Plesk
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you manage many client sites, WordPress installs, or reseller accounts and want one panel.
Comparison
Plesk vs Cloudways
Plesk lands on Depends, and Cloudways lands on Worth it.
Cloudways
Worth it
Confidence: High
Buy if you run multiple WordPress/PHP sites and want managed cloud without hiring a sysadmin.
| Compare | Plesk | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Worth it |
| Best for | Agencies managing many client sites | Agencies hosting many client WordPress sites |
| Who it's not for | Single-website owners . managed hosting is simpler | Single low-traffic hobby sites . shared hosting is far cheaper |
| Privacy | Multiple 2026 CVEs, including root privilege escalation and blind SQL injection; advisories urge immediate patching.⁷ | One CVE found in Cloudways' Breeze plugin (authorization bypass); malware scanning sold as a paid add-on. |
| Support quality | G2 award for support, per Plesk | G2 users praise top-notch technical support |
| Public sentiment | Sentiment splits: many users praise its feature depth and usability while others slam recurring price hikes and long-term frustrations.² | Users mostly rate it highly for support and value, with a minority complaining about learning curve and add-on costs.11 |
| Biggest gotcha | Expect sharp annual license hikes; a 22.46% jump and 'enormous' 2025 rises are documented⁵ | Malware scanning costs extra; some users call its upsell tactics a 'scare tactic' |
Pick Plesk when
- Agencies managing many client sites
- WordPress-heavy server owners
- Windows hosting shops
- Hosts and resellers selling managed plans
When Plesk is not a fit
- Single-website owners . managed hosting is simpler
- CLI-comfortable developers . a panel adds overhead
- Budget buyers . hikes recur annually
- Open-source-only self-hosters
Pick Cloudways when
- Agencies hosting many client WordPress sites
- Freelancers wanting managed cloud without sysadmin work
- Small businesses needing scalable WP/e-commerce hosting
- Teams wanting cloud provider choice (DO, AWS, Vultr)
When Cloudways is not a fit
- Single low-traffic hobby sites . shared hosting is far cheaper
- Devs comfortable managing raw DigitalOcean directly
- Anyone needing root-level server control or custom stacks
- Budget hunters unwilling to pay markup over raw cloud prices
Sources
review
review
- Trustpilot reviews of plesk.comtrustpilot.comreview
- Is Plesk a good alternative to cPanel? . TechRadartechradar.comreview
- 22.46% price increase thread . Plesk forumtalk.plesk.comnews
- Enormous price increases for 2025 . Plesk forumtalk.plesk.comnews
- CVE-2026-67394 privilege escalation . Plesk supportsupport.plesk.comsecurity
security
- Plesk pricing plansplesk.comofficial
- Oakley acquires Pleskprivateequitywire.co.uknews
- Companies Using Cloudways in 2026technologychecker.ioreview
- Cloudways customer reviews on Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- Cloudways Review 2026: Managed Cloud Hosting Testedcatswhocode.comreview
review
- Cloudways Review 2026: Caveats You Should Be Aware Ofonlinemediamasters.comreview