Cloudways is not your bargain basement host, but worth every penny for serious site runners seeking premium support and top-notch hosting across multiple clouds. Newbies beware: this is high octane hosting for the seasoned operators.
Suitable for: eCommerce, Enterprise, Managed WordPress, or Developers-friendly Hosting
Website: https://www.cloudways.com/en/
Cloudways Who? Quick Intro
Established in 2011 by co-founders Aaqib Gadit, Pere Hospital, and Uzair Gadit, Cloudways is a managed hosting platform that initially focused on leveraging partnerships with AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Digital Ocean to serve its customers better. The acquisition by DigitalOcean in August 2022 further solidified this partnership, enhancing Cloudways’ ability to provide superior managed hosting solutions.
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What We Think About Cloudways Hosting
Cloudways is not your bargain basement host, but worth every penny for serious site runners seeking premium support and top-notch hosting across multiple clouds. Newbies beware: this is high octane hosting for the seasoned operators.
Cloudways Pros
- Topnotch server uptime and speed performance
- Good abstration over complex cloud server setups with integrated dashboard
- Outstanding customer support
- High scalability
- Easy server cloning, site staging, and website transfer
- Host unlimited applications in one account
- 25% discount for first two months with coupon “HOSTSCORE”
Cloudways Cons
- Getting expensive – Prices increased steadily for the past few years
- Limited trial period
Jump: See how many readers recommend Cloudways
Cloudways – Our Overall Experience & Findings
| Performance | What server speed features does Cloudways offer?
We have been using Cloudways for years (FYI, this site is hosted at Cloudways), and the web host consistently impresses us with its solid uptime and speed performance. Cloudways comes with full-fledged server speed features including a built-in cache, free CDN, NVMe SSD storage, and pre-optimized WordPress environment. Their new Cloudflare Enterprise Add-on further expands performance features like Edge Page Caching, automatic image & mobile optimization, Brotli compression, PCI DSS Compliance, Argo Smart Routing. All these make Cloudways-hosted websites quicker and more efficient. The company publishes their server and network service status publicly, click here to visit. |
| Security | Are websites hosted at Cloudways safe?
Cloudways excels in security, offering top-notch measures to safeguard your website. Their platform boasts features like advanced web application firewall (WAF), free SSL, daily backup, to ensure your data remains secure and your site impervious to common cyber threats. |
| Supports | Is Cloudways customer support good?
Cloudways offers customer support that is highly praised for its technical expertise and rapid response times, assisting users effectively with complex hosting issues. Help is avaliable via live chat and email. |
| Value for Money | Does Cloudways offer good value for its pricing?
Cloudways is not cheap but reasonably priced when weighed against its feature offerings and long-term cost. The company is uniquely positioned as a premium, managed cloud hosting solution, offering more than basic infrastructure providers in terms of management and support, and more than traditional hosting in terms of performance and scalability. The premium you pay to Cloudways are for the value-added services and better performance you can’t get with other providers. |
| Overall Users Satisfaction | What other users think of Cloudways?
Cloudways is considered by many the best hosting solution in the market. Based on our collected data and market feedback, customers often highlight Cloudways for its excellent hosting performance, outstanding customer support, and impressive built-in features. Cloudways Support Team is highly regarded for their patience, quick response, and knowledge in resolving technical issues. Readers who need frequent technical help in hosting their websites should take note of this. For additional insights, please refer to the user reviews section below. |
| Beginners Friendliness | Is Cloudways suitable for beginners?
We do not recommend Cloudways to smaller blogs or newbies. The platform does offer an easy-to-use integrated dashboard, managed security, and impressive performance – which all are great for those new to web hosting. However, it’s 100% – 150% more expensive than traditional shared hosting, which might be a consideration for those just starting out |
| Small Business Friendliness | Is Cloudways suitable for small businesses?
Cloudways is ideal for businesses requiring more than just an informational website, such as SaaS providers, startups, and online stores. The service provides access to multiple cloud platforms, offers extreme scalability, and easy management via an integrated dashboard. These features are beneficial for small businesses that need reliable performance and the ability to scale as they grow. |
| Web Developers Friendliness | Is Cloudways suitable for developers?
Cloudways stands out as an excellent choice for web developers. It provides flexible cloud hosting and simplifies team collaboration; and you’ll benefit from managed security and white-label hosting options. Also, its scalability and quick response times are big pluses for larger projects and web development agencies. However, the pricing is slightly higher compared to unmanaged accounts from infrastructure providers; and the standard hosting plans does not support email hosting, which might be a limitation for some developers |
| Host Own Email | Can you host your own email accounts (email@yourdomain.com) with Cloudways?
Unfortunately, the email hosting feature does not come with Cloudways hosting plans by default. You can setup your email accounts on their platform, but that will requires additional fees ($1/mo per email account). Alternatively, you can also use a third-party email provider such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 (also requires additional fees). |
| Onboarding | Is it easy to get started with Cloudways as a new customer?
The onboarding process for Cloudways is straightforward and user-friendly. The process begins with a selection from a variety of cloud providers (Digital Ocean, AWS, and Google Cloud), allowing users to customize their server resources according to their needs. This flexibility includes scaling server resources up or down as required, optimizing operational costs. Once you are in, everything from application installation to server launch and asking for technical supports is managed through a sleek user dashboard. |
Learn more, visit Cloudways online.
Cloudways Plans & Pricing
Cloudways works as a managed cloud hosting platform by offering a choice of top cloud infrastructure providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, and Google Cloud. Their service excels in boosting website performance and providing easy scalability – which is ideal for a range of users, from solo developers to large businesses. The combination of managed security, support, and user-friendly platform integration makes Cloudways a comprehensive and adaptable hosting solution.
