Cloudways vs Hetzner 2026

Both Cloudways and Hetzner sit in our live hosting matrix. Overall scores land at 9.2 (Cloudways, from about $14.00/mo) and 8.8 (Hetzner, entry near $4.51/mo). Spec rows pull from April 2026 catalogue checks; median TTFB and uptime, when available, come from multi-week probes. Treat this as a starting point and confirm renewal pricing on the host's checkout.
Cloudways
9.2
from $14.00/mo
Get Deal Cloudways →
VS
Hetzner
8.8
from $4.51/mo
Get Deal Hetzner →

Behind this comparison

Parallel active accounts on Cloudways and Hetzner stay maintained. In the latest pass, median TTFB came in near 292 ms on Cloudways and 288 ms on Hetzner, while observed uptime windows landed around 99.97% versus 99.95%. Support ping checks showed median first meaningful replies near 5 minutes for Cloudways and 45 minutes for Hetzner, though queue times swing with seasonality. The spec table reflects current plan pages as of the publish date; when vendors change tiers, numbers are re-run before adjusting the verdict boxes.

Cloudways: Median TTFB292 ms
Hetzner: Median TTFB288 ms
Cloudways: Observed uptime99.97%
Hetzner: Observed uptime99.95%

Feature comparison

Feature Cloudways Hetzner
Overall score 9.2 8.8
Speed score 9.5 9.0
Reliability score 9.4 8.9
Support score 9.1 7.8
Starting price $14.00/mo $4.51/mo
Median TTFB (our probes) 292 ms 288 ms
Uptime (listed) 99.99% 99.9%
Storage (entry) 25 GB SSD 40 GB NVMe (CX22)
Websites (entry) Unlimited Unlimited (self-managed)
Free domain (1st year) No No
Free SSL Yes No

Our verdict

Our pick
Cloudways
Choose Cloudways if you prioritise the higher overall score in our matrix (9.2 vs 8.8) and stronger rated support in our rubric. Scale up without a full migration, useful when traffic is hard to predict. On the trade-off side, more expensive than a raw VPS. Know the trade before committing.
Get Deal Cloudways →
Hetzner
Choose Hetzner if you prioritise the lower advertised entry price ($4.51/mo). Low EU hosting costs, below big-cloud prices for similar specs. On the trade-off side, not for teams that will not use SSH. Cloud VPS, not managed WordPress.
Get Deal Hetzner →

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I pick Cloudways or Hetzner?+
It depends on budget, audience location, and whether you need phone support or specific regions. Our overall scores are 9.2 vs 8.8; cross-check the table with your must-haves, then confirm renewals on the host's checkout.
Do you run live tests on both providers?+
Published TTFB and uptime figures come from parallel test accounts and external probes over several weeks. Storage and site limits reflect published grids checked in April 2026.

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