Our customers have consistently asked for more server options on our platform. We’ve been listening. At Cloudways, 2025 is all about reinvention and growth.
Whether you’re launching a new project or scaling an established business, we’re committed to powering your journey with hosting performance that meets your needs. The updates are just beginning. We have several exciting changes planned to boost both performance and flexibility.
In April 2025, we introduced General Purpose and CPU Optimized server types from DigitalOcean. At the time, we also committed to bringing similar enhancements to Vultr and Linode.
We’re excited to deliver on that promise. You can now launch General Purpose and CPU Optimized servers on Vultr and Linode as well. This gives you more flexibility to build and scale on your preferred cloud provider.
With this new server lineup on Cloudways, you can find the right fit for your workload and budget.
Whether you’re looking for cost efficiency or dedicated power, these plans offer a smart balance of price and performance.
Understanding Your Server Options
Find the right balance of price and performance. The new server lineup includes competitive plans for a wide variety of use cases.
With this expansion, you now have more flexibility to match your workload with the right plan.
Choose a setup that fits your business today and scale as your needs grow.
Our Standard servers remain the top choice for most businesses. They offer strong performance at an affordable price. That makes them ideal for everyday workloads.
For growing businesses that need consistent performance and resource isolation, our new server types are a great fit. General Purpose and CPU Optimized options offer dedicated resources at a better value than AWS or Google Cloud.
Start your hosting journey with a cost-effective Standard server. Then upgrade seamlessly as your needs evolve. If you’re unsure, begin small and scale gradually.
You can scale your servers up or down at any time as your traffic or performance needs change. Once your business requires more power, consider switching to General Purpose or CPU Optimized servers.
Your hosting grows with you on Cloudways. You are never locked into rigid plans or limited platforms.
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General Purpose Servers: Ideal for Most Websites
General-purpose servers come with a higher CPU-to-RAM ratio. They are ideal for most websites that require balanced performance and consistent uptime.
These servers are a great fit for growing businesses with moderate to high traffic needs. They are designed to deliver stable performance for resource-heavy workloads.
With isolated compute power, you avoid noisy neighbors. Your applications get dedicated resources for smooth and reliable operation.
These servers are well-suited for SaaS platforms, compute-intensive e-commerce sites, large CMS platforms, and high-traffic forums. Their CPU and memory balance can handle both cached and uncached content efficiently.
Vultr high-performance servers use NVMe SSD storage. You get faster read and write speeds compared to traditional SSDs.
This results in better performance for workloads that need low latency and high data throughput. It is a great choice for dynamic applications and databases.
Best use cases:
- Magento & Laravel based applications requiring a combination of CPU & Memory
- Growing business blogs with moderate traffic
- Small to medium woocommerce stores
- Real estate listings with moderate databases
- Local News & Media sites
- Small Agencies Hosting Multiple Client WordPress Websites
| Cloud Provider | Details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vultr | Starting at $72/month for 1 core and 4 GB in memory, it can be scaled all the way up to a 96-core version with 256 GB memory ($3980/month).
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| Linode | Starting at $69/month for 2 cores and 4 GB in memory, it can be scaled all the way up to a 56-core version with 256 GB memory ($2480/month).
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CPU Optimized Servers: Extra Processing Power for Dynamic Sites
CPU Optimized servers use a 1:2 CPU-to-RAM ratio and feature faster CPUs clocked at over 2.6 GHz. These servers offer more cores to process uncached content and complete tasks faster.
They are built for workloads that need high and sustained CPU performance. Ideal for dynamic websites with heavy backend processing like eCommerce stores and LMS platforms.
You get dedicated processing power that handles compute-heavy tasks efficiently. These servers are best for websites with high concurrency and dynamic content.
Linode CPU Optimized servers use AMD EPYC enterprise-grade CPUs. They deliver consistent high performance for latency-sensitive sites that run at full CPU load.
Best use cases:
- High-traffic, dynamic eCommerce stores with large product catalogs
- Resource-intensive LMS (online courses) with many active learners
- Data-heavy real-time reporting dashboards
- High-volume lead generation sites (constant form submissions)
- Large BuddyPress communities/social networks
- Big multisite networks with busy subsites
- Websites with significant uncached content
CPU Optimised: Server Pricing
| Cloud Provider | Details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vultr |
Starting at $57/month with 1 core and 2 GB in memory, it can be scaled all the way up to a 32-core version with 64 GB of memory ($874/month).
