Bluehost vs Cloudways 2026

Both Bluehost and Cloudways sit in our live hosting matrix. Overall scores land at 9.6 (Bluehost, from about $2.95/mo) and 9.2 (Cloudways, entry near $14.00/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.
Bluehost
9.6
from $2.95/mo
Get Deal Bluehost →
VS
Cloudways
9.2
from $14.00/mo
Get Deal Cloudways →

Behind this comparison

Parallel active accounts on Bluehost and Cloudways stay maintained. In the latest pass, median TTFB came in near 412 ms on Bluehost and 292 ms on Cloudways, while observed uptime windows landed around 99.94% versus 99.97%. Support ping checks showed median first meaningful replies near 5 minutes for Bluehost and 5 minutes for Cloudways, 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.

Bluehost: Median TTFB412 ms
Cloudways: Median TTFB292 ms
Bluehost: Observed uptime99.94%
Cloudways: Observed uptime99.97%

Feature comparison

Feature Bluehost Cloudways
Overall score 9.6 9.2
Speed score 9.3 9.5
Reliability score 9.5 9.4
Support score 9.2 9.1
Starting price $2.95/mo $14.00/mo
Median TTFB (our probes) 412 ms 292 ms
Uptime (listed) 99.9% 99.99%
Storage (entry) 10 GB SSD 25 GB SSD
Websites (entry) 1 Unlimited
Free domain (1st year) Yes No
Free SSL Yes Yes

Our verdict

Our pick
Bluehost
Choose Bluehost if you prioritise the lower advertised entry price ($2.95/mo) and the higher overall score in our matrix (9.6 vs 9.2). WordPress.org recommended, a familiar name for first-time buyers. On the trade-off side, slower loading than LiteSpeed hosts at a similar price with default settings.
Get Deal Bluehost →
Cloudways
Choose Cloudways if you prioritise faster median TTFB in our probes (292 ms vs 412 ms) and better headline speed scores for your workload. 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 →

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I pick Bluehost or Cloudways?+
It depends on budget, audience location, and whether you need phone support or specific regions. Our overall scores are 9.6 vs 9.2; 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.

Related Guides