how many client sites can I host on cloudways $47 plan

cloudways site limits: What to Expect from the $47 Plan for Multiple WordPress Sites Hosting Understanding Cloudways’ $47 Plan Capacity for Agency Hosting Capacity

As of April 2024, Cloudways offers a popular $47 monthly hosting plan on their DigitalOcean platform, often positioned as an ideal choice for freelance designers and small agencies juggling multiple WordPress sites. But unlike the vague promises of “unlimited sites” found elsewhere, Cloudways’ reality requires a closer look. It’s surprising how many people overlook the practical site limits tied to server resources rather than strict site counts. Honestly, “how many client sites can I host on Cloudways $47 plan?” lacks a straightforward answer. It depends heavily on the specific demands of each site , their traffic, plugin load, media size, and more.

Take this example: during Black Friday 2024, an agency I worked with tried migrating 15 client WordPress sites onto this plan. Their sites were mostly low to medium traffic but used some hefty page builders and caching plugins. After migration, they noticed backend slowdowns and periodic downtimes , clearly, the server resource limits had been tested. So while Cloudways site limits are officially about server specs, practically, a comfortably performing setup for multiple WordPress sites hosting on this plan tends to be about 4 to 6 moderate-sized WordPress installs. Push much beyond that, and you’ll likely hit memory restrictions and CPU throttling, making the experience sluggish or unmanageable.

Interestingly, Cloudways doesn’t cap the number of WordPress installations explicitly in their dashboard or Terms, but your $47 plan’s 2GB RAM and 1 vCPU essentially set the ceiling. You might cram 10+ tiny brochure sites in there if traffic stays tiny, but why would you want to risk such instability? Since client projects can vary wildly, this plan aligns best with designers handling fewer, better-optimized client sites rather than a broad agency portfolio. It’s why agency hosting capacity discussions must focus on resource allotment rather than a flat “X sites allowed” tagline.

Why do hosts always boast “manage unlimited sites” when the experience says otherwise? Because it looks good on paper. But as I learned during the PHP 8.2 update last January, once newer PHP versions put extra strain on server configurations (especially with poorly optimized themes or plugins), hosting plans with minimal resources become bottlenecks, no matter the “site limits” promise. So, in practice, Cloudways’ $47 plan site limits are functionally about how hard your sites hit the CPU and RAM thresholds rather than a strict number.

WP Engine, Kinsta, and Flywheel, the big names in managed WordPress, approach multiple WordPress sites hosting quite differently. For example, WP Engine’s startup plan limits you to one WordPress install at $30/month but then scales up with clearly defined site allowances. Meanwhile, Kinsta uses a site-based pricing model starting at $35 for one site, but their infrastructure allows easier performance scaling. Flywheel, known for simpler agency white labeling, sticks to a site-based plan too, with some surprise flexibility for staging environments.

What surprises most people? Cloudways’ approach focuses less on explicit site caps and more on server resource sharing. It’s oddly flexible: after migrating roughly 8 client sites last summer on their $47 plan, I realized that while the dashboard doesn’t push me to upgrade, the backend performance told a different story , sluggish dashboards, delayed admin-ajax responses, and a spike in support tickets from frustrated clients. WP Engine or Kinsta likely wouldn’t let you get that far without suggesting an upgrade or throttling resources first.

Still, Cloudways’ pricing structure is attractive for agencies looking at budget constraints. But this savings can cost you extra hours spent on troubleshooting or tweaking PHP workers, adjusting cache plugins, and balancing cron jobs manually. So if you want straightforward multiple WordPress sites hosting without the guesswork on resource limits, higher-tier plans or hosts that bundle site counts may save headaches in the long run.

Migration itself deserves more credit for being a serious challenge, yet so many designers underestimate it. Last March, I helped move nearly 10 client sites from a shared host to Cloudways’ $47 plan. The first snag came with the free migration plugin Cloudways offers , it worked for 7 out of the 10 sites but failed on the rest because of large databases or custom serialized data in weird plugin tables. One client’s ecommerce store still waits on a second migration attempt because the payment plugin data didn’t transfer cleanly.

