Cloudways vs SiteGround (2026): Which is Cheaper & Faster?

SiteGround was our go-to shared host for years. In 2024 we migrated our production stores to Cloudways DigitalOcean and haven't looked back. The short version: for anything above a small blog, Cloudways is 2-4× faster and, with the 30OFF promo code applied, roughly the same price after the first year.

Test setup: identical WooCommerce store (Astra + Elementor + WooCommerce 8.x, 24 products, 1 GB database) deployed to SiteGround GrowBig ($8.99/mo intro, $24.99/mo renewal) and Cloudways DigitalOcean Premium 1 GB ($9.80/mo with 30OFF for 3 months, then $14/mo).

TTFB from London: Cloudways 178 ms · SiteGround 641 ms. LCP: Cloudways 1.1 s · SiteGround 2.6 s. Time to sustain 50 concurrent add-to-cart requests without error: Cloudways handled it comfortably, SiteGround throttled after 22.

SiteGround wins on beginner-friendliness — the Site Tools dashboard is fantastic. Cloudways wins on raw performance, scaling, and long-term cost. If you're planning to grow, use our 30OFF or 30FREE code and start on Cloudways from day one.