Short answer
As of October 23, 2026, Cloudways wins more of the head-to-head checks (3 vs 2) and ranks higher overall (#88 of 160). Cloudways is cheaper to start ($11.00 vs $15.99 a month) and Cloudways has more locations (9 vs 1).
Verdict
Cloudways is cheaper to start: DigitalOcean Micro costs $11.00 per month against $15.99 at DreamHost VPS, but DreamHost VPS gives more RAM for the money ($6.79 vs $11.00 per GB, median).
Cloudways has the wider footprint with 9 locations in 8 countries, against 1 in 1 at DreamHost VPS; they share no cities.
On features, only Cloudways bills hourly, only Cloudways offers an API and only Cloudways offers dedicated-CPU plans.
Customers rate Cloudways higher on Trustpilot: 4.6 from 3,766 reviews versus 4.6 from 8,231.
Overall Cloudways ranks #88 and DreamHost VPS #142 of 160 providers we track. Choose Cloudways if price matters most or you need a wider choice of locations; choose DreamHost VPS if its plan line-up fits your workload better.
Cloudways and DreamHost side by side
| Cloudways | DreamHost VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | DigitalOcean Micro: $11.00/mo | Stack 4: $15.99/mo |
| Entry plan specs | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB traffic | 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 75 GB NVMe, unmetered traffic |
| Cheapest Windows plan | No Windows | No Windows |
| Median price per GB RAM | $11.00 | $6.79 |
| Data-center locations | 9 in 8 countries | 1 in 1 countries |
| Regions | Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania | North America |
| Virtualisation | KVM (underlying DigitalOcean/Vultr/Linode droplets) | KVM |
| 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 | Not published |
| Uptime SLA | No uptime percentage published; support-response SLA with 5% monthly-fee credit per missed hour | 100% uptime guarantee (ToS: credit of one day of hosting per hour of interruption, capped at 10% of the next renewal fee, counted from the support ticket; excludes Dedicated and DreamCompute but not VPS) |
| Trustpilot | 4.6 (3,766 reviews) | 4.6 (8,231 reviews) |
| Founded / HQ | 2012, Mosta MT | 1997, Brea 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 | DreamHost | $/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Linode 1GB (1 vCPU, 25 GB) | $14.00 | no plan | — |
| 2 GB | DigitalOcean Micro (1 vCPU, 50 GB) | $11.00 | Managed VPS Business (2 vCPU, 60 GB) | $24.99 |
| 4 GB | no plan | — | Stack 4 (2 vCPU, 75 GB) | $15.99 |
| 8 GB | DigitalOcean Medium (4 vCPU, 160 GB) | $88.00 | Stack 8 (2 vCPU, 150 GB) | $21.99 |
| 16 GB | no plan | — | Stack 16 (4 vCPU, 250 GB) | $34.99 |
| 32 GB | no plan | — | Stack 32 (8 vCPU, 450 GB) | $59.99 |
Locations
Cloudways operates 9 locations (Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania); DreamHost VPS operates 1 (North America).
Only Cloudways: Amsterdam, Bangalore, Frankfurt, London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.
Only DreamHost: Ashburn.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cloudways or DreamHost VPS better?
As of October 23, 2026, Cloudways wins more of the head-to-head checks (3 vs 2) and ranks higher overall (#88 of 160). Cloudways is cheaper to start ($11.00 vs $15.99 a month) and Cloudways has more locations (9 vs 1).
Is Cloudways cheaper than DreamHost VPS?
Cloudways has the lower entry price: $11.00 against $15.99 per month. The plans-at-equal-RAM table compares them size by size.
Which has more data centers, Cloudways or DreamHost VPS?
Cloudways, with 9 locations in 8 countries versus 1 at DreamHost VPS.
Do Cloudways and DreamHost 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.