Product Name: Cloudways
Summary
Based on our findings & usage, Cloudways looks like a reliable cloud hosting option that gives you the advantage of choosing from 5 top cloud providers under one roof.
I switched to Cloudways 2 years back, and within this span, I never faced any lack in my site’s speed or safety. There was no downtime. Most importantly, I received on-time technical support whenever I needed it.
No built-in CDN, backup charges, and paid migrations after the first migration could be some limitations of using Cloudways. Their plans start at as low as $11/mo.
With just 1 server launched, you can host as many websites/applications as you want in just 1-click without worrying about their performance.
They meet all your needs, be it the website speed, uptime, security, or ease of use without breaking the bank.
On top of that, you’re backed by a knowledgeable technical support team which is available 24/7 365 days a year.
Keep in mind that with Cloudways, you cannot register a domain, and you won’t receive a free CDN or a free email address, which is a notable drawback.
Overall, if you are looking forward to hosting a successful online business, Cloudways is certainly a better value for money.
Are you planning to use Cloudways to host your site? Looking for an unbiased Cloudways review for 2024? You’re in the right place.
First things first: Cloudways is different from a typical web hosting provider.
Cloudways simplifies cloud hosting by enabling you to set up your website on five popular cloud servers including DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Amazon AWS, and Google Cloud.
When you create a new website at Cloudways, you can choose any cloud host of your choice and server size which you can always scale whenever required.
Now the question comes, is Cloudways worth your money?
Well, in this detailed Cloudways review, we’ll talk about;
- Cloudways hosting performance (speed, response time, stress test, and uptime)
- Our experience with their support team
- Cloudways key features & benefits
- Pricing & exclusive offers
- Pros & cons of Cloudways
- Cloudways alternatives
- Real customer reviews, and a lot more
So, are you ready? Let’s jump into the details to read our in-depth Cloudways review to decide whether it’s a good hosting choice.
Disclaimer
We have been using Cloudways (DO 1 GB Premium Plan) for one of our websites for almost 2 years (September 2022 – June 2024 ) now.
We have also added screenshots of the first 5 and the recent 5 invoices to keep it more transparent.
Other resources used on this site: GeneratePress Premium theme plus WP Rocket caching plugin.
Table of Contents
Cloudways Review 2024: Is It An Affordable & Superfast Cloud Web Host?
Cloudways Quick Overview
Cloudways was founded by Aaqib Gadit in 2012 to help SMBs grow their business and improve productivity with peace of mind.
On 23rd August 2022, Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean with the same mission of making life easier for agencies, developers, and SMBs.
Currently, Cloudways is trusted by over 840K global businesses.
They have a team of 280+ employees which works as your extended team and ensures you face zero hosting hiccups.
Cloudways is rated #1 in managed hosting on G2 and has 73 NPS (Net Promoter Score) which itself tells how satisfied their customers are.
Below is the incredible list of features offered by Cloudways hosting;
- Access to 5 leading cloud providers
- 1-click app deployment
- Seamless vertical scaling
- Built-in caching mechanisms
- HTTP/2 enabled servers
- Free SSL certificate
- Regular security patching
- Automated backups
- 24/7 real-time monitoring
- Dedicated firewalls
- Staging environment
- SSH and SFTP access
- Git integration
- Streamlined team management
- 24/7/365 support
Cloudways Hosting Speed Test
We all know faster websites have many benefits including better user experience, improved site rankings, higher conversion rates, and so on.
Cloudways claims to offer superior website performance.
Is that really true? Let’s find out now.
I analyzed the load time of one of our websites which is hosted on Cloudways (using Digital Ocean 1 GB Premium Plan), and here are the speed test reports;
On GTMetrix
On Pingdom
As you can see above, the site is loading within half a second which is really impressive.
Not only quick load times but Core Web Vitals which is a key factor in Google’s search rankings also passed.
Cloudways TTFB / Server Response Time
TTFB stands for Time to First Byte. It is time taken by the browser to receive the first byte of data from the server side.
