I keep seeing "Cloudways vs raw VPS" debates. Here's what I found after running a small SaaS on both.
The raw VPS path
DigitalOcean droplet: $12/month
- You install nginx, MySQL, PHP, SSL
- You configure backups (or pay $2.40/mo extra)
- You patch security updates
- You fix it when it breaks at 3am
Time cost: ~2 hours setup + 30 min/month maintenance
The Cloudways path
Cloudways on DigitalOcean: $14/month
- Same server, managed
- One-click staging
- Automated backups included
- Security patches applied
Time cost: ~15 minutes setup + 0 maintenance
The math
Raw VPS: $12 + 2.5 hours of your time
Cloudways: $14 + 0.25 hours
If your time is worth $20/hour, raw VPS costs $62/month in real terms. Cloudways costs $19.
When raw VPS wins
- You enjoy server admin (some people do)
- You need custom kernel modules
- You're running 10+ servers and have scripts
When Cloudways wins
- You want to ship product, not manage servers
- You break things and need staging
- You don't want 3am pager duty
My setup
I use Cloudways for production and a $5 Hetzner box for staging/testing. Best of both worlds.
Full comparison with uptime data →
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