Hosting

Cloudways Reviews 2023: “A Good or Bad Web Host?”

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We appreciate providers that serve cost-competitive, customizable packages to simplify the too-many-choices nature of cloud hosting. Cloudways puts the power of choice in the customer’s hands.

The onboarding process is straightforward. Take your pick of the top cloud providers: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and, of course, Google Cloud. The application and server details are configurable on a sliding scale, so you only pay for what you need.

Enjoy a pay-as-you-go model without the hassle of managing your own infrastructure. While its level of service and customization may be overkill for small businesses or independent website owners, Cloudways stands out for mid-sized to enterprise-level operations.

The custom control panel allows users to administer multiple sites or projects. Invite team members to collaborate and manage their access levels and permissions as well.

Cloudways customers benefit from the staples we’ve come to expect from popular providers. The price of admission includes free SSL certificates, a built-in content delivery network (CDN), staging areas, automated backups, and 24/7/365 support.

The real-time monitoring, AI-based notifications with performance insights, and aggressive security patches that come with Cloudways managed services are the cherry on top.

If you’re targeting cloud hosting for flexibility, scalability, and cost control, Cloudways checks all the boxes. If you prefer to outsource infrastructure support, security, and server maintenance, Cloudways is still a top contender.

  • Choose your cloud provider, application, and server location
  • Easily scale server size, bandwidth, and storage
  • Launch WordPress or Magento with a single click
  • FREE CDN, managed backups, and staging areas
  • Get 25% OFF first 3 months

Get started on Cloudways now.

Money Back Guarantee
3-day FREE trial
Disk Space
20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
8 minutes

Cloudways’s Cheap Hosting

Cloudways doesn’t offer a dollars-per-month shared hosting plan. But the company still brings a significant bargain to the table, thanks to a (short) free trial.

Cloudways invites prospective users to give its cloud hosting services a whirl for free. This is a premium managed cloud hosting plan with a low or non-existent barrier to entry.

Customers pick from a selection of cloud providers and configure their server resources as they see fit. Allowing server administrators to scale resources up and down as needed, Cloudways offers tremendous value when it comes to operational cost optimizations.

Given the provider’s attention to cost, flexibility, and overall resource utilization, we felt it prudent to evaluate Cloudways based on its affordability (or “the cheap factor,” if you will).

An already sweet deal is made sweeter by the exclusive discount this host offers our HostingAdvice readership: Use code HOSTINGADVICE for 25% off your first three months of service with Cloudways. Happy saving!

  • Try managed cloud hosting for FREE for 3 days
  • Optimize costs with custom server configurations
  • Scale server resources up and down as needed
  • FREE SSL certificates, site migrations, and CDN

Get started on Cloudways now.

Money Back Guarantee
3-day FREE trial
Disk Space
20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
8 minutes

Cloudways’s Dedicated Hosting

“We haven’t evaluated Cloudways for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn’t offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn’t made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we’re always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!”

Choosing a virtual private server (VPS) typically means purchasing a slice of a dedicated server. VPS customers enjoy more customization options than shared hosting users without incurring the price tag of a dedicated machine.

Cloud hosting, a close cousin of virtual servers, takes the custom configuration power to the next level, and Cloudways has emerged as a frontrunner in the cloud hosting space.

The company offers customers the ultimate power of choice — from the selection of application and cloud provider to the server size and its location.

All server resources, including RAM, bandwidth, and database storage, are easily scaled up or down with the drag of a mouse. This is a competitive option for startups or growing businesses.

VPS hosting shoppers tend to target a lower price point, but the added value of cloud flexibility, scalability, and managed services Cloudways offers are worth the price. Plus, the company offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which you most likely won’t find when shopping for a VPS host.

If you’ve been kicking the tires of Linode, AWS, DigitalOcean, or other cloud platforms, Cloudways should sneak its way onto your shortlist.

  • Customizable alternative to traditional VPS hosting
  • Choice of 5 popular cloud providers
  • Scale server resources up and down as needed
  • 24/7 monitoring and auto-healing servers
  • Get 25% OFF first 3 months

Get started on Cloudways now.

Money Back Guarantee
3-day FREE trial
Disk Space
20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
8 minutes

Cloudways’s WordPress Hosting

Cloudways makes it simple to kick-start a WordPress site or app hosted in a cloud environment.

During the initial setup, we were given a choice of a single- or multi-site installation of the latest WordPress version — complete with Cloudways optimizations — or a no-frills WP install. The time from app selection to launch was less than 10 minutes.

Given the choice of five popular cloud providers, WordPress fans can choose the server setup that makes the most sense for their needs.