A low TTFB score gives a better user experience.
We measured Cloudways TTFB from various different locations, below are the results;
In Europe and America, TTFB is excellent but in the Asia Pacific & Africa, it’s not that good.
Please note, that this site is hosted in New York and no CDN (Content Delivery Network) is being used. This might be the reason behind the high TTFB value in Asia Pacific & Africa.
To avoid this, choose a data center nearest to your target audience, or take advantage of any CDN service.
Cloudways Stress / Load Testing
All the tests performed above are for regular traffic.
What if you have an application or e-commerce store where you can expect a sudden spike in traffic? Is Cloudways server capable of handling heavy loads? Let’s check this.
To perform the stress test, we used an app called Loader.io and sent 250 visits per minute, here are the results;
- Response time between 29ms-86ms
- Avg Response Time: 31ms
- Timeout: Zero
We also monitored our server’s performance during the stress/load tests and noticed only 3% usage to serve 250 users in one minute.
Overall, it’s an excellent result.
We also checked the report of the Kinsta vs WPEngine vs Cloudways performance test conducted by Cloudways itself which clearly shows Cloudways outperforms other managed web hosting providers when it comes to serving a bigger audience.
Cloudways Uptime Analysis
Nothing could be more frustrating than an entirely down website.
If your website speed is good but is frequently down, you are miles away from running a successful online business.
An offline website not only impacts the site visitor’s immediate experience but also potential long-term loyalty, brand reputation, and sales opportunities.
So, it becomes important to keep an eye on the uptime of your web hosting provider before making a firm decision.
Cloudways offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee to all its customers.
Let’s see whether they meet this requirement as well…
Well, from the beginning, we have been monitoring the uptime of the same site with a tool called UptimeRobot, and the report is in front of you.
100% uptime, no incident reported so far.
Did you see that?
Also, be informed that Cloudways servers are self-healing servers, so anytime something goes wrong, your server will be restarted automatically.
You can cross-check your server functioning from the Manage Services tab under Server Management. From here, you can also stop or restart any service manually with just one click.
Quick Verdict
All in all, Cloudways offers best-in-class speed & performance that ensure your site loads properly and your business keeps growing. Turning on CDN will definitely improve the performance of users located far from your data center.
Cloudways Hosting Support Check
Cloudways has a great team of experts which is an absolute peace of mind.
You can connect with them via live chat or tickets, and expect all your platform-level queries to get resolved promptly.
And if you believe in “do it yourself” you can navigate through their massive Knowledge-Base which has answers to all your questions.
In the past 2 years, we contacted their support team several times, and every time they solved our problem instantly.
Below is the snapshot of our latest conversation with the Cloudways support team;
As you can see in the picture above, we asked a question early morning from India and received a quick reply.
The best part is that we are on the Standard support which is a completely free service.
Cloudways Support Add-ons
Having said that, you may also opt for Cloudways Advance Support ($$25/mo) or Premium Support ($500/mo) add-ons which include the following features;
- Priority Support with improved SLAs
- Plugin/Theme Troubleshooting
- On-demand Performance/DB Optimization
- Deeper investigation of server errors
- Proactive Monitoring of your server
- Customization of your stack/server,
- Dedicated Account Manager
- Private Slack Channel (Premium)
- Phone Support (Premium)
Quick Verdict
For small businesses, the standard support system works well. However, for larger sites, the Cloudways premium support add-ons are invaluable for resolving high-level issues. If your site gets hacked or crashes, this premium support service can be extremely helpful. Nevertheless, charging an additional $500 solely for phone support is quite steep, and Cloudways should consider lowering this price.
Top 5 Benefits of Using Cloudways Hosting
What are the benefits of using Cloudways web hosting?
Why should you choose Cloudways instead of other web hosting providers?
Here are the top benefits of using it.
