Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting services with a focus on flexibility and performance. They provide hosting solutions on top of cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean, with easy scalability and managed support.
Table of Contents
Cloudways – Hosting Review 2024
| Speed | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.7/5) |
| Ease of use | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.3/5) |
| Pricing | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.0/5) |
|---|---|
| Uptime | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.8/5) |
| Customer Support | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5/5) |
Summary
Cloudways is one of the best managed web hosts in my opinion. It provides you with superior performance in terms of speed, scalability, uptime, and load handling. If you are looking to host high-traffic websites, Cloudways can be a good option.
Cloudways Hosting Starting Prices:
For consistency across our hosting reviews, we’ll be focusing on Bluehost’s starting prices with a 12-month term. If you commit to a longer period of time, the price will usually be cheaper!
- DigitalOcean: DO1GB plan starts at $11 USD/Month
- VULTR: Vultr1GB plan starts at $16 USD/Month
- Linode: Lin1GB plan starts at $14 USD/Month
- AWS: AWS Small plan starts at $38.56 USD/Month
- Google Cloud: GCE Small plan starts at $37.45 USD/Month
About of Cloudways Company
Cloudways Hosting was founded in 2009 by Uzair Gadit, Aquib Gadit, and Pere Hospital, and is headquartered in Malta, Europe. The founders aimed to create a perfect blend of managed and unmanaged hosting, allowing customers to enjoy the best features of both worlds.
Recently, Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean, which could enhance DigitalOcean’s ability to support small business owners at various stages of their business development.
What sets Cloudways apart from other hosting providers like Hostinger and A2 Hosting is that it is a ‘Managed Cloud Hosting Provider.’ Let’s explore what that means.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Cloudways
Pros of Cloudways
🟢 Exceptional Speeds
With Cloudways, you get to experience extremely swift website speeds. With my Singapore servers, I observed speeds of 1.2 sec in India and 3.4 sec in the US regions.
🟢 Efficient Load Management
Cloudways is one of the best for load management. Even with thousands of requests, it maintains a stable response time of 8.77 ms with zero HTTP failures.
🟢 Terrific Uptime
In the last year, the uptime of Cloudways has been a solid 99.99%. Even the cheapest server of Digital Ocean provides 99.99% uptime, which is really impressive.
🟢 Global Data Centers
Because it partners with unmanaged hosting companies like AWS, Digital Ocean, and Google Cloud, you get access to over 37 data centers spread across the globe.
🟢 Good Customer Support Quality
Their live chat support is quick and responsive. Along with that, their support team is technically well-versed and offers precise solutions for my queries. The knowledge base is well designed too.
🟢 Constant Renewal Price
Cloudways charges you a fixed amount for renewing a hosting plan or purchasing a new one. It does not hike up the fee on renewals.
🟢 Cloudways Autonomous
Recently, Cloudways has launched the new Cloudways Autonomous feature which automatically upscales or downscales your servers as per your incoming traffic. It starts from an expensive $35/mo.
🟢 Excellent Backup Management
It lets you create customizable backups on demand or set your backup preferences for creating automated backups.
🟢 Advanced Security
Cloudways offers lots of security features to safeguard your website from malicious software, unauthorized users, malware, and more.
🟢 Easy Scaling
It is an extremely flexible service, so you can increase or decrease your server’s capacity as per spikes in your website traffic.
Cons of Cloudways
🔴 No Email Hosting
Sadly, you don’t get free email hosting on Cloudways. This feature can be enabled with their paid add-on called RackSpace.
🔴 No Linode and Vultr Servers
After the acquisition of Cloudways by Digital Ocean, they discontinued the servers of Linode and Digital Ocean.
🔴 Support Quality Degraded
After the Digital Ocean acquisition, the quality of live chat and email support has gone down a little bit. I hope they work on improving it in the future.
🔴 No Free Domain
You don’t get a free domain along with your hosting purchase on Cloudways.
🔴 Slight Learning Curve
Beginners might experience a slight learning curve with the diverse options available in the Cloudways console. My Cloudways Training Program might help!
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Why Should You Choose Cloudways?
Cloudways is the Ultimate Hosting Provider Great platform for when you need a VPS but don’t have the time to configure and maintain your own server. The support team is efficient and always goes above and beyond to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Here are some of the features that make Cloudways a tempting prospect for WordPress users.
- No Traffic Limit on Any Plans
- More Than 60 Data Centers
- 5 Different Cloud Providers
- Vertical Scaling
- Pay as You Go
- Pre-Installed Object Cache Pro
- Unlimited Free WordPress Migrations
The benefits of Cloudways include ease of use, account management for teams, superb protection, affordability, free migration, and 24/7 live chat. Here’s more on that.
