Cloudways vs Cloudflare: Running WordPress or Caching It

The short answer: if you are looking for somewhere to host a WordPress site, only one of these two is a host. Cloudways rents you a managed server for WordPress or WooCommerce, from $11 a month for 1GB on DigitalOcean; Cloudflare runs DNS, security and caching for a site hosted elsewhere, with a $0 plan and Pro at $25 a month on monthly billing (checked on 26 October 2026 on the Cloudways and Cloudflare pricing pages). Most people searching the pair are deciding how to combine them: Cloudflare Enterprise bought through Cloudways from $4.99 per domain a month, or a Cloudflare account of your own, where APO for WordPress costs $5 a month on the $0 plan. Choose Cloudways if your job is running WordPress on a server you can resize by the hour. Choose Cloudflare on your own account if your job is holding DNS, firewall rules and caching for every site you own, whichever host each one sits on.

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Three questions before either bill:

1. One site, both ways. For example, a 1GB Standard server at $11 plus the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on at $4.99 is $15.99 a month, the same total Cloudways prints on its add-on page; the same server plus APO on your own Cloudflare $0 plan is $11 + $5 = $16, per the Cloudflare plans page. One cent apart. Price does not decide this.
2. Where your nameservers point today. The add-on asks only for a CNAME or A record change at your registrar, with no Cloudflare account of your own, per its page. APO needs your domain's nameservers moved to Cloudflare and its WordPress plugin active, per the APO get-started guide. If the domain already runs on Cloudflare nameservers, you have half the second set-up already.
3. The header that proves the cache works. Cloudflare's verification guide names three response headers to check: CF-Cache-Status, cf-apo-via and cf-edge-cache. Record time to first byte on your home page and one product page before the change, then check those headers and the timing again a week after it.

What each one sells you

Read on 26 October 2026 on the Cloudways pricing page, the Cloudways Cloudflare add-on page, the Cloudflare plans page and the APO documentation. The Cloudways card opens on its Premium tier, where the same 1GB server is $14 with NVMe storage.

Where the add-on and your own account differ

Who holds the keys

On the add-on, Cloudways runs Cloudflare Enterprise for you, and you get "direct control over key security, performance, and optimization settings" from the Cloudways dashboard, in the words of its add-on page. On your own account you hold the whole Cloudflare dashboard: DNS for every domain, rules that apply to sites on any host, and the other products on the plans page. One is a feature of your hosting. The other outlives it.

What the edge does with a shop

APO caches HTML only when no logged-in, session or WooCommerce cookie is present and the path is not an excluded one such as checkout, per Cloudflare's APO caching rules. Carts and checkouts therefore still reach your server on either set-up, which is why the server size still matters for a store. The add-on lists Edge Page Cache, Argo Smart Routing and Argo Tiered Caching, the last of which Cloudways says reduces requests to the origin (add-on page).

How each bill grows

The add-on is priced per domain and includes 100GB of bandwidth, with $0.02 per GB beyond it; at 10 to 24 domains the page shows $2.99 per domain a month (add-on page). Cloudflare's own plans are a flat fee per plan, with Business at $200 a month billed annually (plans page). An agency with twenty client sites feels the first model; a brand with one busy site barely notices either.

A DNS read-out by agent, before you move anything

Cloudflare documents a remote API MCP server at https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp that reaches the whole Cloudflare API. When you connect, Cloudflare's OAuth screen asks which permissions to grant the agent, and the docs say these servers can also make the changes they suggest. So grant read access only for this job.

1. Connect your AI client to the server and authorise it with read permissions on DNS and zone settings.
2. Ask for every DNS record on the domain, whether each one is proxied through Cloudflare, the zone's caching settings, and any record still pointing at the old host, as a table.
3. The human check: whoever owns the domain compares that table with the records Cloudways shows for the application and decides, record by record, what changes. The agent proposes; a person edits DNS.

Cloudways runs its own MCP server for the server side, covered in how to use Cloudways.

Free before paid, and the add-on's trial

Start on the $0 plan. Cloudflare's free tier gives DNS, a CDN and unmetered DDoS protection on its plans page, and Cloudways' Flexible servers run three days without a card, with your first site moved over at no charge, per the Cloudways pricing page. Run the header check from point 3 on the free set-up before paying for any edge product.

Then read the add-on's offer closely. Its page invites you to try Enterprise free for 30 days "on all your sites", and a trial switched on that way becomes a $4.99 charge for every one of those domains from the second month, added to a server invoice that arrives after the month is already used. Enable it on the one site you are measuring, and add the others when the headers say it pays.

Choose Cloudways if

• You need the server itself: WordPress or WooCommerce on capacity you choose and resize.
• Nobody on the team wants to manage Cloudflare, and one dashboard for host and edge is worth the per-domain fee.
• Your traffic moves with campaigns and hourly billing suits you.

Choose your own Cloudflare account if

• Your sites sit with more than one host, and DNS and firewall rules should outlive any of them.
• The domain already runs on Cloudflare nameservers.
• You want the rest of Cloudflare's products under the same login.

The Cloudways entry covers its server sizes and add-ons, and Cloudways vs Hostinger prices its hourly servers against a prepaid plan.

If the DNS table shows records nobody can explain, a Cloudflare login held by a former freelancer and hosting on a third card, the stack is the problem rather than the CDN. A one-week review such as the Startup Fixer, which I sell, settles who owns each account before anything moves.

FAQ

Can Cloudflare host my WordPress site instead of Cloudways?

Not on its own. APO serves cached pages from Cloudflare's edge, but the WordPress site still runs on a host, the origin APO caches from, per Cloudflare's APO overview.

Do I need a Cloudflare account for the Cloudways add-on?

No. Cloudways manages it, with no separate account and no nameserver change; you point a CNAME or A record and enable it per application (add-on page).

What does Cloudflare Pro cost?

$20 a month billed annually or $25 billed monthly, with APO included, per the plans page, checked on 26 October 2026.