1. Access to 5 Cloud Providers
One of the major benefits of using the Cloudways platform is that it gives you access to five amazing cloud hosting providers which are;
1. DigitalOcean
2. AWS
3. Google Cloud
4. Vultr
5. Linode
It will be a daunting task if you want to individually host on any one of these cloud hosts.
Cloudways makes it easier for anyone to host their websites and takes away all the complexities of setting up your website quickly.
All you need to do is follow a simple 3-step process which is;
- Select your application (WordPress, WooCommerce, PHP, Laravel, or Magento)
- Pick your server (from 5 different cloud providers)
- Choose your server size
- Server location
That’s it, you’re done. You’re ready to set up your site within a few minutes.
2. Blazing-Fast Speed
Faster websites help you with better rankings, higher conversions, and better user experience.
Your web hosting provider plays a crucial role in your website loading times. Here’s where a cloud hosting provider like Cloudways comes into play as it offers faster performance and extremely fast loading time.
If you’re curious to know why Cloudways is faster, here’s the reason: it uses Cloudways Thunderstack technology which is packed with the world’s best server software to offer superior loading times.
Have a look at the following illustration to understand the Cloudways Thunderstack technology.
As you can see above, Cloudways uses a ton of various technologies that help you with better speeds and performance. Some of them include;
- NGINX webserver
- Apache server
- Memcached
- MySQL
- Varnish Cache
- Redis
- PHP 8 and more
Along with that, you may install the ultimate FREE caching plugin called Breeze from Cloudways.
Breeze WordPress cache plugin is a powerful cache plugin developed by Cloudways for WordPress users. It’s free to use.
Here are some of the benefits of using this caching plugin;
- Increases your page loading times
- Integrates with CDN for better performance
- Free to use
- Offers internal caching
- Helps you with database optimization
- Combine and minify your HTML, CSS, and JS files
- Helps you with GZIP compression and many more
3. Automated Backups
No matter what web host you choose, make sure it offers automated backups.
You never know when your site gets hacked or files get corrupted (or deleted). That’s when you can easily restore all your files if you’ve automated backups in place.
Fortunately, Cloudways offers automated backups that help you automatically store and retrieve all your files easily with just one click.
To make backups of your website, log in to your Cloudways hosting account and click on the Backups option.
Then, you can select a backup frequency and make changes. You can also take backups manually whenever you want.
Here’s what it looks like;
See that? It’s extremely easy to take backups of your site on Cloudways.
On-demand Backups
Moreover, you can take manual backups anytime you want with the help of the on-demand backup feature. This is very helpful when you make some major changes to your website.
Data Backup / Application / Server Restoration
You are also allowed to restore your backups (full or partial) with a single click.
Even if you accidentally delete an application or server, you can recover the same within 14 days of deletion.
Please be informed that they charge $0.033 per GB for the total space consumed for backup data at their off-site location.
The off-site backup cost is a mandatory cost with each server and mostly it is charged at most $0.50 for the majority of customers (if the backup size is at most 15GB of data of the off-site backup consumption).
If the backup size is within 15-30GB it will be charged $1.00
If the backup size is within 30GB-45GB it will be charged $1.50
If the backup size is within 45GB-60GB it will be charged $2.00
& Vice versa.
Quick Verdict
Cloudways backup service is easy, and a complete piece of mind.
In addition to that, there are several security features that are quite useful.
Vulnerability Scanner: This is a real-time monitoring tool powered by Patchstack which keeps you informed about potential threats in your application and provides proactive recommendations for risk mitigation.
Bot Protection: This feature keeps your website safe and secure from hackers & bots.
Malware Protection (paid): Cloudways Malware Protection is powered by Imunify360 which offers comprehensive protection for your applications from malware attacks. Pricing starts from $2/mon/application if you have 15+ applications.
SafeUpdates (paid): This is another good feature that keeps your WordPress application, themes, and Plugins up to date, and ensures the best possible performance of your site. Pricing starts from $2/mon/application if you have 6+ active applications.
