, or Fastmail). This adds cost and complexity.

No auto-scaling

Scaling means manually resizing your server in the dashboard. There’s no automatic horizontal scaling like Railway or Fly.io. If you get a traffic spike, you need to manually upgrade.

Steeper learning curve than PaaS

Deploying on Railway is “push to GitHub, done.” Deploying on Cloudways requires SSH, setting up your Python environment, configuring Nginx, and creating systemd services. See our Cloudways deploy tutorial for the full process.

No free tier

Railway has a $5 credit. Render has a free tier. Cloudways starts at $14/mo with a 3-day free trial. You’re paying from day one.

Pricing

Plan (DigitalOcean)	RAM	CPU	Storage	Price
DO1GB	1 GB	1 core	25 GB	$14/mo
DO2GB	2 GB	1 core	50 GB	$28/mo
DO4GB	4 GB	2 cores	80 GB	$54/mo
DO8GB	8 GB	4 cores	160 GB	$107/mo

For AI apps, the 2GB plan ($28/mo) is the minimum. 1GB is too tight for Python + FastAPI + dependencies.

For AI developers specifically

Cloudways shines for AI apps that need:

Local inference — install Ollama and run models on the server
Background workers — process LLM tasks asynchronously
Custom Python packages — install anything via pip or apt
Multiple services — API + worker + scheduler on one server
GDPR compliance — choose EU data center via DigitalOcean or Vultr

It’s less ideal for:

Simple API-only apps → Railway is simpler
GPU inference → RunPod or dedicated GPU
Serverless functions → Vercel or Cloudflare Workers

The verdict

Cloudways is the best option for developers who want managed infrastructure without giving up control. The SSH access + managed security combination is unique. Pricing is predictable and reasonable.

Rating: 8/10. Loses points for no email, no auto-scaling, and no free tier.

Best for: Developers running multiple projects, AI apps needing system access, teams wanting managed ops with full control.

Try Cloudways — 3-day free trial, no credit card required.