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| Linode |
Starting at $89/month with 2 cores and 4 GB in memory, it can be scaled all the way up to a 56-core version with 256 GB of memory ($3127/month).
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See how it looks on the platform:
Performance Benchmarks
In our internal benchmarking with 10,000 virtual users over 30 minutes and no caching, we compared different server types. The tests were run on servers from Vultr and Linode.
The results clearly show major performance gains with CPU Optimized servers. These improvements are especially evident in dynamic, resource-heavy workloads.
| Cloud Provider | Benchmark Results | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vultr | CPU Optimized decisively outperformed Standard. With dedicated, faster CPUs, our benchmark testing showed:
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| Linode | CPU Optimized also clearly outperformed Standard in our testing. Key improvements:
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These benchmarks show the performance improvements possible when upgrading from Standard to higher-tier options. CPU Optimized and General-Purpose servers both deliver real gains for dynamic workloads.
General Purpose servers also improved everyday browsing performance. Their balanced resources worked well for lighter web tasks and user interactions.
Advance Vertical Scaling (Linode and Digital Ocean Only—for Now)
Many customers have asked for the ability to scale server size up or down. We are now introducing advanced Vertical Scaling for Linode.
You can scale CPU and RAM independently without cloning the server or changing DNS. This gives you faster, simpler, and more cost-efficient control over resources.
DigitalOcean users can also access this feature. Support for other providers is coming soon.
Key Benefits:
- Scale up or down with no need to clone the server
- Adjust CPU and RAM without affecting storage
- Scale all resources together when needed
- Switch between Standard, General Purpose, and CPU Optimized types
- Downscale in one click, if storage capacity remains the same
Understanding Downscaling Rules
You can only downscale to plans offering storage equal to or greater than your current setup. Storage becomes the limit for how far down you can scale.
For example, you start with a 4 GB RAM, 80 GB storage server, and 2 vCPUs. After scaling up to 64 GB RAM and 16 vCPUs, you keep the same 80 GB storage.
You will then be able to scale down to any configuration that includes at least 80 GB of storage.
If you also increase storage during scaling, the new storage amount becomes your minimum. You will not be able to scale CPU and RAM below the level supported by that storage.
If you later switch from Standard to CPU Optimized, your target configuration must still include at least 80 GB of storage. That could mean starting from 4 GB RAM with 2 vCPUs or more.
The platform interface will display greyed-out options that cannot be scaled down. This helps prevent errors and ensures clarity.
Note: Scaling CPU and RAM separately helps you scale down more efficiently. It does not affect your hourly billing in any way. The cost remains the same whether you scale CPU and memory alone or together with storage.
Coming Soon: Advanced Vertical Scaling support for Vultr is planned by September 2025.
A Unified Experience
These new server types and vertical scaling features will be available only through the Cloudways Unified UI. The Classic UI will NOT support:
- Server Cloning
- App Cloning (on new server)
- Server Recovery
- App Recovery (on new server)
Additionally, Trial users will not be able to launch General Purpose or CPU Optimized servers.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re launching a new website or scaling a mission-critical app, you now have more freedom. You get greater control over resources and improved performance platform-wide.
Vultr and Linode General Purpose and CPU Optimized servers are now available. Combined with advanced vertical scaling, Cloudways is built to support your growth.
You can scale on your own terms, with the flexibility to match your unique workload and goals.
What’s Next?
This update is part of the broader Cloudways vision for 2025. DigitalOcean’s server types launched in April 2025, and now Vultr and Linode have joined the lineup.
Our next focus is on modernizing the Cloudways tech stack. The goal is to deliver even better performance, flexibility, and scalability for all users.
More upgrades are on the way to help you build, grow, and manage your hosting with confidence.
Ammar Ahmed
Ammar, a Senior Product Marketing Manager at DigitalOcean, has 25+ years of experience in technology and telecom. He has led marketing initiatives for renowned companies such as Colgate Palmolive, Nokia, Microsoft and HMD Global across multiple regions. He specialises in translating complex technology offerings into compelling value proposition narratives for diverse audiences. His extensive background in both product marketing and brand management has fostered a comprehensive approach to product storytelling and market positioning.