2FA (Two Fator Authentication): This works as a second layer of protection to your account and keeps you updated when any new device logs into your account.
IP Whitelist: You can add whitelist IPs when you want to grant network access only to specific IP addresses.
4. Real-Time Billing
Another great benefit of using Cloudways is that it charges its customers on a pay-as-you-go basis.
That means you get access to real-time billing details.
Here’s what it looks like;
You’ll be charged only for the resources you consume with pay-as-you-go billing. Also, there’s no lock-in period with Cloudways hosting – so you can freely use their hosting services without being tied up in a yearly hosting contract.
Even if you change your plan in the middle of any month, it will be reflected on your invoice immediately.
5. Extremely Easy to Use
If you’re a beginner or someone who doesn’t like technical stuff, you might need a web host that’s easy to use.
Cloudways doesn’t offer a traditional cPanel where everything is buried under menus. Instead, it uses a visual easy-to-use unified interface where you can easily manage your servers and websites.
You can easily manage all the following things with the intuitive interface offered by Cloudways.
Installing SSL certificates: You can easily install a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate which is free or upload a custom SSL certificate for your applications.
Staging Management: You can create a copy of your site and do experiments without impacting your live website. Once you are ready to reflect those changes on the live website, you can do the same with a single click.
Cloning a server: You can create a copy of your current server that includes all your applications and the desired configurations. This feature is very helpful when you want to helpful if you want to change your cloud provider / server size / server region or want to perform load testing.
Adding Team Members: You can add team member(s) with specific rights to help you manage your account efficiently.
Cloudways Pricing
Cloudways gives you access to 5 cloud providers including;
- Digital Ocean
- Vultr
- Linode
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)
- Google Cloud
The pricing plans differ for each cloud provider, so let’s talk about the pricing packages offered by all the above cloud hosting providers.
| Features | Digital Ocean | Vultr | Linode | AWS | Google Cloud |
| Plans | DO1GB – DO192GB | Vultr1GB – Vultr64GB | Lin1GB – Lin192GB | AWS Small – AWS 24XL | GCE Small – GCE HC 16XL |
| RAM | 1GB – 192GB | 1GB – 64GB | 1GB – 192GB | 2GB – 384 GB | 1.75 GB – 64 GB |
| Processor | 1 Core – 32 Core | 1 Core – 16 Core | 1 Core – 32 Core | 2 Core – 96 Core | 1 Core – 64 Core |
| Storage | 25GB – 3840GB | 25GB – 1280GB | 25GB – 3840GB | 20GB | 20GB |
| Bandwidth | 1TB – 12TB | 1TB – 10TB | 1TB – 20TB | 2GB | 2GB |
| Price | $11/mo – $1056/mo | $14/mo – $400/mo | $14/mo – $1253/mo | $38.56 – $3569.98 | $37.45 – $1593.58 |
| Free Trial | 3 Days | 3 Days | 3 Days | ❌ | ❌ |
Few Pointers to be Notice:
- Digital Ocean offers various packages in the “Standard” as well as in the “Premium” category. Pricing for premium category plans is slightly on the higher side.
- In Vultr, the High Frequency category is also there and you have to pay a little more for this category plan.
- In Linode, Pricing is straightforward, there is no category as Standard, Premium, or High Frequency.
- In AWS & Google Cloud, Bandwidth is on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Cloudways Data Centers
You can choose from 65+ data center locations and experience the truly global managed cloud hosting experience.
Click here to explore more about Cloudways Data Centers locations.
Quick Verdict
Cloudways pricing is flexible & transparent, and every plan is packed with incredible features.
If we compare it with its top competitors like WP Engine, Kinsta, and WPX, Cloudways pricing is certainly less expensive. Cloudways pricing starts at $11/mo while WP Engine starts at $24/mo, Kinsta starts at $35/mo, and WPX starts at $24.99/mo.
