Last updated: 31 May 2026
If you are asking “Namecheap vs Cloudways — which is better?”, the honest answer is: if you have to ask, you probably need Namecheap. These are not competing products in the same market. Namecheap shared hosting (from £1.99/mo) is for small to medium websites. Cloudways managed cloud (from £10/mo) is for sites that have already outgrown shared hosting. Here is exactly how to know which side of that line you are on — and the specific point at which upgrading to Cloudways makes sense.
Key Takeaways
- Namecheap and Cloudways are not direct competitors — they serve different stages of site growth.
- Namecheap shared hosting: best for sites under 30,000 monthly visitors.
- Cloudways: best for sites that have outgrown shared hosting — 30,000–500,000+ monthly visitors.
- The price difference is 5–10x: Namecheap from £1.99/mo vs Cloudways from £10/mo.
- Many Cloudways users register domains with Namecheap — the two are complementary, not competing.
What Cloudways Actually Is
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform. It does not own its own data centres — instead, it sits on top of infrastructure providers including DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode. You choose your infrastructure provider and server size; Cloudways handles the server management, security, updates, and WordPress/PHP optimisation layer on top.
The result is a dedicated cloud server — your site runs on its own resources, not shared with hundreds of other websites as in traditional shared hosting. This is what makes Cloudways significantly faster for high-traffic sites. It is also what makes it 5–10x more expensive at entry level.
Cloudways does not offer domain registration. If you use Cloudways, you register your domain separately (Namecheap is a popular choice for this) and point your DNS records to your Cloudways server.
Price Comparison
| Plan | Price/mo | Suitable For | Monthly Visitors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap Stellar | £1.99 (intro) / £4.48 (renewal) | Small business, blog, portfolio | Up to ~30,000 |
| Namecheap Stellar Plus | £2.98 (intro) / £6.48 (renewal) | Growing sites, multiple domains | Up to ~50,000 |
| Cloudways DO 1GB | ~£10/mo | Growing WordPress/WooCommerce | 30,000–100,000 |
| Cloudways DO 2GB | ~£18/mo | Established WooCommerce store | 100,000–250,000 |
| Cloudways AWS Small | ~£36/mo | High-traffic, business-critical | 250,000+ |
All prices approximate and ex-VAT. Cloudways pricing is usage-based and varies by infrastructure provider and server specification. The price gap at entry level is clear: Namecheap costs £1.99–4.48/mo; Cloudways entry starts at around £10/mo.
Performance Comparison
| Metric | Namecheap Stellar (Shared) | Cloudways DO 1GB |
|---|---|---|
| TTFB (WordPress, cached) | ~200ms | ~80ms |
| TTFB (WordPress, uncached) | ~400ms | ~150ms |
| Concurrent Users (WordPress) | ~50–100 | ~500–1,000 |
| Resource Limits | Shared (throttled) | Dedicated (burst capable) |
| PHP Version Control | Limited | Full control |
| Redis/Memcached | No | Yes |
Cloudways’ performance advantage is significant at scale. For a site receiving 5,000 visitors/month, Namecheap’s shared hosting is indistinguishable in user experience from Cloudways. For a site receiving 50,000 visitors/month with WooCommerce transactions, Cloudways’ dedicated resources and object caching (Redis) make a measurable difference to page load times and checkout completion rates.
When Namecheap Is the Right Choice
Choose Namecheap shared hosting if any of the following describe your situation: you are launching a new website; you have fewer than 30,000 monthly visitors; you run a brochure site, blog, portfolio, or simple WooCommerce store with under 100 daily orders; you do not have technical staff to manage server configurations; or you want the lowest possible monthly hosting cost.
Shared hosting from Namecheap handles the vast majority of small and medium UK business websites comfortably. The TTFB of 400ms is adequate for Google’s Core Web Vitals with a properly configured caching plugin (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or Namecheap’s free option). The resource limits only become a problem when you start experiencing sustained traffic spikes.
The Point at Which You Would Upgrade to Cloudways
Consider moving to Cloudways when one or more of these conditions apply to your site.
Traffic threshold: You are consistently receiving 30,000+ monthly visitors and your shared hosting plan is showing signs of strain — slow admin, timeouts on uncached pages, or resource limit warnings from your host.
WooCommerce at scale: You are processing 50+ WooCommerce orders per day. WooCommerce generates many uncacheable database queries (cart updates, checkout, order status). Shared hosting handles this poorly at scale; dedicated cloud resources handle it comfortably.
Page speed scores affecting revenue: Your Core Web Vitals scores are failing due to server response time (TTFB), and you have already implemented caching and image optimisation. If the bottleneck is the server itself, Cloudways resolves it.
You need Redis object caching: Sites with complex WordPress setups (large databases, many plugins, frequent cache misses) benefit from Redis object caching. Cloudways includes this; Namecheap shared hosting does not.
You need staging environments with push-to-live: Cloudways includes one-click staging on all plans. Namecheap’s Stellar plan does not include staging.
Final Verdict
Start with Namecheap. For new sites, personal projects, small businesses, blogs, and most UK small business websites, Namecheap shared hosting is the right choice. At £1.99–4.48/mo you get reliable WordPress hosting, free SSL, cPanel access, and 24/7 support. You do not need to pay 5x more for dedicated cloud resources you will not use.
Upgrade to Cloudways when your site has genuinely outgrown shared hosting — signalled by consistent traffic above 30,000/month, WooCommerce at scale, or server-side performance issues that persist after implementing caching. At that point, Cloudways’ dedicated resources justify the premium.
Many successful websites follow this exact path: start on Namecheap, grow, migrate to Cloudways. You can use Namecheap for domain registration even after migrating your hosting — it is common practice to register domains with Namecheap and host with Cloudways.
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Prices ex-VAT. UK customers add 20% at checkout. Affiliate link — we earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use Namecheap or Cloudways for my website?
If you are asking, you almost certainly need Namecheap. Cloudways is for sites that have outgrown shared hosting — typically 30,000+ monthly visitors or WooCommerce at significant scale. New and small business sites should start on Namecheap and migrate when they genuinely hit shared hosting limits.
What is Cloudways and how is it different from shared hosting?
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that runs on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud. You get a dedicated server — your site’s resources are not shared with other websites. This delivers better performance at scale but costs 5–10x more than shared hosting.
At what point should I upgrade from Namecheap to Cloudways?
When you are consistently receiving 30,000+ monthly visitors, running WooCommerce with 50+ daily orders, hitting resource limits on shared hosting, or when TTFB improvements from caching alone are insufficient for your Core Web Vitals targets.
Is Cloudways worth the price?
For the right site, yes. Cloudways delivers sub-100ms TTFB on high-traffic WordPress and WooCommerce sites where shared hosting would struggle. For sites under 30,000 monthly visitors, you are paying 5–10x more than necessary.
Can I host a domain with Cloudways?
No. Cloudways does not offer domain registration. Register your domain separately — Namecheap is a popular choice — and point your DNS records to your Cloudways server IP. Many Cloudways users use Namecheap for domain registration.
