Short answer
As of October 23, 2026, Bluehost VPS wins more of the head-to-head checks (4 vs 1) and ranks higher overall (#40 of 160). Bluehost VPS is cheaper to start ($5.69 vs $11.00 a month) and Cloudways has more locations (9 vs 9).
Verdict
Bluehost VPS is cheaper to start: NVMe 2 costs $5.69 per month against $11.00 at Cloudways, and it stays cheaper per gigabyte of RAM ($3.62 vs $11.00 median).
On features, only Cloudways bills hourly and only Cloudways offers dedicated-CPU plans.
Customers rate Cloudways higher on Trustpilot: 4.6 from 3,766 reviews versus 4.5 from 31,911.
Overall Cloudways ranks #88 and Bluehost VPS #40 of 160 providers we track. Choose Cloudways if you want hourly billing; choose Bluehost VPS if price matters most.
Cloudways and Bluehost side by side
| Cloudways | Bluehost VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Micro: $11.00/mo | NVMe 2: $5.69/mo |
| Entry plan specs | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB traffic | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe, unmetered traffic |
| Cheapest Windows plan | No Windows | No Windows |
| Median price per GB RAM | $11.00 | $3.62 |
| Data-center locations | 9 in 8 countries | 9 in 8 countries |
| Regions | Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania | Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania |
| Virtualisation | KVM (underlying DigitalOcean/Vultr/Linode droplets) | KVM (reported by VPSBenchmarks; Bluehost does not state the hypervisor) |
| Hourly billing | Yes | No |
| NVMe storage | Yes | Yes |
| DDoS protection | Yes | Yes |
| Backups | Paid | None |
| Managed option | Yes | Yes |
| Payment methods | card, paypal | card, paypal, other |
| Money-back | Not published | 30 days |
| Uptime SLA | No uptime percentage published; support-response SLA with 5% monthly-fee credit per missed hour | 99.99% |
| Trustpilot | 4.6 (3,766 reviews) | 4.5 (31,911 reviews) |
| Founded / HQ | 2012, Mosta MT | 2003, Jacksonville US |
Highlighted cells mark the better value where the comparison is objective (lower price, more locations, higher rating).
Plans at the same size
The closest matching plans by RAM from each provider.
| RAM | Cloudways | $/month | Bluehost | $/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Linode 1GB (1 vCPU, 25 GB) | $14.00 | no plan | — |
| 2 GB | DigitalOcean Micro (1 vCPU, 50 GB) | $11.00 | NVMe 2 (1 vCPU, 50 GB) | $5.69 |
| 4 GB | no plan | — | NVMe 4 (2 vCPU, 100 GB) | $11.99 |
| 8 GB | DigitalOcean Medium (4 vCPU, 160 GB) | $88.00 | NVMe 8 (4 vCPU, 200 GB) | $28.99 |
| 16 GB | no plan | — | NVMe 16 (8 vCPU, 450 GB) | $49.99 |
Locations
Cloudways operates 9 locations (Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania); Bluehost VPS operates 9 (Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania).
Cities both offer: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.
Only Cloudways: Bangalore, New York and San Francisco.
Only Bluehost: Ashburn, Mumbai and Phoenix.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cloudways or Bluehost VPS better?
As of October 23, 2026, Bluehost VPS wins more of the head-to-head checks (4 vs 1) and ranks higher overall (#40 of 160). Bluehost VPS is cheaper to start ($5.69 vs $11.00 a month) and Cloudways has more locations (9 vs 9).
Is Cloudways cheaper than Bluehost VPS?
Bluehost VPS has the lower entry price: $5.69 against $11.00 per month. The plans-at-equal-RAM table compares them size by size.
Which has more data centers, Cloudways or Bluehost VPS?
Cloudways, with 9 locations in 8 countries versus 9 at Bluehost VPS. Both operate in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Sydney and 1 more.
Do Cloudways and Bluehost VPS offer Windows VPS?
Neither offers Windows Server.
Sources
Prices, plans and locations were read from these pages; last checked October 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the provider's site before you buy.