Cloudways Review

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Cloudways looks to simplify the hosting experience and give users freedom of choice. You can opt for one of the different infrastructure providers, including AWS and Google Cloud, and lean on best-in-class technologies. With dependable uptime, lightning-fast loading speeds, and flexible “pay-as-you-go” pricing, this hosting provider promises great things. But do they deliver? This Cloudways review will go over both the good and the bad, to discover if this web host is indeed worth its salt.

Key Features
SSD-Based Hosting
Built-in Advanced Caches
Auto-Healing Managed Cloud Servers
CloudwaysCDN
Redis Support
1-Click Free SSL Installation
Application & Server Cloning
Add Team Members
1-Click Backup & Restore
24/7 Real-time Monitoring
50% decreased loading times
Dedicated environment
Best-in-class support
Proactive security
Strengths
  • Completely managed
  • Intuitive control panel
  • Fast page loading
  • 99.999% uptime
  • Flexible pricing
Weaknesses
  • No domain name registration
  • Pricey premium support
Product demo

Fully Managed Cloud Hosting with Flexible Pricing

Cloudways is a unique cloud-based hosting platform that allows you to choose an infrastructure provider such as DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Google Cloud, and AWS. The research for our Cloudways review showed that based on the provider you go with, the vendor will set you up with a VPS within minutes. 

 

Top-Notch Performance

Cloudways hosting promises to decrease the loading times by 50%. The company features superior technology that makes this possible. All servers have dedicated resources, are PHP 7 ready, and feature SSD drives which reduce page load times and enhance the overall performance. 

To further ensure fast responses, the platform also provides a cache stack that includes Nginx, Redis, Varnish, and Memcached, as well as a CloudwaysCDN service, HTTP/2, pre-configured PHP-FPM, and Redis support. Cloudways reviews show that users are satisfied with the host’s performance. They also appreciate the opportunity to easily scale as the project grows. 

 

Dependable Uptime

Cloudways web hosting gives a 99.999% uptime guarantee, and they consistently deliver on that promise. Users are extremely satisfied with the uptime, and some even report no downtime at all. 

 

Cloudways Staging Site  

You can easily create a staging site at Cloudways to test new codebases, themes, and plugins before going live. The staging environment is secured with htpasswd password protection, while SSL certificates come pre-installed in all staging applications. Additionally, you can whitelist IP addresses and get access over multiple networks through SSH and SFTP. 

 

Vertical Scaling

With Cloudways, you’ll pay only for the resources you use. The platform offers convenient scaling of the resources your website is using, including the amount of RAM, bandwidth, and disk space. Vertical scaling is one of this vendor’s most unique features. When researching for our Cloudways VPS review, we found out that this is the only provider that enables vertical scaling without any downtime. 

 

Free Migration

Cloudways offers one free site migration to its platform. Depending on the site’s size, the migration can take longer than expected, but the team promises no downtime during the migration process. 

 

Custom Control Panel

Instead of the standard cPanel, Cloudways uses a custom control panel. Cloudways reviews are mixed on that; some users don’t think it’s the best, while others appreciate its user-friendliness and the granular permits over settings like PHP and database parameters. Our research meanwhile shows that this control panel has a bit of a learning curve for users accustomed to cPanel. That said, it’s surprisingly intuitive. 

 

Free Site Builder

The WordPress Blueprint Maker by Cloudways makes the process of building a website seamless. It features a user-friendly interface and a selection of the top WordPress themes and plugins. The first step is to choose the type of site you want to build. Then, you have to choose a theme and plugins and fill in the form with personal information, as well as your needs and requirements before you submit it. 

 

Best-in-Class Security

Cloudways servers are protected by dedicated OS-level firewalls that filter bad traffic and protect them against hacker attacks. Also, OS patches are performed on your server regularly, ensuring that vulnerabilities are avoided. Free SSL, IP whitelisting, bot protection, and two-factor authentication are also part of the Cloudways security suite. The platform offers on-demand backups, but you can also set automatic hourly, daily, or weekly backups. The auto-healing feature is an added perk — it identifies and resolves potential issues, reducing the risk of your site crashing. 

 

CloudwaysBot

CloudwaysBot is a proprietary tool that serves as a smart assistant. You’ll get real-time alerts about the server status, upgrades, and backups. Additionally, CloudwaysBot provides tips and recommendations on how to optimize the servers and applications. You can also integrate this tool with Slack, your email, and Hipchat. Developers can access CloudwaysBot with a custom API.

