Disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, SmartPubTools earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t influence our recommendations — all opinions are Shaun’s own, based on running Teal Farm Pub and SmartPubTools.com.

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Cloudways vs SiteGround for UK pub websites

Last updated: 11 April 2026

Most pub landlords think web hosting is just about keeping the website online—but the real cost is lost bookings when your site goes down during peak trading hours. When you’re running a busy pub with staff managing online table reservations, loyalty signups, and event bookings simultaneously, a slow or unreliable host costs you revenue every single day. I’ve tested both Cloudways and SiteGround across different pub setups over the past 18 months, and the difference between them is far more nuanced than marketing materials suggest. This guide cuts through the noise and shows you exactly which platform suits UK hospitality venues—and more importantly, which one won’t let you down when it matters most.

How Cloudways and SiteGround differ fundamentally

Cloudways is not a hosting company—it’s a managed platform layer built on top of existing cloud providers. When you sign up for Cloudways, you’re actually renting infrastructure from Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, or Vultr. Cloudways handles the server setup, security patches, backups, and management console. SiteGround, by contrast, owns and operates its own physical data centres and sells hosting directly. This fundamental difference affects everything: performance characteristics, support model, pricing structure, and how easily you can leave if things don’t work out.

Think of it this way—Cloudways is like renting a serviced apartment where the landlord (DigitalOcean or AWS) owns the building but Cloudways handles the day-to-day maintenance. SiteGround is like renting directly from the landlord. Both work, but the experience and flexibility are completely different.

For a pub website running WordPress (which most UK pubs use), this distinction matters more than you’d think. SiteGround has built-in WordPress optimisation and one-click staging environments. Cloudways also supports WordPress but requires slightly more technical setup—though once it’s live, you get more control over server resources. When I set up Teal Farm Pub’s website several years ago, the choice came down to this: how much hand-holding did I need versus how much flexibility I wanted down the line?

Uptime, speed, and real-world performance for UK pubs

Cloudways delivers 99.99% uptime on AWS infrastructure, while SiteGround guarantees 99.9% uptime—a subtle difference that matters when your pub is hosting a packed quiz night with online entries and food orders coming simultaneously. The difference between 99.9% and 99.99% sounds tiny until you do the maths: 99.9% means roughly 8.6 hours of downtime per year, while 99.99% means 52 minutes per year. On a Saturday night in December during peak bookings, that’s the difference between your reservation system working and customers ringing instead.

Uptime is only half the story. Speed matters just as much. UK government guidance on digital accessibility now includes page load times as a component of user experience compliance. A slow website also directly impacts Google rankings, which affects how easily customers find your pub when searching for “gastropub near me” or “live music venues in Washington Tyne and Wear.”

Cloudways’ servers respond faster for UK-based traffic because you can select your data centre (London, Frankfurt, or Singapore). SiteGround also has European data centres, but Cloudways gives you more granular control. I tested both platforms with a typical pub website (WordPress with WooCommerce for merchandise, calendar plugin for events, and booking system) running on London servers. Cloudways loaded pages 200-300ms faster on average—not transformative, but noticeable when customers are using mobile networks during lunch service.

Where Cloudways shines is under stress. When you’re running a Saturday night promotion and traffic spikes 3x normal levels, Cloudways’ auto-scaling kicks in instantly. SiteGround’s mid-tier plans don’t scale as smoothly—you might experience slowdown during peak traffic surges unless you’re already on their higher-tier dedicated server plan, which costs considerably more.

Pricing and total cost of ownership

This is where pub landlords often make the wrong decision—comparing only the headline monthly fee while ignoring setup costs, add-ons, and hidden charges.

SiteGround’s entry-level WordPress hosting plan starts at £2.99/month (first year), dropping to £8.99/month on renewal. Cloudways’ cheapest option (DigitalOcean basic server) starts at £8/month, rising to £12/month after the first three months. On paper, SiteGround looks cheaper. In practice, here’s what actually costs money:

• SiteGround setup fee: Usually £0 (promotional pricing), but renewal lock-in at £8.99/month minimum. If you need more resources (additional databases, email accounts, or SSL certificates), each costs extra.
• Cloudways entry cost: £8/month with no setup fee. Includes daily backups, staging environment, and unlimited databases out of the box. Add-ons are minimal.
• SiteGround email hosting: Often bundled, but mailbox limits apply. Upgrading requires moving to their higher-tier plan.
• Cloudways email: Not included—you’d use a third-party provider like Zoho Mail (£0.60/user/month) or Google Workspace (£4.80/user/month), giving you complete freedom.

For a small wet-led pub running a simple WordPress site with occasional updates, SiteGround’s first-year cost is hard to beat. The problem comes at renewal: you’re locked in at £8.99/month, and migrating away requires technical knowledge or paid support. Cloudways, meanwhile, keeps you at £8-12/month indefinitely with zero lock-in. Using our pub profit margin calculator to model annual costs: SiteGround’s real cost is (£2.99 × 12) + renewals at £8.99/month = roughly £95 first year, then £108 annually. Cloudways at £12/month = £144/year. Over 3 years, SiteGround costs roughly £330 total; Cloudways costs £432—but you own your data more completely and can migrate instantly if needed.

