[Compare · Shared / WP]

Bluehost vs Cloudways

BluehostNewfold
6.1/ 10
Higher score
CloudwaysIndie
9.2/ 10
Across 4 measured dimensions: Bluehost wins 1, Cloudways wins 3
[01]

Side by side.

8 dimensions
MetricBluehostCloudways
Score
Winner: right
6.19.2
Δ 90 days
Winner: right
0.40.1
Parent & badge
Winner: right
Newfold DigitalNewfold
DigitalOceanIndie
Founded
20032012
Best for
Beginners (with caveats)Scaling WP / WooCommerce
Year-1 price
Winner: left
$36$132
Renewal multiplier
Winner: right
4.5×
Tagline
Shared / WP · marketed as WP-recommendedManaged cloud · DO/Vultr/AWS
[02]

What works, what doesn't.

Per provider
Bluehost3 pros · 4 cons
+ Pros
  • WordPress recommends them (controversial but real)
  • Easy onboarding for total beginners
  • 24/7 phone support
– Cons
  • Owned by Newfold Digital — same parent as 11 other listed brands
  • Aggressive upsells in cart
  • Renewal pricing 3–4× intro
  • CPU throttling complaints common
Cloudways4 pros · 3 cons
+ Pros
  • Choice of underlying cloud (DO/Vultr/AWS/Linode)
  • Hourly billing
  • Excellent WP-specific caching
  • Lifetime 7% revshare on affiliates
– Cons
  • Email is a paid add-on (Rackspace)
  • Backup add-on costs extra
  • Owned by DigitalOcean since 2022
Make the call

Pick one and go.

Both links are affiliate. Score doesn't move because of it.