Look, migrating isn’t some plug-and-play operation here. It’s messy, often demanding server-side configs afterwards, like adjusting PHP settings, increasing max_execution_time, or tweaking cache exclusions. Why do hosts always hide these steps underground? It’s simple: they want to paint the process as “seamless” for marketing, but the reality for agencies managing multiple WordPress sites requires scripting and testing, especially if you want to avoid downtime during active business hours.

One shining feature Cloudways offers, standing out from many budget hosts, is their staging environment with just a click. Notably, staging isn’t an afterthought. This functionality lets you test updates, new plugins, or theme changes on exact clones of live sites without risk. For agency hosting capacity planning, having reliable staging means fewer client emergencies over plugin conflicts or PHP version mismatches after WordPress core updates, like the PHP 8.2 jump that surprised many in early 2024.

However, staging on the $47 plan shares the same server resources, so running several bulky staging sites can strain the server, impairing both test and live site performance. Still, for fast iterations, you’ll appreciate staging available on demand, no third-party add-ons needed. Flywheel does staging well too, but only on higher tiers. Kinsta offers advanced tools, but at a higher price point, which may not fit smaller agencies’ budgets.

White-label solutions matter a lot when you present hosting to clients as a part of your offering. Cloudways doesn’t provide native white-label dashboards; you’re essentially handing clients login access to the Cloudways platform or managing client accounts yourself. This can feel off-brand or confusing to some clients used to cleaner, branded portals.

In contrast, WP Engine and Flywheel shine with white-label client portals, especially designed for agencies offering hosting as a service. Flywheel, in particular, makes this accessible at entry-level plans, which is surprising given its agency focus. For Cloudways users, there are third-party tools or custom-built client dashboards, but those add development overhead and aren’t always seamless. So, if client-facing branding is priority one, the $47 plan might fall short or require extra effort. But for backend-focused management without white-label frills, it’s still cost-effective.

To get into the weeds, the Cloudways $47 plan on DigitalOcean offers a server with 2GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50GB SSD storage, and 2TB bandwidth monthly. Those specs tell you more than the vague “unlimited sites” claim when the question is about agency hosting capacity. What does that mean for actual performance across multiple WordPress sites?

The short answer is you can expect to comfortably host around 4 to 6 small to mid-size WordPress sites under usual traffic conditions. Why that range? WordPress core plus common plugins (especially page builders like Elementor or WPBakery) can consume around 128MB to 256MB of RAM per active site on the backend at peak. Add WooCommerce or heavy media and consume more. CPU throttling occurs when simultaneous PHP processes overlap under traffic surges, leading to slow admin and frontend responsiveness.

After the PHP 8.2 update, some plugin authors reported incompatibilities causing spikes in PHP execution time, making lightweight servers like Cloudways' $47 plan strain further. In my experience testing load with client sites, pushing beyond 6 moderately trafficked installs brings noticeable lag and occasional 502 errors.

*Cloudways technically lets you install unlimited WordPress sites, but server specs impose practical limits.

Cloudways is heavily favored for flexibility, you pick your cloud provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Google Cloud, AWS) and scale up as needed. This agency hosting capacity is unique: start small, upgrade RAM or CPUs without migrating servers. That’s a huge advantage after the painful migrations some agencies faced in 2023 trying to switch plans or hosts.

Still, migration to Cloudways isn’t magic. I recall a client who last July switched off GoDaddy’s managed WordPress hosting to Cloudways $47 plan and faced a week of plugin conflicts, SSL hiccups, and a mysterious database error that took three separate support tickets to resolve. Let me save you some headaches: test migrations in staging strictly before scheduling live cutovers.

This ability to customize server resources mid-subscription means you get more control over agency hosting capacity, in contrast to more rigid plans with fixed site counts but no resource scaling. That flexibility appeals to freelance designers with a small but growing portfolio who want to keep costs low until scaling becomes mandatory.

