Cloudways review in 2023

Summary

With its managed cloud web hosting solutions, Cloudways offers a unique hosting experience for small businesses. You can choose various cloud servers, including DigitalOcean, Amazon, and Google Cloud, and benefit from automatic backups and quick load times.

Pricing is determined not just by whether clients select the basic or premium tier but also by the cloud server of their choosing. The higher the price, the more storage, RAM, and bandwidth you will get.

For

Against

Introduction

Cloudways began operations in 2011, with five cloud servers available to host WordPress websites. Because it takes a novel approach to provide hosting services, Cloudways stands out as somewhat of an anomaly in the hosting industry. Instead of offering its infrastructure, Cloudways enables you to select from five distinct cloud hosting providers: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.

The company’s mission is to help freelancers, Ecommerce retailers, and agencies across industries with their websites. Every subscription comes with unlimited WordPress sites, 24/7 live chat support, a free website migration, an in-house cache plugin (which helps to improve loading times), and team collaboration capabilities.

Also, there is no dedicated email hosting included. Email hosting is an add-on; clients can pick between a Gmail SMTP server and a managed email solution. Additionally, the company does not offer domain name registration, you have to purchase this service elsewhere.

In our Cloudways review, we go deep into this highly regarded web hosting service so that you can assess if it’s a good match for your website. By looking at Cloudways’s cost, features, user interface, and support quality, you can decide whether or not it is a suitable option for your website.

Plans and pricing

Cloudways pricing varies based on the cloud hosting provider you select and the resources available for your server.

The $10 entry-level DigitalOcean server is the most cost-effective choice, and it comes with a good performance out of the box.

Cloud hosting is included in the price of the service so there is no additional charge for that. The cloud hosting costs and expenses for using Cloudways is included in your subscription fee.

Digital Ocean

Vultr

Linode

AWS

Google Cloud

As you can see, DigitalOcean is the least expensive option available. This does not necessarily imply that it is any less capable than the other hosts that Cloudways offers. DigitalOcean has been around for many years as a cloud computing company that can be relied upon. The main drawback is that they provide only eight data center locations, which is a much lower number when compared to the other vendors that are accessible through Cloudways.

Linode and Vultr offer comparable rates to DigitalOcean and are likely to provide you with an overall similar web hosting experience.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud are on the very high end of the pricing range. One thing is sure when working with either of these hosts: no matter what you throw at them, they will not go down. It’s not cheap, but those servers are built to last. If you’re simply searching for a dependable place to host a standard WordPress site, you probably won’t require AWS or Google Cloud.

All plans come with:

• Free SSL
• Dedicated firewalls
• Unlimited applications
• 24/7/365 support
• Free migration
• Automated backups
• 24/7 real-time monitoring
• Staging environment
• HTTP/2 enabled servers

Core features

One core feature of Cloudways that is not available with other cloud hosting providers is the variety of companies it works with.

Cloudways is a cloud-based web hosting company with a 99.99% uptime and load times of 400–600 milliseconds. The primary reason is that the company collaborates with some of the most outstanding cloud providers in the market, including Google Cloud, Linode, Digital Ocean, Vultr, and AWS.

Vertical scaling from Cloudways enables you to adjust your resources depending on the requirements of your website or application. For instance, if your application is witnessing a surge in traffic, you can quickly add extra RAM to your server to accommodate the app’s growing popularity.

The combination of all of these elements enables Cloudways to give an exceptional level of performance and website speed. User reports reveal that their loading speeds are 40 to 50 percent faster than those supplied by shared web hosting.

Interface

We discovered early in the process of writing our Cloudways review that getting started with Cloudways is identical to starting the journey with other hosting providers. Fill out a simple sign-up form and select the cloud hosting plan you want to use to get started.

It’s easy to launch servers with their interface, which is highly versatile. The dashboard is proprietary and may take some time to get used to.

Cloudways lets you to choose your cloud hosting provider and configuration. Additionally, you may select the application to be put on the server. In most cases, you should use the most recent version of WordPress.

Here, you may update your admin and database passwords, see basic site metrics, check the status of specific Cloudways security indicators, and more.

Cloudways makes it simple to link a new primary domain name to your account, create cron jobs, and set up new SSL certificates. In addition, this is where you may restore your website from a backup.

In general, the dashboard has a more professional vibe. With Cloudways, you can execute any administrative tasks you need on your WordPress website.

To put it another way, Cloudways has already done the hard work for you by installing WordPress during your sign-up process. Therefore, if the only thing you want to do is concentrate on working on your site using the WordPress admin interface, you can do that right away.

Support options and quality

When it comes to Cloudways customer support, things might become complicated.

If you choose Cloudways, you should be aware that the assistance provided by Cloudways does not extend as far as it may with another host, especially one that offers managed WordPress hosting.

Your hosting server and the Cloudways platform are supported automatically by Cloudways. They will undoubtedly assist you if you have an issue with the server or with Cloudways itself.

Live chat help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

However, by default, Cloudways does not offer any application support. That is to say; they do not provide official support for any of the applications—like WordPress—that you run on your server.

To give you an example, if you run into issues installing WordPress using Cloudways’ installer, you may contact their support team for assistance. However, if you’re experiencing a problem with your WordPress site, the free support does not apply (they will help in some instances, though).

Premium help is available for a fee if you want this level of sophisticated application support; however, it can be a pretty expensive option.

The competition

Cloudways is a fantastic option for small businesses seeking a web hosting provided that focuses on managed, cloud-based hosting. Even more so if you’re looking for a quality WordPress hosting service.

You will, however, need to pay for additional services like a web developer and customer support add-ons to have a completely hands-off experience.

The company will also require you to purchase your domain name and spend more on email hosting, which may be a deal-breaker for some.

Skystra is an excellent alternative since it prioritizes exceptional performance, speed, and assistance for WordPress and WooCommerce websites. Prices for hosting 1 WordPress website begin at $7 per month, and all hosting plans include free SSL, free CDN, free emails, and sophisticated features such as premium caching to increase website speed by up to 125%.

The main difference between Skystra and Cloudways is their superior service and performance. Learn more about Skystra by reading our review.

HostGator is another excellent option for those on a tight budget, with shared hosting options beginning at $2.75 per month and a website builder accessible for $3.84 per month. All HostGator plans include free SSL, a free domain in the first year, and live help around-the-clock. Read our HostGator review to learn more.

Final verdict

If you are running a WordPress website, Cloudways is an excellent choice for your cloud hosting needs.

Due to its cloud-based infrastructure, you may enjoy lightning-fast speeds, excellent site performance, and top-tier security.

These standards are meant to ensure that you and your site users have a positive experience and that your site’s data is safe.

However, the differences between Cloudways and other hosting providers might initially make things a bit more difficult for rookie website owners. Cloudways does not offer a standard cPanel or Plesk interface, domain name registration or email hosting.

This adds to the overall cost of hosting and makes it more challenging to get started than with other comparable hosting companies.

Consider both the benefits and the drawbacks of Cloudways before signing up with them. Alternatively, you can use the 3-day free trial period to make sure they offer the capabilities you require to grow your business and operate your hosting account.

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