Cloudways vs Linode (Akamai)

Cloudways and Linode can sit surprisingly close in the same architecture: Cloudways can run on Linode infrastructure, but adds its own managed application layer on top. Buying Linode directly removes that layer and gives you the underlying Akamai Cloud account, APIs and infrastructure services.

Application operations simplified

Cloudways packages common web-application operations into one panel: server provisioning, SSL, backups, caching, staging and application-level workflows. Its 2026 infrastructure choices include AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode and Vultr, so you can change the underlying provider without changing the Cloudways management experience.

Native cloud access sacrificed

Direct Linode gives you the native Akamai Cloud service catalog instead of the Cloudways abstraction. That includes LKE Kubernetes, managed databases, object and block storage, VPC/networking features and direct access to core and distributed compute regions. You also avoid paying for a separate managed application layer.

Native platform access

Linode is the better building block when you need the infrastructure account itself: native APIs, Terraform-oriented workflows, Kubernetes, managed databases and networking under the same provider. Covered general-availability compute is backed by a 99.99% monthly uptime SLA.

Managed workflow sacrificed

You lose the Cloudways workflow that hides much of routine web-stack administration. Staging, application cloning, SSL handling, backups and caching are surfaced as managed hosting functions there; on direct Linode, those choices sit with your team or with additional services you assemble.