Cloudways Expands Managed Hosting with Node.js Offering Velocity — DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc.

Event summary

Cloudways, a DigitalOcean subsidiary, launched Velocity, a managed Node.js hosting service, on September 14, 2026.
Velocity offers flat, predictable pricing starting at $20 per month and includes managed infrastructure tasks like server maintenance, patching, SSL, and backups.
The service supports Server-Side Rendered (SSR) and Client-Side Rendered (CSR) applications, Express-based API backends, and Next.JS.
Early customer Regal IT used Velocity to simplify the production hosting of its Shopify application, reducing infrastructure maintenance workload.

The big picture

Cloudways' launch of Velocity extends its managed hosting experience beyond WordPress into modern application workloads, addressing the need for predictable hosting costs and reduced operational work. This move aligns with the broader industry trend of simplifying cloud infrastructure for developers and agencies, allowing them to focus more on application development and less on server administration. The service's flat pricing model and managed infrastructure tasks aim to provide a clear path from development to production, which is increasingly important as AI-assisted development tools accelerate prototyping.

What we're watching

Market Adoption: How quickly developers and agencies will adopt Velocity for Node.js hosting, particularly those already using Cloudways for WordPress.
Competitive Positioning: Whether Velocity can differentiate itself from serverless platforms and raw VPS infrastructure in terms of cost and operational simplicity.
Revenue Growth: The pace at which Velocity can contribute to DigitalOcean's revenue, given its flat pricing model and managed service offerings.