Cloudways to DigitalOcean direct in 2026: bypass the wrapper, save 40%

Here's the thing most Cloudways customers don't quite realise: your Cloudways WordPress server is almost always a raw DigitalOcean Droplet with a managed stack painted on top. That $14/mo you pay for a Cloudways "DO 1 GB" plan is a $6/mo DO Basic 1 GB plus $8/mo of managed layer. Going direct saves you the $8, and similar amounts at every tier — but you take over stack management yourself. This guide is about whether that trade is worth it for you, and how to actually make the move if it is.

Prices as of 2026-09-22.

Cost comparison

Current Cloudways plan	Direct DO plan	Monthly saved
DO 1 GB (managed) — $14	DO Basic 1 GB — $6	$8
DO 2 GB (managed) — $28	DO Basic 2 GB — $12	$16
DO 4 GB (managed) — $54	DO Basic 4 GB — $24	$30
Vultr HF 2 GB (managed) — $30	Vultr HF 2 GB direct (~$12)	$18

Cloudways' price also buys you managed backups, staging, one-click SSL, SFTP and support. Going direct, all of that is yours to run.

When to make this move

If you're already doing sysadmin work on your Cloudways server because the managed layer isn't covering it, the calculus is easy — you're paying the managed premium and getting nothing for it. Same thing if you want to install custom Nginx modules, custom PHP extensions, or configure the stack in ways Cloudways won't let you.

The other legitimate reason is running non-WordPress workloads on the same box. Cloudways' PHP-FPM-only stack isn't flexible enough for that.

When to stay put

If you were using Cloudways specifically for the managed layer — support, one-click staging, easy PHP upgrades — don't give it up unless you're ready to reproduce it yourself. Same if you don't want to be paged when the site goes down; Cloudways monitors and auto-restarts, DO direct doesn't.

WooCommerce is the specific case worth calling out. Cloudways' Object Cache Pro and Cloudflare Enterprise add-ons ($15/mo combined) are meaningful for stores, and reproducing them is real setup work. If WooCommerce is core to your business, price out the reproduction before you make the switch.

Step-by-step

1. Provision the DO Droplet

Same region as your current Cloudways server. Match the RAM tier. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

2. Install a WordPress-ready stack

Cloudways runs a LEMP stack with Redis. Reproduce it:

```bash

apt update

apt install nginx php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip mariadb-server certbot python3-certbot-nginx redis-server

```

Configure PHP-FPM and Nginx per our managed WordPress to VPS + Nginx guide. Same target stack.

3. Export from Cloudways

Cloudways → Application → Backup → Create Backup → download the .zip and .sql.

4. Import onto the new Droplet

Unzip files to /var/www/yourdomain.com. Import the SQL dump. Update wp-config.php with the new DB credentials.

5. SSL and CDN

Certbot for HTTPS:

```

certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

```

Cloudflare's free tier in front for CDN and DDoS. Roughly the same performance profile as Cloudways' default CDN.

6. Redis object cache

Install the "Redis Object Cache" plugin. Enable it in the plugin settings. Redis is already running from step 2.

7. Backups

Nightly mysqldump | gzip plus tar cz of /var/www, uploaded to Backblaze B2 or DO Spaces. Cron it. This one matters — it's what you were paying Cloudways to do for you.

8. DNS cutover

Standard low-TTL swap. Point your A record at the new Droplet, watch the new server's access log for traffic, wait for propagation.

9. Cancel Cloudways

Take a final Cloudways backup, download it, and cancel the whole Cloudways server (not just the application) so you're not billed for the empty container.

What you gain

You're saving $8-30/mo per site, plus you compound the savings on multi-site setups. You get full control over the stack — PHP config, Nginx modules, cron precision, custom systemd services. And you can run non-PHP workloads on the same box: a Node worker for a different project, a Postgres for something else, whatever fits in your RAM budget.

The trade-off is that you're back to SSH-based management — no Cloudways admin panel — and everything below is yours now.

What you take on

Backup responsibility. Was Cloudways' problem, now yours. SSL renewal (Certbot handles the auto-renewal, but you have to set it up in the first place). PHP upgrades — Cloudways bumped PHP versions with a click; on DO you apt upgrade and hope. Staging environments — Cloudways had one-click; you're rsync'ing production to a staging.yourdomain.com yourself. Incident response — Cloudways would sometimes fix a broken PHP-FPM pool proactively; on DO that's you. And support: you had Cloudways' 24/7 chat, you now have Google.

None of this is hard if you've done it before. It's material if you haven't.

Related guides

• Managed WordPress to VPS + Nginx — the wider version including Kinsta and WP Engine.
• Cloudways pricing decoded — the exact stack you're leaving.
• DigitalOcean's Droplet pricing explained — what you'll actually pay at destination.
• DigitalOcean to Hetzner — if you're going self-managed anyway, Hetzner is a much bigger saving.

Prices as of 2026-09-22.