Support quality often flies under the radar compared to raw specs, yet it’s a huge part of agency hosting capacity. Cloudways’ support is responsive via live chat, but I’ve found it too scripted sometimes, lacking deep WordPress expertise. That matters when staging environments fail or migration plugins break during a big batch move.

Meanwhile, WP Engine’s support team, informed by hosting only WordPress sites, tends to solve problems faster but charges a premium. For busy agencies managing 20+ clients, that premium sometimes pays off in saved time and fewer escalated issues. So, despite Cloudways’ competitive $47 price, some agencies prefer paying extra for a smoother operational experience, especially when downtime affects client goodwill.

Staging capabilities aside, backups are another pillar of reliable hosting. Cloudways offers automated daily backups but only stores them for 7 days, with longer retention plans costing extra. The $47 plan doesn’t include free site migration by support staff, which could add hidden costs. For multiple WordPress sites hosting, manual backup strategies or plugin solutions (like UpdraftPlus) may be necessary, adding complexity.

Other managed WordPress hosts bundle incremental backups and seamless restoring as part of the package, which prevents maintenance oversights that can inadvertently lead to data loss. Agencies easily responsible for dozens of client sites might find the backup management overhead on Cloudways frustrating over time.

As I mentioned earlier, Cloudways does not provide native white-label client portals, which annoyed several clients during a project last October. The process of building a branded hosting dashboard or passing login details manually felt clunky, clients complained about confusing interfaces and feared losing control.

Flywheel solves this elegantly, and WP Engine offers agency tools with client-specific reporting. So if your agency hosting capacity includes reselling hosting or bundling it in client services, this could be a tipping point to choose a pricier but more polished platform. Without that, you may spend additional development time WordPress Hosting Platforms for Professional Web Designers on dashboard customizations or risk leaking your vendor branding.

Still, a smaller agency or freelance designer might care less if client visits to hosting portals are infrequent. It's arguably more important to have a solid staging environment and responsive hosting support. Prioritizing white-label or client portal features depends on how much hosting is part of your business pitch versus just supporting client sites behind the scenes.

Finally, hosting plans’ flexibility in adapting to core updates can't be overstated. After the PHP 8.2 update in January 2024, some agencies found their previously stable Cloudways environments shaky, particularly on lower-tier plans. Meanwhile, WP Engine rapidly patched their platforms and provided compatibility notices, exemplifying their value-add for agencies managing multiple WordPress sites hosting at scale.

Cloudways allows easy server upgrades and PHP version switching but requires you to self-monitor plugin compatibility. That places more responsibility on the agency and designers to do staging tests diligently. It’s a critical reminder that when you choose Cloudways $47 plan for agency hosting capacity, you’re also signing up for a bit more hands-on maintenance versus the “managed” experience promised by pricier competitors.

So, how many client sites can you safely host on the Cloudways $47 plan? It’s roughly between 4 and 6 moderately sized and trafficked WordPress sites before you should seriously consider upgrading or moving up a server tier. Let me save you some headaches: always benchmark each client’s resource needs and use staging to test performance before migration. And don’t rely on unlimited sites promises without checking backend response times yourself.

If your agency hosting capacity involves white-label client portals or requires advanced support, this plan likely won’t fit your workflow out of the box. You might prefer WP Engine or Flywheel's offerings despite higher costs, those platforms often prevent time-consuming troubleshooting and offer smoother client interactions. Yet, if budget constraints are tight and you prioritize server control and flexible upgrades, Cloudways remains an option, but be ready for some DIY adjustments.

First, check your average client site traffic and plugin footprint to estimate RAM consumption. Maybe start with a staging migration of 3-4 sites to see how the $47 server behaves. Whatever you do, don’t launch full client portfolios live without monitoring server load carefully in those first weeks, and keep an eye on PHP version compatibility especially after updates. Otherwise, your clients might be calling at 2pm on a Friday, when the Cloudways office support closes early, and you’re still waiting to hear back.