Affiliate Inventory | Cloudways

What it is

Cloudways is managed cloud hosting that runs sites on DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Linode and Vultr without the customer doing server administration. It is bought mainly by WordPress freelancers, agencies and small businesses that have outgrown shared hosting. Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean in 2022.

The deal

You choose between two structures and can switch at the start of any month. The performance model pays a flat bounty per sale that climbs as you refer more customers inside a single calendar month, but the counter resets on the 1st, so the top rates only reach people with steady month-after-month volume, not one good spike. The alternative trades most of that upfront bounty for a smaller fixed amount plus an ongoing share of what the customer spends for as long as they stay, which suits fewer but stickier referrals. A separate arrangement pays you a cut of commissions earned by affiliates you personally recruit.

The catch that matters most is approval. A referral only counts once they have upgraded off trial, authorised billing and paid two full invoices. Trials and customers who churn in their first month earn nothing at all, so the headline per-sale figures describe a customer who has already stuck around.

Getting paid

Payouts go out once a month by PayPal and only when your approved balance clears the threshold; anything short rolls forward to the next cycle. Wire transfer exists but is reserved for much larger balances, and you can instead take earnings as hosting credit at a lower bar. Because approval waits on two paid invoices, budget roughly two billing cycles between a signup and money you can withdraw.

The rules

Paid search is permitted with conditions: you must add the brand to your negative keyword list and stay off brand terms and misspellings. Direct linking to the Cloudways site, or using it as a display URL, needs prior approval, as does any trademark bidding. Trial signups pay nothing until the account upgrades and clears two invoices. Commission model changes only take effect from the start of the following month.

Sources

• https://www.cloudways.com/en/web-hosting-affiliate-program.php
• https://support.cloudways.com/en/articles/5134056-how-to-join-cloudways-affiliate-program-faqs-benefits