 

No Domain Registration

One of the biggest cons in this Cloudways hosting review is the lack of a domain registration service. Though this is not necessarily a deal-breaker for us, if getting a domain name from the hosting provider is a priority for you, you should consider Cloudways competitors. 

A Cloudways vs HostGator comparison, for instance, shows the latter is the clear winner for users that need a domain registrar and a web host under one roof. You get free registration for one year and then you’ll need to take care of renewal fees. Plus, domain privacy is granted in all WordPress-managed plans for free. 

 

Tiered Cloudways Support

There are three levels of support you can choose from. By default, you get the Standard Support which is free and includes access to the Cloudways live chat. Issues that can’t be resolved within 15 minutes are converted to support tickets. The ticketing system has an initial response time of 12 hours or three hours for priority submissions. This is a basic support option, but it’s fairly efficient and many users have reported the knowledgeable team has helped them get things done. 

Our Cloudways review meanwhile indicates that the upper tiers provide even more value — the Advanced Support reduces the waiting time from the standard three hours to only 30 minutes and broadens the range of expertise. You’ll get in touch with Senior agents so you can expect expert answers, customization support, proactive monitoring, deeper application troubleshooting, and more. The time window for resolving issues via live chat is 30 minutes. The initial response for support tickets is six hours, but only 30 minutes for priority tickets. Prices for Advanced Support start at $100/month.

If you value every minute, you need the Premium Support add-on where the initial response time for support tickets is two hours and only 10 minutes for priority tickets. Additionally, you get a dedicated account manager, direct phone support, and access to a private Slack channel. The Premium Support add-on comes in at $500/month. 

 

Cloudways Pricing & Plans

Cloudways doesn’t offer the standard shared or dedicated plans. Instead, the company has multiple pay-as-you-go hosting packages. You’ll pay only for the time you’ve used. This makes Cloudways one of the most budget-friendly options on the market. Now, the pricing might look complicated at first glance because there are five partners — Digital Ocean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud — so let’s jump right in.

 

Digital Ocean 

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
DO1GB 1 GB 1 Core 25 GB 1 TB $10/mo $0.0139/hr
DO2GB 2 GB 1 Core 50 GB 2 TB $22/mo $0.0306/hr
DO4GB 4 GB 2 Core 80 GB 4 TB $42/mo $0.0583/hr
DO8GB 8 GB 4 Core 160 GB 5 TB $80/mo $0.1111/hr
DO16GB 16 GB 6 Core 320 GB 6 TB $135/mo $0.1875/hr
DO32GB 32 GB 8 Core 640 GB 7 TB $230/mo $0.3194/hr
DO48GB 48 GB 12 Core 960 GB 8 TB $315/mo $0.4375/hr
DO64GB 64 GB 16 Core 1280 GB 9 TB $395/mo $0.5486/hr
DO96GB 96 GB 20 Core 1920 GB 10 TB $555/mo $0.7708/hr
DO128GB 128 GB 24 Core 2560 GB 11 TB $715/mo $0.9931/hr
DO192GB 192 GB 32 Core 3840 GB 12 TB $1035/mo $1.4375/hr

 

Linode

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
Linode1GB 1 GB 1 Core 25 GB 1 TB $12/mo $0.0167/hr
Linode2GB 2 GB 1 Core 50 GB 2 TB $24/mo $0.0333/hr
Linode4GB 4 GB 2 Core 80 GB 4 TB $50/mo $0.0694/hr
Linode8GB 8 GB 4 Core 160 GB 5 TB $90/mo $0.1250/hr
Linode16GB 16 GB 6 Core 320 GB 8 TB $150/mo $0.2083/hr
Linode32GB 32 GB 8 Core 640 GB 16 TB $250/mo $0.3472/hr
Linode64GB 64 GB 16 Core 1280 GB 20 TB $470/mo $0.6528/hr
Linode96GB 96 GB 20 Core 1920 GB 20 TB $680/mo $0.9444/hr
Linode128GB 128 GB 24 Core 2560 GB 20 TB $860/mo $1.1944/hr
Linode192GB 192 GB 32 Core 3840 GB 20 TB $1205/mo $1.6736/hr

 

Vultr

Standard

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
VULTR1GB 1 GB 1 Core 25 GB 1 TB $11/mo $0.0153/hr
VULTR2GB 2 GB 1 Core 55 GB 2 TB $23/mo $0.0319/hr
VULTR4GB 4 GB 2 Core 80 GB 3 TB $44/mo $0.0611/hr
VULTR8GB 8 GB 4 Core 160 GB 4 TB $84/mo $0.1167/hr
VULTR16GB 16 GB 6 Core 320 GB 5 TB $139/mo $0.1931/hr
VULTR32GB 32 GB 8 Core 640 GB 6 TB $225/mo $0.3125/hr
VULTR64GB 64 GB 16 Core 1280 GB 10 TB $385/mo $0.5347/hr

