Head to head
Cloudways vs SiteGround
This pairing is the best demonstration of the caveat that runs through this whole site. SiteGround is 67ms slower than Cloudways at the origin, yet 120ms faster globally — entirely because of how each one treats the CDN. Read only one of those columns and you reach the opposite conclusion.
Reviewed August 2026 · 2024–2025 benchmark data · methodology
Cloudways
2/5
metrics led
$14/mo
SiteGround
2/5
metrics led
$2.99/mo
Counted across the five measured columns below. Not a weighted score.
Quick verdict
Cloudways for most people
Cloudways has the faster server; SiteGround has the faster default delivery, at a much lower headline price. If you will run a CDN either way, Cloudways wins on the underlying hardware. If you want acceptable global performance out of the box for very little, SiteGround does that.
Measured
Benchmark comparison
Straight from the ranking table — these figures are shared with the homepage dataset rather than restated here, so the two can never disagree.
| Metric | Cloudways | SiteGround | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| US origin TTFB No CDN — measures the server itself | 118ms | 185ms | Cloudways −67ms |
| Global TTFB Each provider’s default delivery setup | 312ms | 192ms (CDN) | SiteGround −120ms |
| Under load Concurrent-user simulation | Stable | Good | Cloudways |
| Uptime Published availability figure | 99.98% | 99.98% | Even |
| Entry price Lowest advertised plan | $14/mo | $2.99/mo | SiteGround |
Figures marked (CDN) are achieved with a bundled content delivery network and describe delivery rather than server performance. Comparing a CDN-assisted global figure against an unassisted one is not like for like.
Beyond the numbers
Key differences
The parts a benchmark cannot measure, which is usually where the decision actually gets made.
Raw server speed
Cloudways leads- Cloudways
- 118ms US origin TTFB — fastest in the table.
- SiteGround
- 185ms US origin TTFB — mid-table.
Out-of-the-box global delivery
SiteGround leads- Cloudways
- 312ms without a CDN, which is the honest default figure.
- SiteGround
- 192ms with the CDN its stack enables by default.
Headline price
SiteGround leads- Cloudways
- $14/mo, flat.
- SiteGround
- $2.99/mo introductory, renewing substantially higher.
Cost honesty
Cloudways leads- Cloudways
- The advertised price is the ongoing price.
- SiteGround
- Promotional pricing renews at a much higher rate — budget for year two.
Scaling headroom
Cloudways leads- Cloudways
- Resize the server or move to a bigger cloud instance at will.
- SiteGround
- Plan-tier limits on resources and visits.
Decide
Which one should you pick?
Find the row that sounds most like you.
-
Smallest possible starting cost
Nothing else in the table starts at $2.99/mo, provided you accept renewal pricing later.
SiteGround -
Global audience, no CDN configuration wanted
192ms global TTFB by default, without buying or configuring anything extra.
SiteGround -
Growing site that will need more resources
Server sizing is a slider, not a plan migration.
Cloudways -
You will run Cloudflare regardless
With the CDN variable removed, the comparison comes down to origin speed — a 67ms gap.
Cloudways
Common questions
Cloudways vs SiteGround FAQs
How can SiteGround be slower and faster at the same time?
They measure different things. US TTFB measures the origin server answering a request itself. Global TTFB measures what a worldwide visitor experiences, which for SiteGround means a CDN edge responding instead of the origin. Cloudways wins the first; SiteGround wins the second by default.
Is SiteGround really $2.99/mo?
For the introductory term. Renewal pricing is considerably higher, which is worth calculating over three years before treating it as the cheaper option.
Which should I pick if I plan to add Cloudflare myself?
Cloudways. Once both sit behind the same CDN, the difference that remains is origin performance, where Cloudways is meaningfully ahead.
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