Cloudways is a cloud-based managed hosting service that offers a platform to host web applications and websites on top-tier cloud infrastructure. Launched in 2011, Cloudways has gained popularity among developers and businesses due to its user-friendly interface, flexibility, and support for multiple cloud providers including Amazon AWS.
I’ve tested the service in-depth, and we currently have one of our sites loaded on it and running in both a live and staging environment.
Cloudways Review
Product Name: Cloudways
Product Description: Cloudways hosting has been around for a while and has recently been investing and expanding its core products and hosting interface. They are a cloud-focused hosting provider, featuring Digital Ocean, Linode, Amazon AWS, Vultr, and GCP servers.
Summary
Cloudways offers some solid cloud hosting options at decent prices. However they fall a bit short in the customer service department, and in our tests some of the hosting interface functionality (backups for example) took longer than expected to complete.
Overall
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Cloud Providers
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User Interface
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Customer Service
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Cloud Cost
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WP Managed Cost
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Overall Value
Pros
- 6 cloud hosting providers to choose from
- Transparent pricing
- Managed security
- Easy setup and install
Cons
- Reports of less than exceptional customer service
- Some lagging/sluggishness in interface functionality
Consumer Reviews
This is the aggregate score of reader reviews we’ve received on Cloudways. Have a good or bad experience with Cloudways? Feel free to leave your review in the comments. Only ratings with valid review content will be published and counted.
Key Features
- Managed Cloud Infrastructure: Cloudways provides access to top cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr. Users can choose their preferred cloud infrastructure for hosting their applications, and Cloudways manages the technical aspects, such as server setup, security, and maintenance.
- User-Friendly Platform: One of the standout features of Cloudways is its intuitive control panel. It allows users to easily deploy and manage applications, scale resources, monitor performance, and handle backups without the need for advanced technical knowledge.
- Server Scalability: Cloudways enables seamless vertical and horizontal scaling. Users can upgrade server resources like RAM, CPU, and storage instantly to accommodate traffic spikes or growing demands. Horizontal scaling, on the other hand, lets users add more servers to distribute the load and ensure high availability.
- SSD-Based Hosting: All hosting plans on Cloudways come with SSD-based storage, which ensures faster data access times and contributes to improved website performance.
- Managed Security: Cloudways takes security seriously and provides multiple layers of protection. Features such as regular security patching, firewalls, IP whitelisting, and automated backups help safeguard users’ data and applications.
- Multiple Data Centers: Cloudways offers various data center locations around the world, allowing users to choose the closest one to their target audience for better website performance and reduced latency.
- Integrated CDN: A Content Delivery Network (CDN) can be easily integrated into Cloudways hosting plans. This helps to distribute static content across multiple servers globally, enhancing page load times for visitors from different regions.
- Staging Environment: Cloudways provides a staging environment where users can test changes, updates, or new features to their website before deploying them to the live server. This helps to prevent any potential issues or downtime on your live site.
- Application and Server Monitoring: The platform offers detailed monitoring tools to monitor website performance, server resource utilization, and traffic metrics. This data is crucial for identifying and addressing performance bottlenecks.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simplified Hosting Management: Cloudways abstracts much of the technical complexity associated with cloud hosting, making it accessible to users with varying technical expertise. The user-friendly interface and guided setup process streamline the hosting experience. | Limited Email Hosting: Cloudways does not provide built-in email hosting services. While this can be quickly addressed using third-party email services or integrating with external providers, it might be inconvenient for some users who prefer an all-in-one hosting solution. |
| Flexibility in Cloud Providers: Users can choose their preferred cloud provider from a list of reputable options. This allows businesses to select a provider that aligns with their needs and budget. | No Domain Registration: Unlike some other hosting providers, Cloudways does not offer domain registration services. Users must register their domains through a separate domain registrar and connect them to their Cloudways hosting account. |
| Performance Optimization: With SSD-based hosting, integrated CDN, and server scaling capabilities, Cloudways can significantly enhance website performance, resulting in faster loading times and better user experience. | Learning Curve for Beginners: While Cloudways aims to simplify hosting management, it still requires users to have some technical understanding of cloud hosting concepts. Beginners might find the initial setup and configuration slightly challenging. |
| Managed Security: Cloudways takes care of server security, regular updates, and backups, allowing users to focus on their websites and applications without worrying about security maintenance. | Some Interface and Operations Slowness: In my experience, functions in the interface (such as running a backup) took much longer to complete than those offered by Kinsta (think minutes vs. seconds). |
| Transparent Pricing: Cloudways adopts a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means users only pay for the resources they consume. The transparent pricing structure and no long-term contracts make it budget-friendly and suitable for businesses of all sizes. | Flexibility in Cloud Providers: Users can choose their preferred cloud provider from a list of reputable options. This allows businesses to select a provider that aligns with their specific needs and budget. |
| Limited Control over Server Configuration: Cloudways abstracts the server infrastructure for ease of use, but advanced users looking for fine-grained control over server configurations may find some limitations. |
Pricing And Plans
Cloudways adopts a pay-as-you-go pricing model. The costs are based on the chosen cloud provider, server size, and additional features such as backups and CDN integration. Pricing varies depending on the cloud provider. Here’s a general idea of the pricing structure for popular providers:
- DigitalOcean: Plans start at $10 monthly for 1 GB RAM, 1 Core Processor, 25 GB Storage, and 1 TB Bandwidth.
- Linode: Plans start at $12 monthly for 1 GB RAM, 1 Core Processor, 25 GB Storage, and 1 TB Bandwidth.
- Vultr: Plans start at $11 monthly for 1 GB RAM, 1 Core Processor, 25 GB Storage, and 1 TB Bandwidth.