Cloudways Hosting Plans Details
Cloudways offers a variety of cloud hosting plans through multiple cloud infrastructure providers, including DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. Here’s an overview of their main hosting plans, specifications, and pricing for each provider:
1. DigitalOcean Plans
Basic Plan:
Price : Starting at $12/month
Specifications :
- 1 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 25 GB SSD storage
- 1 TB bandwidth
Standard Plan:
Price : Starting at $26/month
Specifications :
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 50 GB SSD storage
- 2 TB bandwidth
Premium Plan:
Price : Starting at $50/month
Specifications :
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 Core Processor
- 80 GB SSD storage
- 4 TB bandwidth
Professional Plan:
Price : Starting at $96/month
Specifications :
- 8 GB RAM
- 4 Core Processor
- 160 GB SSD storage
- 5 TB bandwidth
2. Linode Plans
Basic Plan:
Price : Starting at $14/month
Specifications :
- 1 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 25 GB SSD storage
- 1 TB bandwidth
Standard Plan:
Price : Starting at $28/month
Specifications :
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 50 GB SSD storage
- 2 TB bandwidth
Premium Plan:
Price : Starting at $54/month
Specifications :
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 Core Processor
- 80 GB SSD storage
- 4 TB bandwidth
Professional Plan:
Price : Starting at $100/month
Specifications :
- 8 GB RAM
- 4 Core Processor
- 160 GB SSD storage
- 5 TB bandwidth
3. Vultr Plans
Basic Plan:
Price : Starting at $11/month
Specifications :
- 1 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 25 GB SSD storage
- 1 TB bandwidth
Standard Plan:
Price : Starting at $23/month
Specifications :
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 Core Processor
- 55 GB SSD storage
- 2 TB bandwidth
Premium Plan:
Price : Starting at $44/month
Specifications :
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 Core Processor
- 80 GB SSD storage
- 3 TB bandwidth
Professional Plan:
Price : Starting at $84/month
Specifications :
- 8 GB RAM
- 4 Core Processor
- 160 GB SSD storage
- 4 TB bandwidth
4. AWS Plans
Small Plan:
Price : Starting at $38.56/month
Specifications :
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 vCPU
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Medium Plan:
Price : Starting at $86.77/month
Specifications :
- 4 GB RAM
- 2 vCPUs
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Large Plan:
Price : Starting at $176.26/month
Specifications :
- 8 GB RAM
- 4 vCPUs
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Extra Large Plan:
Price : Starting at $274.33/month
Specifications :
- 16 GB RAM
- 8 vCPUs
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
5. Google Cloud Plans
Small Plan:
Price : Starting at $37.45/month
Specifications :
- 1.70 GB RAM
- 1 vCPU
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Medium Plan:
Price : Starting at $82.10/month
Specifications :
- 3.75 GB RAM
- 1 vCPU
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Large Plan:
Price : Starting at $135.98/month
Specifications :
- 7.5 GB RAM
- 2 vCPUs
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Extra Large Plan:
Price : Starting at $225.93/month
Specifications :
- 15 GB RAM
- 4 vCPUs
- 20 GB SSD storage
- 2 GB bandwidth
Everything you Need to Know about this Web Hosting. Learn about How It Works and How to Choose The Best Option for you. Note: These specifitions can be changed any time and the hosting price can increase. So Let’s take a closer look at the technical specifications of each hosting plan you can visit their official website.
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Cloudways Features Overview
| ⭐ Rating | ⭐️⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.8/5) |
| 💲 Price | Starts From $12/month |
| ⚡ Speed | Optimized stack with advanced caching (Varnish, Memcached, Redis), PHP 7 ready |
| 🕒 Uptime | 99.99% uptime guarantee |
| 🔗 Free Domain | Not included |
| 🌎 Data Centers | 60+ data centers across DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode |
| ➡️ Migrations | Free first site migration |
| 👨💻 Support | 24/7/365 support via live chat and ticketing system, premium support available |
| 🛡️ Security | Dedicated firewalls, regular security patching, free SSL certificates, IP whitelisting |
| 🔄 Backups | Automated backups with customizable frequency |
| 💰 Money back guarantee | 3-day free trial available instead of a traditional money-back guarantee |
| 🔥 Coupon Code | Various promotions available (“CLOUDWAYS30” for 30% off for the first 3 months) |
Check More Web hosting:
- Hostinger Web Hosting Review
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- HostGator Web Hosting Review
- GoDaddy Web Hosting Review
User Interface
Cloudways offers a modern and minimalistic interface with a custom control panel focused on cloud server management.
The dashboard includes server and application management, along with team collaboration tools, making it intuitive yet requiring some technical knowledge.
Server Response Time
Cloudways site recorded an average response time of 266 ms while handling 500 Simultaneous visitors. A total of 56069 requests are processed without any error.
The Cloudways site recorded an average global TTFB of 446 ms, with the fastest TTFB in all the places.
I tested the Core Web Vitals of my Cloudways site, and the site recorded:
- Largest Contentful Paint: 595 ms
- Total Blocking time: 0 ms
- Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.07
Uptime
Cloudways boasts a remarkable 99.99% uptime guarantee, ensuring that your websites and applications remain accessible virtually all the time. This high level of reliability is achieved through the utilization of multiple cloud infrastructure providers, including DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode.
