Compare · JuJu vs Cloudways · dated 21 August 2026

They give you a server. The rest is add-ons.

Cloudways Flexible starts at $11/mo for a box. Email, a domain, and offsite backup storage sit on other invoices. JuJu is one bill: leftover-time credit, domain registration and yearly renewal, 10 mailboxes. $19.95/mo or $199/yr. Price is the price.

We're not the cheapest host. We're the one that just works.

Who this is for

Someone who thought $11 was the host

This page is for the person who opened Cloudways, saw $11, and thought that number bought WordPress, mail, and a .com.

You run one WordPress site — brochure, consultant, small shop front. You want the site built and kept working. You want you@yourdomain.com without opening a mailbox add-on. You want the .com on the same invoice. You want leftover time on Cloudways to become JuJu time — up to 12 months, at our price. We don't write a check.

You're not buying a droplet you size yourself, not parking unlimited apps on one box, and not trying to match their 2 GB RAM / 50 GB disk entry card. We won't pretend we're that machine. If you need Kubernetes autoscaling for a high-concurrency store, that's their Autonomous product — not this one.

Side by side

One WordPress site

USD. Cloudways Flexible DigitalOcean entry vs JuJu. Dated 21 August 2026.

JuJuCloudways Flexible (DO entry)
What you're buyingA complete host — engineer, domain, 10 mailboxesA managed server. Apps, mail, DNS, CDN are separate decisions.
AI on the siteEngineer, builder, morning briefing, copilotCopilot: 4 free credits on the cards we opened — server/app monitor, not an engineer
Price$19.95/mo · $199/yr ($16.58/mo)From $11/mo (Micro card: 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB, 2 TB transfer)
Intro / promoNone. Price is the price.Page hero: 30% off 3 months. FAQ: 40% off 4 months (code SUMMER404) through 15 Sep 2026.
Sites1Unlimited apps on the server (you size the box)
Storage10 GB NVMe50 GB on the Micro card
DomainRegistration and renewal includedNot sold on pricing/add-ons. DNS Made Easy from $0.50/mo is DNS, not a registrar.
Email10 mailboxes includedRackspace add-on from $1/mailbox/mo
Object cacheRedis, includedRedis listed free; Object Cache Pro free on 4 GB+ servers
BackupsDaily, includedAutomated backups; Flexible offsite storage $0.033/GB (rounded to $0.50)
CDN / WAF extrasEdge cache + WAF includedCloudflare Enterprise from $4.99/domain/mo; malware protection from $4/app/mo
Their other SKUOne planAutonomous Small: $35/mo — 1 WordPress app, 15 GB, 30k visits, 100 GB bandwidth
Money-back60 days on hosting3-day free trial (no card). Longer refund unpublished.
MigrationFree + time credit (up to 12 months, our price)Free WordPress migration (first site; summer FAQ also says unlimited through 15 Sep 2026)

$11 is a real published server price. Redis and staging are listed free on Flexible. The argument is not “they have no cache.” The argument is a server vs a host — leftover-time credit, domain, 10 mailboxes, and a price that is the price.

3-year cost

$11 is the server. The add-ons are the rest.

PathServer / hostEmailDomain3-year total
JuJu annual$597$0$0$597
Flexible $11, server only$396$396 — not the complete host
Flexible $11 + 1 mailbox + .com$396$36~$10–23/yr~$462–$501
Same + Cloudflare Enterprise$396$36~$10–23/yr~$642–$681
Autonomous Small $35$1,260still an add-onstill a registrar$1,260 + extras

Being straight with you: the $11 server alone can beat JuJu on cash — $396 vs $597 — if you never buy mail, a registrar, Cloudflare, malware protection, or offsite backup storage. That $11 is not the host. Their own add-ons page is the rest of the invoice.

Assumptions: one WordPress site, no tax. Flexible held at the published $11/mo for 36 months — we do not bake the 30% / 40% intro into the three-year total. One Rackspace mailbox at the published $1/mo = $36. Cloudflare Enterprise at the published $4.99/domain/mo × 36 = $179.64. Domain is a separate registrar, about $10–23/yr. Offsite backup storage is $0.033/GB on Flexible — usage-based, so we don't invent a monthly backup total. Autonomous Small at the published $35/mo = $1,260; backups are included on Autonomous. JuJu $199/yr with leftover-time credit, domain, 10 mailboxes, and Redis included.

The JuJu argument

Leftover-time credit. Domain. Ten mailboxes. Price is the price.

Cloudways is a serious managed-cloud platform — DigitalOcean / Vultr / Linode / AWS / GCP, hourly billing, vertical scaling. If you want to pick a box and bolt things on, that's their product.

