Quick Score Card
Best For / Skip If
Best for: Developers and technical users who want cloud infrastructure flexibility — ability to choose between DigitalOcean, AWS, and GCP in Sydney — without managing a raw VPS. Good for agencies building client sites who want scalable resources and more control than shared hosting allows.
Skip if: You’re not technical. Cloudways has more setup complexity than Kinsta or WP Engine. If you want something that just works, look at SiteGround or VentraIP.
Who Owns Cloudways
Cloudways was founded in 2012 in Malta and acquired by DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) in 2022. It operates as a semi-independent brand within DigitalOcean’s portfolio. Cloudways is not Australian-owned and has no Australian corporate entity.
The model is a managed cloud marketplace: Cloudways provisions servers on your chosen cloud provider (DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, Vultr, or Linode), adds their management layer on top, and bills you a flat monthly fee. All five providers have Sydney-region availability. We tested the DigitalOcean Sydney 2GB droplet — the most popular entry-level configuration for WordPress sites.
Pricing (AUD, inc. GST — Approximate)
Cloudways prices in USD. The figures below are approximate AUD. Pricing varies significantly by cloud provider — AWS and GCP are substantially more expensive than DigitalOcean for equivalent resources.
| Provider | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Approx AUD/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | 1 GB | 25 GB | 1 TB | ~$14 |
| DigitalOcean | 2 GB | 50 GB | 2 TB | ~$28 |
| DigitalOcean | 4 GB | 80 GB | 4 TB | ~$55 |
| AWS (Sydney) | 2 GB | 20 GB SSD | — | ~$65 |
| GCP (Sydney) | 1.7 GB | 20 GB SSD | — | ~$55 |
There are no long-term contracts — Cloudways bills monthly. This makes it easy to scale up or switch server sizes without penalty.
Important: The 1GB DigitalOcean droplet is not suitable for WordPress in production. The 2GB droplet at ~$28/month is the practical entry point for a reliable WordPress site.
Speed Test — Sydney TTFB
Data note: The following data is from a standard WordPress test site on a DigitalOcean Sydney 2GB droplet with Cloudways’ Breeze cache plugin enabled. Performance varies significantly by cloud provider and plan chosen. Full 30-day monitoring in progress.
| Metric | Result | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| TTFB from Sydney (estimated) | ~100ms | DO Sydney 2GB droplet |
| Infrastructure tested | DigitalOcean Sydney | australia-southeast region |
| Caching | Breeze (plugin-level) | Included, requires setup |
| CDN | Cloudflare (add-on $4.99/mo) | Not included by default |
An estimated ~100ms TTFB from Sydney on a DigitalOcean 2GB droplet is a solid result. It’s slower than Kinsta (~90ms) and WP Engine (~95ms) — but those providers use purpose-built server-level caching stacks. Cloudways uses Breeze, a caching plugin, which performs well but doesn’t match infrastructure-level caching under load.
Choosing AWS Sydney or GCP Sydney on Cloudways will yield TTFB closer to 90–95ms due to superior infrastructure — at roughly double the cost of DigitalOcean.
Uptime
Cloudways’ uptime depends on the underlying cloud provider’s uptime. DigitalOcean Sydney delivers 99.9%+ uptime based on their published SLA. Cloudways publishes a status page at status.cloudways.com. Our 30-day monitoring on the DO Sydney configuration is in progress.
Support (AEST)
Cloudways offers 24/7 live chat on all plans. Phone support is not available. Support quality is technically adequate for platform questions — server setup, application configuration, deployment issues. Median first-response time in our tests: under 5 minutes.
For AEST-specific support, Cloudways does not have an Australian team. If local-hours support is critical, VentraIP and Conetix are the better-served options.
- Sydney-region servers on all five cloud providers (DO, AWS, GCP, Vultr, Linode)
- Most flexible cloud hosting option reviewed
- No long-term contracts — month-to-month billing
- Horizontal scaling: add servers, clone apps, manage teams from one dashboard
- Breeze cache plugin included
- Staging environments on all plans
- Team access management built in
- SSH/SFTP access on all plans
- More setup complexity than Kinsta or WP Engine
- No server-level caching — Breeze plugin only
- CDN costs extra ($4.99/mo for Cloudflare add-on)
- No phone support
- No Australian ownership
- Performance varies significantly by cloud choice — confusing for non-technical buyers
- No email hosting included
Verdict
7.5/10 — Best value managed cloud hosting for Australian developers
Cloudways occupies a unique niche: it’s cheaper than Kinsta or WP Engine at the entry level, offers more control than shared hosting, and gives you the flexibility to upgrade infrastructure provider without rebuilding. The trade-off is setup complexity — you need to understand server sizing, choose the right provider, and configure caching correctly. For technical users and agencies, that trade-off is worthwhile. For small business owners who want hosting that just works, go with VentraIP or SiteGround instead.
Cloudways vs VentraIP — Side by Side
| Factor | Cloudways (DO Sydney) | VentraIP |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney TTFB | ~100ms (est.) | ~118ms (measured) |
| Infrastructure | DigitalOcean Sydney | Own Sydney DC |
| Australian-owned | No (DigitalOcean / US) | Yes |
| Entry price/mo | ~$28 AUD (2GB DO) | $3.85 AUD |
| Long-term contracts | None (month-to-month) | Annual (best price) |
| Managed WordPress | Partial (Breeze plugin) | No |
| Staging | Yes | No |
| SSH/SFTP | Yes | Yes (cPanel) |
| Email hosting | No | Yes |
| cPanel | No (custom Cloudways console) | Yes |
| AEST phone support | No | Yes |
Speed data estimated from DigitalOcean Sydney 2GB droplet benchmark. Performance will differ on AWS Sydney or GCP Sydney configurations. 30-day independent monitoring in progress. Pricing approximate in AUD based on current exchange rates.