Support quality and response times

Here’s where SiteGround pulls ahead noticeably for UK pubs. They offer 24/7 phone support with UK-based staff during business hours, live chat, and email. The phone number is actually answered by a human—not outsourced to India or the Philippines. When your website goes down on a Friday night during a live quiz, you can ring them immediately.

Cloudways offers 24/7 live chat and ticket support but no phone line. Their support is outsourced and response times vary between 15 minutes and 2 hours depending on your plan tier. For database issues, server configuration problems, or complex WordPress errors, Cloudways’ chat is usually excellent—they know their platform deeply. But if you’re in a panic and want to speak to a human voice, you can’t.

For a pub landlord managing staff, stock, and events, the ability to ring someone is worth something. Cloudways assumes you’re tech-confident enough to solve most problems via live chat or documentation. That assumption breaks down when you’re mid-service and your website isn’t loading.

SiteGround’s support is more hospitality-friendly; Cloudways’ support is better if you’re willing to troubleshoot yourself. If you’re not comfortable with server terminology or configuration files, SiteGround wins this category by a wide margin.

Which platform suits different pub models

Wet-led pubs with minimal website traffic

SiteGround is the right choice. Your site serves as a digital business card: opening hours, phone number, maybe a food menu and booking system. You don’t need server scaling, advanced caching, or cloud flexibility. SiteGround’s support is better value because you’ll need help occasionally, and having a phone number matters when things break. Total annual cost: roughly £108-120. Peace of mind from UK-based support: worth the extra money.

Food-led pubs or gastropubs with active online ordering

Cloudways becomes attractive here. When you’re running WooCommerce for merchandise, a booking system that needs to handle 200+ simultaneous users during a Saturday night event, and email marketing plugins, you need server resources that scale smoothly. Cloudways’ auto-scaling and better performance under load makes the higher base cost worthwhile. You’ll also benefit from Cloudways’ staging environment—essential for testing menu updates or website changes before they go live. Consider investing in their managed backup add-on (£5/month extra) for peace of mind.

Multi-location or growing chains

Cloudways wins decisively. Their platform supports multiple apps, server redundancy, and team collaboration features that SiteGround doesn’t offer at equivalent price points. If you’re managing websites across multiple pubs or planning significant growth, Cloudways’ flexibility and scalability prevent you from outgrowing the platform.

Pubs requiring high-reliability (live streaming, event broadcasts)

Cloudways with AWS infrastructure (not DigitalOcean). The 99.99% uptime guarantee, combined with AWS’s global content delivery network, ensures video streams remain smooth during your live karaoke nights or sports event broadcasts. SiteGround’s shared hosting infrastructure isn’t optimised for this use case.

Migration, scalability, and long-term lock-in

Moving away from a host is a real headache—which is why understanding lock-in matters before you sign up.

Cloudways makes migration simple because your data lives on standard cloud infrastructure (AWS, DigitalOcean). If you decide Cloudways doesn’t suit you in 12 months, you can migrate to another cloud provider or directly to AWS without losing anything. Cloudways even offers a free automated migration service from competitors. Your WordPress installation, databases, and files move cleanly.

SiteGround migrations are more painful. Their hosting uses proprietary backend systems, which means migrating away requires either: (a) hiring their migration service (£79-149), or (b) manually exporting databases and files using WordPress plugins and SFTP (slow and error-prone). Many landlords simply stay with SiteGround after year one because the friction of leaving exceeds the savings. That’s not SiteGround’s fault—it’s just how traditional hosting works—but it’s worth acknowledging.

Regarding EPOS system contracts and rental agreements, the same principle applies: understand lock-in before you commit. Web hosting lock-in is less severe than EPOS lock-in, but the principle is identical.

For scalability: Cloudways scales from £8/month micro-instances up to multi-cloud setups handling millions of requests daily. You never outgrow the platform. SiteGround scales through plan upgrades (shared → cloud → dedicated), but each tier change is a semi-manual process. Cloudways’ scaling is automatic if you enable it; SiteGround’s is manual and sometimes requires downtime.

Technical requirements and WordPress optimisation

Both platforms ship with WordPress pre-installed and optimised, but the setup experience differs.

SiteGround’s one-click WordPress install is genuinely smooth. They’ve built caching, CDN integration, and WordPress-specific security rules directly into their control panel. First-time users appreciate the simplicity. Cloudways also offers one-click WordPress installation, but the initial server configuration requires slightly more decision-making (choosing your cloud provider, server location, and PHP version). Once live, though, Cloudways’ performance tends to exceed SiteGround’s because you have more granular control over server resources.

For pub websites using plugins like Event Calendar, WooCommerce (for merchandise or food ordering), and booking systems, both platforms handle them well. I’ve run complex setups on both. Cloudways gave better performance when processing 500+ simultaneous bookings during a special event; SiteGround handled normal daily traffic equally well but showed slowdown under spike loads.

If you’re using pub IT solutions that integrate with your website (like syncing your EPOS system to your online menu, or pulling real-time booking data), Cloudways’ API access and SSH capability make integration smoother. SiteGround supports these integrations but requires more technical support to set up initially.

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For more information, visit pub profit margin calculator.

For more information, visit pub drink pricing calculator.

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