Bluehost vs Cloudways: the real 5-year cost
Over 5 years, Bluehost works out about $266.04 cheaper than Cloudwaysonce renewal prices are counted. Here's the breakdown.
| Bluehost | Cloudways | |
|---|---|---|
| Intro price | $2.95/mo | $11.00/mo |
| Renews at | $11.99/mo | $11.00/mo |
| Renewal markup | +306% | +0% |
| True 5-year cost | $393.96 | $660 |
| Effective monthly | $6.57/mo | $11.00/mo |
Cloudways costs more upfront but never renewal-spikes. Worth it if you need managed reliability.
Visit CloudwaysThe honest take
Headline promo prices make hosts look interchangeable. They're not — the gap shows up at renewal. Bluehost's Basic starts at $2.95/mo and renews at $11.99/mo; Cloudways's DigitalOcean 1GB starts at $11/mo and renews at $11/mo.
Prices are 2026 figures synthesized from public sources and change often. Confirm on each host's official page before buying. See our methodology.
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