Cloudways Wins
Winner
VS
Score Comparison
Criteria
Cloudways
AWS Lightsail
Overall Score
8.6
8.3
Performance
9.5
8.5
Features
8.5
8.8
Ease of Use
7.8
7.8
Pricing/Value
8.2
8.2
Support
8.5
8.0
Pricing & Features
Specification
Cloudways
AWS Lightsail
Starting Price
$14/mo
Free / $5/mo
Free Tier
Pricing Model
Usage-based
Subscription
Making Your Decision
When to Choose Cloudways
Growing businesses and developers who need cloud performance without server management
Cloudways bridges the gap between shared hosting simplicity and cloud performance, offering managed infrastructure on top-tier cloud providers for users who've outgrown traditional hosting.
Strengths
- Managed cloud hosting with major providers (AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean)
- Excellent performance with built-in caching and CDN
- Pay-as-you-go pricing with no long-term contracts
- Free staging environments and easy cloning
Limitations
- Higher starting price than shared hosting
- Email hosting not included (requires third-party)
- Steeper learning curve for beginners
When to Choose AWS Lightsail
Developers wanting simple VPS with option to scale into full AWS
AWS Lightsail offers the reliability of Amazon infrastructure with predictable pricing. Ideal for those who may eventually need AWS services but want a simple starting point.
Strengths
- Predictable flat-rate pricing unlike standard AWS
- Easy path to full AWS services when needed
- Includes free data transfer (up to 3TB)
- One-click WordPress, LAMP, and Node.js stacks
Limitations
- Limited customization compared to EC2
- Support costs extra without Business/Enterprise plan
- AWS Console can still feel overwhelming