At Cloudways, it costs just $132 for a complete one year of service. If you pick any other alternative, you will end up paying a lot more dollars.
The best part? There is no limit on the number of applications you can host with Cloudways in any plan while other web hosts have certain limits which makes Cliudways pricing more fair.
All of this makes Cloudways hosting a great pick for bloggers, SMBs, and agencies.
Ready to take your business online with Cloudways?
Click on this link and choose the right hosting plan that suits your budget and website needs.
Make sure you use Cloudways promo code “ANILAGARWAL20” to get $20 free credit or “CW30FOR3” for 30% OFF on your first 3 invoices.
Finally, configure your application and launch your server. It’s as simple as that.
Interestingly, you’ll be charged only after 3 days, and can also cancel your account within the trial period if you want.
Pros & Cons of Cloudways
This Cloudways review will be incomplete if we don’t talk about its pros and cons.
Cloudways Pros:
- Offers hosting plans from 5 various cloud hosting platforms
- You can host as many applications as you want
- You can pay for their hosting according to your usage as Cloudways charges you on a “pay as you go” basis
- You’ll get access to extremely fast web servers to host your site
- 24/7 support including live chat
- Free SSL with all plans
- Automated backups with all plans
- Offers 1-click staging feature
- Provides you with 24/7 real-time monitoring
- First website migration is free with Cloudways
Cloudways Cons:
- Cloudways doesn’t offer domain registration, so you have to buy your domain from domain registrars like NameCheap, GoDaddy, etc.
- Only 1 free migration service is there, for every subsequent migration, you have to pay $25 or do it yourself (which can be done easily with the help of Cloudways WordPress Migrator Plugin).
- If you want to create domain-based email addresses, you will have to pay some extra dollars. Cloudways email hosting add-on Rackspace price starts from $1.00/mailbox/month.
- Free CDN is not included.
Cloudways Reviews 2024
So what are the real Cloudways reviews? What other customers are saying about Cloudways web hosting? Let’s find out.
On Trustpilot;
As you can see above, on the Trustpilot Platform, Cloudways got a rating of 4.7 out of 5 ratings from over 1219 users which is great.
On G2;
As shown above, on the G2 Platform, Cloudways got an excellent 4.8 out of 5 ratings from over 230 users which is incredible.
On Capterra;
As you can see in the image above, Cloudways has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on the basis of 83 users.
Cloudways reviews on Reddit
We searched about Cloudways on Reddit as well, here is what people have to say about it;
Cloudways queries on Quora
We also navigated to the Quora platform to check what questions people were asking about Cloudways.
We found some basic questions (which we have already covered in this review) along with an interesting question – How can you leverage Cloudways to earn a side income?
Well, if you don’t know, let me tell you that Cloudways has an amazing affiliate program that lets you earn up to $125 per sale plus lifetime recurring income.
Quick Verdict
Customers from all over the world love Cloudways web hosting platform for its speed, security, and performance.
Top 3 Cloudways Alternatives & Competitors
Looking for alternatives to Cloudways hosting? Here’s a handpicked list of best hosting alternative for Cloudway you can try in 2024 and beyond.
1. WPX Hosting
WPX is the same web hosting provider we’ve been using on this blog since 2016.
Here, you get automated backups, XDN (their own custom CDN), unlimited migrations, and unlimited emails for free.
WPX offers 3 pricing plans, starting at $24.99 per month.
Want to learn more about WPX? Read our honest review of WPX Hosting to find more details about its performance, features, and more.
2. WPEngine
WPEngine is the most trusted WordPress platform. You get fast & secure sites along with expert WordPress guidance and innovative tools.
You get Genesis blocks and 1-click staging and dev. environments for easy site creation, and EverCache® and Global CDN for better performance.
WPEngine offers 4 pricing plans, starting at $30 per month.
Want to learn more about WPEngine? Read our honest review of WPEngine Hosting to find more details about its performance, features, and more.