What they sell at $11 is a server. What they don't sell at $11 is the rest of a host. Email is Rackspace from $1/mailbox/mo. Domain registration isn't on the pricing or add-ons pages we opened — DNS Made Easy is DNS from $0.50/mo. Flexible offsite backups are $0.033/GB. Cloudflare Enterprise starts at $4.99/domain/mo. Malware protection starts at $4/app/mo. Advance Support is listed from $100/mo on the add-ons page (the pricing page also shows a $25/mo lifetime promo).

Their Copilot is 4 free credits on the cards we opened — a server/app monitor with SmartFix, not an engineer that builds the WordPress site. We put an AI site engineer on every site: a builder, a morning briefing, a copilot in the panel.

If you have time left on Cloudways, we add that time to your JuJu plan — up to 12 months, at our price. We don't write a check. Domain registration and yearly renewal, plus ten mailboxes, sit on the same $19.95 / $199 invoice. No 30% / 40% intro to explain later.

Honest limits

A different machine — and they can win on the box

10 GB NVMe, 256 MB PHP, one site, ten mailboxes. Their DigitalOcean Micro card is 2 GB RAM, 50 GB disk, unlimited apps on that server. We won't imply we're that box. We don't publish a visit cap; they don't meter visits on Flexible. Autonomous is built for high-traffic eCom and LMS — we are not.

This SKU is a brochure / SMB WordPress site — not a huge WooCommerce catalog, not a high-concurrency membership app, not a fleet of apps on one droplet. No contractual uptime SLA (we target 99.9%). Not white-label. Running several sites? Let's talk volume.

Leaving Cloudways?

Leftover-time credit, domain, 10 mailboxes. The price is the price.

60-day money-back on hosting · Cancel anytime · Free white-glove migration (typical 1–2 business days) · Leftover old-host time becomes JuJu time — up to 12 months, at our price

Hosting refund: first 60 days of the initial purchase, one guarantee refund per customer (Refund Policy). Domains already provisioned are not refunded.

FAQ

Cloudways switch, answered

Is $11/mo the whole Cloudways host?
No. $11/mo is the DigitalOcean Flexible entry (Micro card, 21 August 2026): a managed server. Email is a Rackspace add-on from $1/mailbox/mo. DNS Made Easy from $0.50/mo is DNS, not domain registration. Flexible offsite backup storage is $0.033/GB. Cloudflare Enterprise starts at $4.99/domain/mo on Flexible.
Do they include email or a domain?
Email is an add-on. Domain registration is not sold on the pricing or add-ons pages we opened. A .com is a separate registrar, about $10–23/yr.
Is Cloudways Copilot the same as your AI site engineer?
No. The Flexible cards list 4 free Copilot credits. Their copy is a server/app monitor with 1-click SmartFix. Ours builds the site, diagnoses it, and fixes it — plus a builder, a morning briefing, and a copilot in the panel.
Are you cheaper than Cloudways?
Not on the $11 server alone. $11 × 36 = $396 vs JuJu $597. Add one mailbox and a registrar and the friendliest published stack we can add up is still about $462–$501. Autonomous Small at $35/mo is $1,260 over three years before email and a domain. We won't pretend $11 is the host.
3-day trial vs 60 days?
Cloudways: 3-day free trial, no credit card, on the pricing page we opened. A longer money-back window was unpublished. JuJu: 60 days on the initial hosting fee; provisioned domains aren't refunded. See our Refund Policy.
How long does the move take?
Typical 1–2 business days after we have WordPress admin. We keep your old site answering until the move is done, then we switch. You shouldn't see a gap. DNS still has to update; we hold the old site up until it does. If you have time left on Cloudways, we add that time to your JuJu plan — up to 12 months, at our price. We don't write a check. Details on /migrate.
Sources checked 21 August 2026
Cloudways pricing (cloudways.com/en/pricing.php — Flexible from $11/mo / DO Micro card, Autonomous Small $35/mo, 30% off 3 months hero, FAQ 40% off 4 months / SUMMER404 through 15 Sep 2026, 3-day trial, $0.033/GB Flexible offsite backups, Redis / Object Cache Pro notes, Copilot 4 credits); add-ons (cloudways.com/en/addons.php — Rackspace from $1/mo, DNS Made Easy from $0.50/mo, Cloudflare from $4.99/mo, malware from $4/mo, Advance Support from $100/mo); Rackspace email page ($1.00/mailbox/month); offsite-backup help article ($0.033/GB Flexible; Autonomous backups included). Domain registration price: unpublished as a Cloudways SKU. JuJu pricing and refund. Competitor figures reflect the pages we opened on 21 August 2026 and are not updated automatically.