Each of these providers offers robust and resilient data centers across the globe, which further enhances the uptime and performance of hosted services. Additionally, Cloudways’ proactive monitoring and auto-healing technology quickly address any potential issues, minimizing downtime and maintaining seamless operation for users. This commitment to uptime makes Cloudways a dependable choice for businesses seeking consistent and uninterrupted online presence.
Page Loading Speed
Cloudways offers a cloud hosting platform that delivers an average page loading speed of 400 ms. Their multi-cloud infrastructure, including options like AWS and Google Cloud, allows users to choose high-performance servers optimized for speed.
Free SSL
Cloudways offers free SSL certificates with all its managed cloud hosting plans. Utilizing Let’s Encrypt, Cloudways ensures that websites hosted on their platform are secure and trustworthy, which is critical for businesses of all sizes.
Security Measures
For a site owner, maintaining security is the biggest and ongoing challenge, especially with the increasing number of attacks and threats that can cause huge loss of data and can damage your site. This is why you have to make sure that you take various security measures to protect it from hackers. With Cloudways, your site is in good hands because their expert team is ready to deal with security threats and vulnerabilities as soon as they are discovered.
Cloudways platform comes with different security features that are designed to secure your site and server at all levels. Let’s take a brief look at its security features.
Ease of Use: 9/10
Cloudways offers an exceptionally user-friendly platform for managed cloud hosting. The custom control panel is intuitive, with features like one-click server and application management, automated backups, and monitoring tools. The platform abstracts the complexity of cloud infrastructure, making it accessible even for non-technical users.
Backup And Restoration
Cloudways focuses on providing seamless backup and restoration with cloud hosting flexibility:
- Automated Backups: Schedule backups hourly, daily, or weekly with retention periods ranging from 1 to 4 weeks.
- On-Demand Backups: Create backups manually before major updates or changes.
- One-Click Restoration: Easily restore backups with a single click, ensuring quick recovery and minimal downtime.
Live Support And Customer Service
Cloudways focuses on delivering expert support for cloud hosting solutions:
- 24/7 Support: Available via live chat and ticketing system.
- CloudwaysBot: AI-powered assistant providing real-time insights and notifications.
- Knowledge Base: Comprehensive articles and guides for self-service.
- Community Forum: Interact with other Cloudways users and experts.
Best Cloudways Plan For Beginners Users
Cloudways’ DigitalOcean Basic plan, starting at $12/month, is perfect for beginners, offering 1 GB RAM, 25 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, and managed hosting with easy scalability and 24/7 support.
Best Cloudways Plan For Advanced Users
Cloudways’ Premium plan on Google Cloud, starting at $36.51/month, is ideal for advanced users. It offers 3.75 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, 2 vCPUs, 2 TB bandwidth, advanced caching, staging environments, and dedicated firewalls, ensuring high performance and robust security for demanding applications.
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Cloudways Pricing vs Competitor Pricing
Take a look at the table below to compare our top three hosting providers when it comes to pricing. Again, we’ve focused on 12-month subscriptions to keep the comparison fair.
| Provider | Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting | Dedicated Hosting | WordPress Hosting |
| Cloudways | $11 | $38.56 | $37.45 | $16 |
| Inmotion | $3.49 | $24.99 | $89.99 | $4.49 |
| Hostinger | $2.99 | $24.99 | $9.99 | $3.99 |
Conclusion Of Cloudways Hosting
We concluded this Cloudways review, so let us summarise its key points. This platform has been experienced in the hosting business since it was founded in 2011. It offers managed web hosting, which also provides over 25 data centres across the world. This ensures fast speed and connection worldwide.
Cloudways offers flexibility and powerful performance through its managed cloud hosting services. It supports multiple cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean, providing scalable solutions with advanced control and customization options. The pay-as-you-go pricing model, automated backups, and dedicated security features make it suitable for developers and tech-savvy users who need a robust infrastructure without managing the underlying server. If you’re considering a switch or starting a new project, I highly recommend giving Cloudways a try.
FAQs
Q: What is Cloudways?
Ans: Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that offers hosting services on top of major cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr. Cloudways provides a user-friendly interface, performance optimization, and managed security.
Q: What type of hosting service does Cloudways provide?
Ans: Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting with support for multiple cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr.
Q: Is there a free trial for Cloudways?
Ans: Yes, Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial without requiring a credit card.
Q: Does Cloudways provide 24/7 support?
Ans: Yes, Cloudways offers 24/7 customer support through live chat and tickets.
Q: What cloud providers does Cloudways support?
Ans: Cloudways supports cloud hosting from AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr.
Q: Does Cloudways offer managed database services?
Ans: Yes, Cloudways offers managed database services for MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL.
Q: What security features does Cloudways provide?
Ans: Cloudways provides security features such as dedicated firewalls, two-factor authentication, and automated backups.