3. Kinsta
Kinsta is yet another trusted platform where you get fast, secure, and feature-rich WordPress hosting.
Your site will be hosted on Google Cloud’s fastest servers (C3D and C2 VMs) plus access to Kinsta HTTP/3-enabled CDN that results in lightning-fast load times from every corner of the world.
Kinsta offers 4 pricing plans, starting at $35 per month.
Want to learn more about Kinsta? Read our honest review of Kinsta Hosting to find more details about its performance, features, and more.
If you are interested in a cheaper solution then you may consider Hostinger hosting.
Hostinger is the leading name in shared hosting services. The great thing about Hostinger is that it offers affordable cloud hosting packages as well where you get a free domain, free CDN, a dedicated IP address, and a lot more.
You can read our unbiased Hostinger review if you want to find more details about their hosting and features.
Also Read: Hostinger Coupon Code 2024: Up to 90% Discount + Free Domain
| Cloudways Alternatives | Starting Price | No. of Websites | Storage Space |
|---|---|---|---|
| WPX Hosting | $24.99/mo | Up to 5 | 15GB |
| WPEngine | $30/mo | 1 | 10GB |
| Kinsta | $35/mo | 1 | 10GB |
| Hostinger | $7.99/mo | 300 | 200GB |
FAQs
Here’s a list of some of the frequently asked questions about Cloudways.
Yes, Cloudways is an excellent cloud hosting platform that offers secure, faster, and reliable hosting services.
You can choose to host your website on five different cloud hosts including;
– AWS (Amazon Web Services)
– Google Cloud
– Digital Ocean
– Vultr
– Linode
No, it’s a premium web hosting service thus comes at a cost. However, you can take advantage of their free trial.
It’s an opportunity given by Cloudways to try Digital Ocean, Vultr, and Linode services for 3 days for free without any risk, no credit card required.
As they got you covered with a free trial, there is no money-back guarantee.
The cloud host Digital Ocean is the cheapest hosting plan from Cloudways as their standard plan starts only at $11 per month. You’ll get 1 GB of RAM, 25 GB of storage, 1 TB of bandwidth, and 1 core processor.
Yes. you are required to pay Value Added Tax (VAT), Goods and Services Tax (GST), or local taxes based on your location.
You can easily pay your invoices via credit cards or debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express). A one-time refundable fee of $1 will be charged for authorization. Once authorized, all your invoices will be paid automatically and hassle-free. Alternatively, you may opt for PayPal. PayPal payments are not automated, so you have to pay manually.
No, you can also host Magento and custom PHP applications along with WordPress and WooCommerce websites.
It’s their newly launched advanced feature that is capable of handling unexpected traffic spikes without slowing down or crashing. Plans start as low as $35/mo.
Cloudflare is the world’s leading-edge development platform. Cloudways has partnered with them to offer Cloudflare Enterprise CDN benefits to its customers as an addon at much cheaper prices. Improved website load times & Core Web Vitals and enhanced security are two main benefits of using a Cloudflare enterprise CDN. Pricing starts as low as $1.99/mon per domain if you have 25 or more domains. It will cost you more if you have a few domains.
At Cloudways, you can take on-demand backups or take automated backups at an offline location and restore your backups with just one click. You will be charged $0.033 per GB of backup storage.
Yes, the first website migration is free with Cloudways. You need to contact their support team, and tell them about your current host details – they’ll migrate to Cloudways servers for free.
Related Web Hosting Reviews:
- Bluehost Review – Is Bluehost Better in 2024?
- HostArmada Review: An Honest Review
- FastComet Review: Is It the Most Affordable Cloud Hosting Choice?
Final Thoughts
If all you want is an affordable cloud hosting platform to host your site, Cloudways is an excellent choice for you.
Not only is Cloudways affordable but it also offers excellent performance and security.
It offers everything from an easy-to-use dashboard to automated backups to 24/7 expert support and more.
So what are your thoughts on the Cloudways review? Have any questions? Let us know in the comments.