 

High Frequency

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
VULTR1GB 1 GB 1 Core 32 GB 1 TB $13/mo $0.0180/hr
VULTR2GB 2 GB 1 Core 64 GB 2 TB $26/mo $0.0361/hr
VULTR4GB 4 GB 2 Core 128 GB 3 TB $50/mo $0.0694/hr
VULTR8GB 8 GB 3 Core 256 GB 4 TB $100/mo $0.1388/hr
VULTR16GB 16 GB 4 Core 384 GB 5 TB $160/mo $0.2222/hr
VULTR32GB 32 GB 8 Core 512 GB 6 TB $260/mo $0.3611/hr
VULTR64GB 48 GB 12 Core 768 GB 10 TB $321/mo $0.4458/hr

 

AWS

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
AWS Small 1.75 GB 1vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $36.51/mo $0.0507/hr
AWS Medium 3.75 GB 1vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $86.77/mo $0.1205/hr
AWS CO Large 4 GB 2vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $158.26 /mo $0.2198/hr
AWS Large 8 GB 2vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $176.26/mo $0.2448/hr
AWS CO XL 8 GB 4vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $252.73/mo $0.3510/hr
AWS XL 16 GB 4vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $274.33/mo $0.3810/hr
AWS CO 2XL 16 GB 8vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $395.02/mo $0.5514/hr
AWS 2XL 32 GB 8vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $426.70/mo $0.5954/hr
AWS CO 4XL 32 GB 16vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $639.82/mo $0.8914/hr
AWS 4XL 64 GB 16vCPU 20 GB  2 GB $703.18/mo $0.9794/hr
AWS CO 9XL 72 GB 36vCPU 20 GB  2 GB $1351.82/mo $1.8803/hr
AWS 12XL 192 GB 48vCPU 20 GB  2 GB $1909.10/mo $2.6543/hr
AWS CO 18XL 144 GB 72vCPU 20 GB  2 GB $2453.42/mo $3.4103/hr
AWS 24XL 384 GB 96vCPU 20 GB  2 GB $3567.98/mo $4.9583/hr

 

Google Cloud

Name RAM Processor Storage Bandwidth Monthly Price Hourly Price
GCE Small 1.70 GB 1vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $33.30/mo $0.0463/hr
GCE n1-std-1 3.75 GB 1vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $73.62/mo $0.1023/hr
GCE HC2 1.80 GB 2vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $116.68/mo $0.1621/hr
GCE n1-std-2 7.5 GB 2vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $138.64/mo $0.1926/hr
GCE HC4 3.60 GB 4vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $202.14/mo $0.2808/hr
GCE n1-std-4 15 GB 4vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $226.05/mo $0.3140/hr
GCE HC8 7.20 GB 8vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $350.61/mo $0.4870/hr
GCE n1-std-8 30 GB 8vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $412.82/mo $0.5734/hr
GCE HC16 14.40 GB 16vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $597.64/mo $0.8301/hr
GCE n1-std-16 60 GB 16vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $722.06/mo $1.0029/hr
GCE HC32 28.80 GB 32vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $1041.59/mo $1.4467/hr
GCE n1-std-32 120 GB 32vCPU 20 GB 2 GB $1290.42/mo $1.7923/hr

 

Why Not Go Directly to the Providers?

One of the purposes of our Cloudways review was figuring out why users should go with this platform and not turn directly to the infrastructure providers. Opting for Digital Ocean, Vultr, AAWS, Linode, or Google Cloud directly will grant you a lower price but you’d have to set up everything by yourself. Cloudways gives you an expert team to handle everything. 

That said, if you are looking for a cheaper but solid hosting provider more oriented towards beginners, you might want to consider a Cloudways alternative. Specifically, we made a Cloudways vs Bluehost comparison and the results show that the latter is also a good option for managed WordPress hosting. Plus, you’d get email hosting at no additional price — a perk that isn’t offered by Cloudways. 

 

The Verdict

Our Cloudways review conclusively shows that this platform is unique. Aimed at developers, the plans are scalable and affordable. It gives you all the benefits of top web hosting — fast loading speeds, great uptime, robust security, and efficient support — but through a more user-friendly platform. Plus, the pricing is flexible — you won’t have to worry about high renewal fees that plague the industry.