Cloudways vs Elastx: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Cloudways and Elastx to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Cloudways
7/10
Managed cloud hosting platform that runs WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel and PHP apps on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud servers.
Elastx
6.3/10
Swedish sovereign cloud provider offering OpenStack compute, managed Kubernetes, databases, object storage and GPU hosting from three Stockholm-area data centers for businesses handling sensitive data.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Reliability | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Cloudways vs Elastx cost by team size
| Team size | Cloudways | Elastx |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $14/moFlexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | Contact for pricing |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Cloudways
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Includes Multiple Regions, which Elastx lacks
Why choose Elastx
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Cloudways
Pros
- You can choose from five cloud providers and more than 50 locations from one control panel.
- Hourly pay-as-you-go billing, with a 5-day trial that needs no credit card.
- Every server includes free SSL, Layer 3 and 4 DDoS mitigation, a firewall and offsite backups.
- Agencies get one-click staging, cloning and Git auto-deployment for many client sites.
- Ratings are strong, at about 4.7 on G2 and 4.6 on Trustpilot.
Cons
- Email hosting and domain registration are not included.
- Billing gets hard to track once add-ons and bandwidth overages are added, and some reviewers report charges after cancelling.
- Some reviewers say support quality has dropped since the DigitalOcean acquisition.
- Power users report limited low-level control.
- Phone support requires a paid premium support add-on.
Elastx
Pros
- Data stays in Swedish data centers under Swedish and EU jurisdiction, which suits buyers with sovereignty requirements
- Certified to ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 14001
- 24/7 support, DDoS protection and storage encryption are included at no extra cost
- Uses standard OpenStack APIs without proprietary layers, so existing tooling carries over
- Covers compute, Kubernetes, databases, CDN and GPUs from one provider
Cons
- Only one region, the Stockholm area, with three availability zones
- Prices are higher than hyperscalers or budget VPS providers
- Kubernetes clusters are reportedly created through a support request rather than self-service
- Very few independent user reviews are available
- Prices are published in SEK through a downloadable price list rather than shown clearly on the website
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloudways scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7/10 against 6.3/10 for Elastx. The largest gap is in Analytics: 7/10 for Cloudways and 4/10 for Elastx.
No, neither Cloudways nor Elastx lists a free plan.
Cloudways has Multiple Regions, which Elastx lacks.