- AWS: Plans start at $36.51 monthly for 1.75 GB RAM, 1 Core Processor, 20 GB Storage, and 2 GB Bandwidth.
- GCP: Plans start at $33.30 monthly for 1.70 GB RAM, 1 Core Processor, 20 GB Storage, and 2 GB Bandwidth.
Remember, these prices can change over time, and Cloudways often runs promotions and discounts, so it’s best to check their website for the most up-to-date pricing information.
What’s Included?
All Cloudways DO data center hosting plans come with these key features:
- 24/7/365 support
- 24/7 real-time monitoring
- Automated backups (daily or on demand)
- Staging environment
- Security: free SSL, HTTP/2 enabled servers, regular security patching, and dedicated firewalls
- SSH and SFTP access
- Free Migration
- Unlimited application installation
- Team management
No Email Hosting? Rackspace Email Add-On
While Cloudways lacks an email hosting option, you can integrate Rackspace Cloud Email using an add-on. The interface is very simple, and you’ll be able to manage your Rackspace email from within the Cloudways interface, any browser using the webmail interface (this is the same as the one used by Rackspace natively), or via your favorite mail client.
The most important step is updating your DNS records (MX values) accordingly:
| Type | Hostname | Destination | Priority | TTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MX | @ or left blank | mx1.emailsrvr.com | 10 | 3600 seconds or lowest allowed |
| MX | @ or left blank | mx2.emailsrvr.com | 20 | 3600 seconds or lowest allowed |
| TXT | @ or left blank | v=spf1 include:emailsrvr.com ~all | NA | 3600 seconds or lowest allowed |
| CNAME | autodiscover | autodiscover.emailsrvr.com | NA | 3600 seconds or lowest allowed |
Need help? Let us know in the comments where you’re stuck!
Digital Ocean (DO) Server Pricing
The Cloudways standard server is a Digital Ocean server. The pricing is as follows:
You can always start with a lower plan and increase to a higher plan as you need more RAM, processing power, storage, or bandwidth.
Premium vs Standard
You’ll notice on the pricing pages the option to choose between “premium” and “standard” versions of the hosting plans. What’s the difference? In short, think of the premium version as a slightly fancier and faster car. The premium servers boast improved stats over the standard servers. However, our tests suggest you won’t notice a huge difference if you’re running mission-critical applications or sites with heavy logged-in users or PHP/MySQL activity.
In most cases, you’re better off saving money and investing your time optimizing your site’s speed instead (via caching, reducing the number of plugins in use, etc.). For this reason, we’ve listed the standard pricing above vs. the premium pricing they default to.
Amazon AWS Data Center Pricing
Amazon AWS is known for its cloud hosting.
Managed WordPress Hosting Via Cloudways Autonomous
Cloudways Autonomous is Cloudways’ newest offering for WordPress users – allowing them to compete in the WordPress managed hosting space (where the hosting provider manages your WordPress site for you). Like most managed plans, the cost is based on resources, and in particular, the number of unique visits (unique IP addresses in a 24 hour period) your site receives.
Cloudways Autonomous is built on the Kubernetes platform (K8s).
What is Kubernetes? It is an open-source platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Google originally developed it and later donated it to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) in 2014.
Key Features
- Cloudways handles the management of the hosting infrastructure (server) for you.
- Server resources automatically adjust to handle traffic spikes.
- 4 server locations:
- South Carolina, USA
- Frankfurt, Germany
- London, UK
- Singapore
- All plans include:
- Backup and Restore
- Cloudflare Enterprise
- Load Balancing & Autoscaling
- Object Cache Pro
- Multiple PHP Versions & Unlimited Workers
How Much Does Cloudways Autonomous Cost?
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | Plan 5 | Plan 6 | Plan 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $35/mo | $90/mo | $145/mo | $240/mo | $555/mo | $955/mo | $1640/mo |
| Applications | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 50 | 90 |
| Disk Space | 15 GB | 25 GB | 40 GB | 60 GB | 90 GB | 120 GB | 200 GB |
| Visits | 30,000 | 70,000 | 125,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,500,00- |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB | 200 GB | 300 GB | 400 GB | 900 GB | 1,200 GB | 3,000 GB |
How much are the overage charges?
Overage charges are $1 per additional (in excess of your plan allocation):
- 1000 visits
- 10 GB bandwidth
- 500 MB disk space ($2/ GB)
Cloudways Alternatives
- SiteGround: SiteGround is a popular shared hosting provider known for its excellent customer support and performance. It is a good option for individuals and small businesses with lower traffic.
- DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and GCP (Self-Managed Google Cloud Hosting): If you are comfortable managing servers independently, you can use these cloud providers’ services without the additional layer of Cloudways. This will give you more control but requires more technical expertise.
- Kinsta: Kinsta is a premium managed WordPress hosting provider focusing on speed and security. It’s an excellent choice for businesses or individuals with high-traffic WordPress websites.
- WP Engine: Like Kinsta, WP Engine is another managed WordPress hosting service that specializes in WordPress optimization and security.
- Bluehost: Bluehost is a popular shared hosting provider that offers affordable plans suitable for beginners and small websites.
How Does Cloudways Compare?
Cloudways is a solid managed cloud hosting service that caters to experienced developers and individuals without much technical knowledge. Its user-friendly platform, flexible cloud provider options, performance optimization features, and managed security make it a compelling choice for hosting web applications and websites. However, the lack of built-in email hosting and domain registration and the learning curve for beginners might be drawbacks for some. Check out our best web hosting for small business comparison to see how Cloudways stacks up to the competition.
Think you’ll give Cloudways a shot for your hosting needs? Let us know in the comments!
