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Guides · MIGRATE

Cloudways to Kinsta migration in 2026: cost, steps, gotchas

Some prices quoted in this guide are out of date. It is being rebuilt on our price index; for current prices use the comparison pages, which show when each price was checked.

The two most common reasons people move from Cloudways to Kinsta are: growing tired of managing the underlying DigitalOcean Droplet themselves, and wanting the support quality Kinsta is known for. Both are legitimate. The migration itself is straightforward because Kinsta operates a first-party migration service that handles most of the work.

This is the full guide. Prices as of 2026-09-22.

The cost delta

If you're on Cloudways DO 1 GB at $14/mo, the equivalent Kinsta plan is Starter at $35/mo — a $21/mo increase, or $252/year. If you're on Cloudways DO 2 GB at $28/mo, Kinsta Starter still fits most workloads for a single-site setup, so the delta is a $7/mo increase. If you're running multiple WordPress sites on a single Cloudways server, Kinsta charges per site — the cost delta gets much bigger, and this migration may not be the right call for you.

Your current Cloudways plan Equivalent Kinsta plan Monthly delta
DO 1 GB ($14) Starter ($35) +$21
DO 2 GB ($28) Starter ($35) +$7
DO 4 GB ($54) Pro ($70) +$16
Vultr HF 2 GB ($30) Starter or Pro ($35-70) +$5 to +$40

The exact right Kinsta plan depends on your monthly visits, not your box size. Check Kinsta's plan chooser at kinsta.com/plans with a realistic 30-day visit count from your analytics.

When to migrate (and when not to)

Migrate to Kinsta if:

  • You are running 1-3 sites (Kinsta's per-site pricing is workable at this scale).
  • You want to stop thinking about the underlying server.
  • Support quality matters and you would happily pay $20-30/mo extra for it.
  • Your Cloudways plan is on the entry tier and you're hitting resource limits.
  • You want the included Cloudflare Enterprise CDN without paying $5/mo extra for it on Cloudways.

Do NOT migrate to Kinsta if:

  • You are running 5+ WordPress sites on a single Cloudways server. Per-site pricing kills the math.
  • You have heavy custom server configuration (custom PHP config, custom Nginx rules, unusual cron patterns). Kinsta's container model doesn't accommodate this.
  • You are running Object Cache Pro on a self-hosted Redis. Kinsta's Redis is $100/mo add-on; Cloudways is $10/mo.
  • Your traffic is highly variable and you were already tuning the Cloudways server manually to handle it. Kinsta absorbs spikes better, but if you were already handling it, the extra spend isn't buying you anything.

Step-by-step migration

Kinsta's migration team does most of the work. Your job is: keep Cloudways running until DNS is cut over, then decommission.

1. Sign up for Kinsta and pick the plan

Buy the Kinsta plan you sized against your traffic. Sign up at kinsta.com/plans. Kinsta's affiliate programme is currently not accepting our site (we applied 2026-09-23; we were rejected pending more editorial content); if you use a referral link from another site, they get credit for the referral, not us.

2. Request the migration

Log into MyKinsta → sites list → Add site → Migrate a site. Kinsta will ask for:

  • Your Cloudways admin URL, admin username, and admin password.
  • SFTP credentials to your Cloudways server (Cloudways admin panel → Server → Master Credentials).
  • Any plugins that require special handling (specifically: security plugins that block the migration team's IPs, and backup plugins that trigger during migration).

Kinsta's team handles the rest.

3. Test on the temporary Kinsta URL

Kinsta will give you a sitename.kinsta.cloud temporary URL. Full-check everything on this URL:

  • Homepage loads.
  • Login works.
  • WooCommerce checkout flow completes with a test transaction.
  • Any custom .htaccess or Nginx redirects work.
  • SSL loads without a mixed-content warning.
  • Redis or Memcached (if you were using them on Cloudways) are working — you may need to reinstall Object Cache Pro pointed at Kinsta's Redis if you were using it.

Do this before DNS cutover. Any issue you find here is fixable in-place on Kinsta without touching your live site.

4. DNS cutover

Once the Kinsta copy is verified:

  • Reduce your DNS TTL to 300 seconds 24 hours before cutover.
  • Update A / AAAA / CNAME records for your domain to point at Kinsta's IPs (Kinsta gives you these in MyKinsta).
  • Kinsta's Cloudflare Enterprise CDN activates automatically once DNS resolves.
  • Verify SSL provisioning completed (MyKinsta shows this — usually within 10 minutes).

DNS propagation is 1-24 hours depending on your ISP. During this window, some visitors hit Cloudways and some hit Kinsta. Both are running your site with the same content, so this is safe — but any new writes (comments, orders, form submissions) will land on one or the other, not both.

5. Migrate any writes made during the DNS window

If your site has any user-generated writes (comments, orders, memberships), the cleanest approach is:

  • Put the Cloudways site into read-only mode at the moment you flip DNS.
  • Wait 24-48 hours for DNS to fully propagate.
  • Copy any new writes from Cloudways to Kinsta (WooCommerce orders: XML export/import; other writes: usually a database diff).

For a blog with few writes, this step is unnecessary — you can just move on.

6. Decommission Cloudways

Once you're confident:

  • Take a final Cloudways backup and download it.
  • Cancel the Cloudways server (not just the site — the server is what's billed).
  • Keep the backup for 30 days as insurance.

Common gotchas

Object cache: Cloudways lets you enable Redis for $10/mo. Kinsta's Redis is $100/mo. If you were using Object Cache Pro pointed at Cloudways' Redis, you have two choices — pay Kinsta's $100/mo, or drop the object cache entirely. For most single-site setups the object cache is nice-to-have not need-to-have; check your actual query counts to decide.

Custom PHP settings: If you were setting memory_limit or max_execution_time in a custom php.ini on Cloudways, note the values. Kinsta lets you set these via MyKinsta but the defaults are different.

Bandwidth CDN transition: If you were on Cloudways with the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on ($5/mo), the transition to Kinsta's included Cloudflare Enterprise is seamless. If you were on the default Cloudways CDN (not Cloudflare Enterprise), you'll see a real speed improvement post-migration.

Email: Cloudways' plan often includes an email add-on. Kinsta does not. If you were relying on hosted email at your domain, provision it separately (Google Workspace, Fastmail) before you flip DNS.

Cron jobs: WP-Cron on Cloudways runs against the WP-Cron endpoint. On Kinsta, WP-Cron is replaced by Kinsta's own system cron. Any custom cron jobs you had defined outside of WP-Cron need to be recreated in MyKinsta.

Staging environments: Both providers support staging. The workflow is different. Kinsta staging is a live clone of production; Cloudways staging is a separate site. Don't expect your existing staging setup to survive the migration — plan to rebuild it.

Reverse migration

If you migrate and it doesn't work out, going back to Cloudways is possible with the same tools (WP Migrate DB Pro, or Kinsta's export → Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin import). See Kinsta to Cloudways migration for the reverse guide.

Related guides

Prices as of 2026-09-22. Every price above links to the provider's own pricing page via the full comparison.