When evaluating your options, it’s crucial to remember that many hosting companies offer substantial discounts during the initial signup period, but the pricing often increases significantly upon renewal. You should thoroughly research and compare the renewal prices, not just the introductory rates, to understand the true cost of hosting over an extended period.
To help you make a more informed decision, we have prepared two tables below which compare the initial signup and subsequent renewal costs of Cloudways services with several other providers that we actively monitor.
Exclusive Deal Use promo code ‘HOSTSCORE’ to enjoy 25% discount for 2 months on your first bill. Click here to order with discount now.
Compare Cloudways Signup Price with Others
| Web Host | Shared | VPS | Dedicated | Cloud | WordPress | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $11.00 - 1056.00/mo | $14.00 - 487.00/mo | $ - /mo |
| HostPapa | $2.95 - 12.95/mo | $19.99 - 249.99/mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $19.95 - 114.95/mo | $ - /mo |
| ScalaHosting | $2.95 - 14.95/mo | $29.95 - 169.95/mo | $ - /mo | $20.00 - 179.00/mo | $2.95 - 14.95/mo | $40.00 - 485.00/mo |
| Digital Ocean | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $4.00 - 96.00/mo | $14.00 - 3569.98/mo | $ - /mo |
| OVHcloud | $1.04 - 13.19/mo | $0.97 - 36.24/mo | $49.32 - 828.12/mo | $29 - 429/mo | $4.39 - 13.19/mo | $6.44 - 36.24/mo |
| Kinsta | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $35.00 - 675.00/mo | $ - /mo |
Review Cloudways Renewal Price with Others
| Web Host | Shared | VPS | Dedicated | Cloud | WordPress | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $11.00 - 1056.00/mo | $14.00 - 487.00/mo | $ - /mo |
| HostPapa | $2.95 - 12.95/mo | $19.99 - 249.99/mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $19.95 - 114.95/mo | $ - /mo |
| ScalaHosting | $9.95 - 29.95/mo | $49.95 - 239.95/mo | $ - /mo | $20.00 - 179.00/mo | $9.95 - 29.95/mo | $40.00 - 485.00/mo |
| Digital Ocean | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $4.00 - 96.00/mo | $14.00 - 3569.98/mo | $ - /mo |
| OVHcloud | $1.04 - 13.19/mo | $4.2 - 39.4/mo | $65.99 - 920.99/mo | $29 - 429/mo | $4.39 - 13.19/mo | $7 - 39.4/mo |
| Kinsta | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $ - /mo | $35.00 - 675.00/mo | $ - /mo |
Caution: Web hosting prices can change frequently. For the most accurate pricing information please visit the official Cloudways website.
Bottomline: Is Cloudways Right for You?
Known for its stellar hosting performance and unparalleled customer support, Cloudways stands out in the managed cloud hosting arena. Picture an expert support team that’s always on, ready to serve up solutions on a silver platter, 24/7. With scalability that flexes like a gymnast, in both server power and data transfer, it’s a dream for sites that thrive on agility.
While Cloudways’ price point sits above the bargain bin, the return on investment in terms of site speed, reliability, and the peace of mind that comes with top-tier support and scalability is undeniable. It isn’t just recommended for those who need high-performance hosting; it’s a beacon for anyone looking to elevate their online experience, ensuring that your digital presence is not just noticed, but remembered.
I use CloudWays to host our website. Server performance is good and the website UI is intuitive and really clear. It makes me feel way more in control over what I am doing. Chat support is educated, fast, and helpful. I have made some configuration and payment mistakes in the past and they always helped me.
In my scenario (a WordPress website with WooCommerce on it) the website is always responsive and easy to navigate. It is using custom fonts and more than 10 shop products that are loading fast.
I used Cloudways for my personal sites and soon realized my company needed to be using Cloudways. The platform has the richest feature set of any hosting provider and their scalability is unmatched with many affordable options. We are moving our sites to Cloudways, especially after GoDaddy’s own support platform crashed and they were unable to help me. We were seeing incredibly slow server latency with GoDaddy and even their WHM & cPanel were lagging. This was using a dedicated server as well. They solved our issue of server latency, backups, CDN, etc.
We have used [Cloudways] to host our social media monitoring platform in PHP. It is probably used by whole organization as our company is small.
What business problems does it address?
We needed a separate server since the social platform is very power consuming. That kind of power cannot be fulfilled by shared servers. And thus we need cloud servers. Cloudways was a good abstraction – it reduced the set up complexity of a cloud server. Everything was on a click. When you dont know how to set up a cloud server technically, (The LAMP stack or the PHP settings etc) Cloudways comes handy. You can easily modify the server settings with one click.
However I find it less appropriate for developers and technical person – If you want to save costs, go for direct cloud providers. Setting up technical stuff is a one time job.
A client was using Pantheon hosting for their website; we needed an environment to support us with two aspects.
1) Scaling website resources to support seasonal spikes in concurrent users easily 2) Reliable uptime and consistent bandwidth and
latency. I looked at a number of suppliers and tech stacks (cloud, VPS, shared hosting)etc.
Finally, I concluded Cloudways as the top choice as they would host the site with the vendor of our choice and provide us with an easy-to-use solution for management and scaling. The website is connected to native Android and ioS Apps, and there are a lot of API requests to sync with the apps. With
all of this going on, Cloudways has been dependable and one less thing to worry about.