ServerAvatar vs Cloudways
The Cloudwaysalternative.
Both give you hosting-ready servers on premium clouds. ServerAvatar costs less, runs more stacks and lets you bring your own server. Here is every difference, side by side.
- 20–60% markup on cloud servers, where Cloudways charges 100% or more.
- Connect your own servers from any provider with the self-managed add-on.
- 4 tech stacks: LAMP, LEMP, OpenLiteSpeed and MERN.
- Custom roles, white-label panels, request and error monitoring.
- 20–60% markup
- 4 tech stacks
- Your own server
Section 01At a glance
Every difference,in one table.
The short version of the comparison below: where the two platforms differ, and where they don't.
| Feature |  ServerAvatar |  Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals | ||
| Built for | Small and medium businesses | Enterprises |
| Markup on cloud servers | 20–60% | 100% or more, up to 300–400% |
| Bring your own server | Yes | No |
| Support | ||
| 24×7 priority support | $99/month, dedicated Slack | Plans from $100 and $500 |
| Tech stacks | ||
| LAMP (Apache) | Yes | No |
| LEMP (Nginx) | Yes | No |
| OpenLiteSpeed | Yes | No |
| MERN (Node.js) | Yes | No |
| Apache-Nginx hybrid | No | Yes |
| Teams and sharing | ||
| Multiple teams | Yes | Yes |
| Roles and permissions | Custom roles, detailed permissions | A few fixed roles |
| White-label panels for clients | Yes | No |
| Monitoring | ||
| Server monitoring (CPU, RAM, disk) | Yes | Yes |
| Request monitoring | Full log monitoring suite | Limited |
| Error monitoring | Detailed, page by page | Very limited |
Section 02Fundamentals
Same cloud,different focus.
ServerAvatar and Cloudways both host your apps on the cloud, but they are built for different customers and priced very differently.
ServerAvatar
Managed hosting for SMBs
Managed, hosting-ready servers to host your favourite applications on premium cloud platforms.
Affordable
We charge a 20–60% markup on servers compared with the cloud platforms' own prices.
Self-managed add-on
Connect your own servers from any cloud platform or server provider you choose, without restrictions.
Cloudways
Managed hosting for enterprises
Like ServerAvatar, Cloudways provides hosting-ready servers from 5 premium cloud platforms, including Google Cloud and AWS EC2.
Costly
Cloudways charges a 100% markup at minimum, going up to 300–400% for Google Cloud and AWS.
No self-managed option
You can't connect your own server: you host only on the cloud providers Cloudways offers.
Section 03Support add-ons
Priority support,without the premium.
What you would pay on each platform for 24×7, high-priority support.
ServerAvatar
Affordable premium support add-on
A dedicated Slack support channel with the ServerAvatar team available 24×7, for $99/month.
Cloudways
Expensive premium support add-on
Cloudways premium support plans start at $100 and $500, and grow with your requirements.
Section 04Tech stacks
Four stacks,not one.
Tech stacks decide which applications you can host on your servers. Here are the options in each control panel.
ServerAvatar
Optimised LAMP (Apache) stack
Apache, PHP and MySQL or MariaDB, with Redis, Git and the other services you need.
Optimised LEMP (Nginx) stack
Nginx, PHP and MySQL or MariaDB, with Redis, Git and the other services you need.
Optimised OpenLiteSpeed stack
Especially good for hosting very fast WordPress sites.
MERN stack
MongoDB, Express.js, React and Node.js, for hosting Node.js apps.
Cloudways
Apache-Nginx hybrid stack
Apache works as the web server, with Nginx in front as a reverse proxy.
No other tech stacks
Cloudways supports no other stack, which limits the kinds of applications you can host.
Section 05Teams and sharing
Share accesson your terms.
Team management lets you share your infrastructure with your team or your clients. This is where the two control panels differ.
ServerAvatar
Manage multiple teams
Create multiple organisations to manage multiple teams.
Roles and permissions
Detailed permission management keeps access to your servers under control.
White-label control panels for clients
White-label the server control panels and share them with your clients.
Cloudways
Manage multiple teams
Cloudways lets you manage multiple teams to give colleagues access.
Limited roles
Cloudways offers a few fixed roles and no permission management.
No white-label panels
Cloudways doesn't offer any white-label option so far.
Section 06Monitoring
See every request,not only the server.
Monitoring can mean many things. Here is what each platform can show you.
ServerAvatar
Server monitoring
Server resources such as CPU, RAM and disk.
Request monitoring
A full request monitoring suite that turns your log files into charts.
Error monitoring
Every request your server handles is monitored, with details on the pages that throw errors.
Cloudways
Server monitoring
Server resources such as CPU, RAM and disk.
Limited request monitoring
Basic information about the requests your servers handle.
Very limited error monitoring
Much less error information about your sites than ServerAvatar gives.
Risk free
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