HostGator vs Cloudways
Side-by-side from the Top 11 rankings of The 11 Best Web Hosting for Small Business and The 11 Best Managed WordPress Hosting. Last verified June 4, 2026.
The short answer
Cloudways ranks higher on Top 11 (#7 vs #10) for Small business owners choosing web hosting (Bluehost vs SiteGround vs WP Engine) / Businesses running WordPress sites. A flexible platform for developers to manage sites on top-tier cloud infrastructure.
At a glance
| HostGator | Cloudways | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #10 / The 11 Best Web Hosting for Small Business | #7 / The 11 Best Managed WordPress Hosting |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 7.5 | 8.2 |
| Best for | Best for simple, affordable hosting | Flexible choice of cloud providers |
| Pricing | $$ ($8 to $25/mo) | $ ($14 to $1000+/mo) |
| HQ | Houston, USA | Mosta, Malta |
| Founded | 2002 | 2011 |
HostGator
A reliable and user-friendly option for basic business websites with generous resource allocations.
www.hostgator.comSee full entry in The 11 Best Web Hosting for Small Business
Cloudways
A flexible platform for developers to manage sites on top-tier cloud infrastructure.
www.cloudways.com/Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.