When it comes to WordPress-specific needs, the attention to caching and performance features stands out. Performance boosts are powered by Varnish, NGINX, Redis, Memcached, and an in-house-built caching plugin called Breeze that lives up to its name.

Security, performance, and ease of control are top of mind for WordPress customers. And Cloudways answers the call with a robust managed cloud hosting package for WordPress users.

The 24/7/365 support, system monitoring, and auto-healing servers speak to the company’s emphasis on carrying the burden of IT support for its customers.

  • Migrate unlimited WP sites using Cloudways plugin
  • FREE CDN and WordPress staging areas
  • Caching plugin, Breeze, comes pre-installed
  • SSD storage for 3x faster WordPress hosting
  • 25% OFF

Get started on Cloudways now.

Money Back Guarantee
3-day FREE trial
Disk Space
20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
8 minutes

Cloudways’s Website Builder Hosting

“We haven’t evaluated Cloudways for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn’t offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn’t made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we’re always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!”

Features

Blazing-Fast Stack & Tight Security

  • With multiple layers of caching and performance optimizations, user experience is clearly a priority.
  • Varnish, NGINX, Apache, Memcached, PHP-FPM, and Redis are all pre-installed with your choice of cloud provider.
  • Cloudways-hosted projects are protected with dedicated firewalls, Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, and automatically healing servers.

Custom Configurations & Resource Scaling

  • Host unlimited visitors and websites using your favorite cloud provider: AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode, Google Cloud Platform, or Vultr.
  • All server resources can be customized and scaled up or down to meet your current business needs.
  • Free from long-term contracts, Cloudways customers enjoy pay-as-you-go pricing.

Managed Cloud Hosting Expertise

  • Managed hosting services provide ultimate peace of mind with real-time monitoring, automated backups, and regular security patching.
  • Cloudways proactively alerts customers when performance improvement opportunities are discovered.
  • The engineering team consistently rolls out additional tools and features, including performance-boosting plugins and other in-house technologies, to better serve its customers.

Attractive Support Add-Ons Available

  • All Cloudways customers benefit from around-the-clock support via live chat and an online ticketing system.
  • The Advanced Support add-on grants users access to the senior engineering team, including help with plugins and themes, database optimizations, and triaging pesky server errors.
  • Users who opt for the Premium Support add-on get everything included above plus 24-hour phone support and a private Slack channel to communicate with Cloudways Senior Engineers.

 

Ease of Use

 

Onboarding with Cloudways is straightforward and intuitive. Every app installation, server launch, and configuration update is done via a sleek, easy-to-use control panel. This is a host that clearly welcomes less-experienced cloud hosting customers — and does so without limiting the control beloved by seasoned cloud administrators. Well done on this front, Cloudways!

 

Pricing

DigitalOcean: Starting at $7.50/month »

Linode: Starting at $9.00/month »

Google Cloud: Starting at $24.97/month »

It’s tough for a cloud host to compete in an industry saturated with uber-cheap shared hosting providers. But the beauty of cloud hosting is in the scaling potential and high availability, which are both resource-intensive features that naturally come with a higher price tag. While we didn’t find Cloudways pricing to fall in the sweet spot where some cloud and virtual server hosts land, the value proposition is clear — and made better by the exclusive discount offered to HostingAdvice readers!

 

Reliability & Support

 

Cloud hosting promises high availability, and uptime is a non-negotiable feature. Cloudways sweetens the deal with rock-star support services, including proactive monitoring alerts and 24/7/365 live chat and ticketing. We strongly encourage newer cloud customers to consider opting for one of the upgraded support add-ons, which offer advanced troubleshooting for plugins or themes, triaging server errors, and a dedicated account manager.

Cloudways Includes:

24/7/365 Live Chat Support, Ticketing System, Extensive Online Knowledgebase, 99.99% Uptime Guarantee

Does Not Include

Phone Support w/o Advanced or Premium Support Add-On

 

To recap, here’s a rundown of what Cloudways has to offer

Offering an attractive mix of provider choice and plan customization, Cloudways has made its mark in the cloud hosting space. If you were to partner with one of the supported cloud providers directly, you wouldn’t get the three-day free trial, nor would you benefit from Cloudways’ performance optimizations. During our review, price was the main drawback, as the host does not offer a plan below the $10 threshold; however, that’s offset by the specially reduced rate Cloudways offers HostingAdvice visitors. If you’re administering multiple websites or applications and server resource management is of critical importance to your business, take Cloudways for a spin.

Is Cloudways worth the $7.50 per month?

With a 4.8/5.0 overall rating and starting at a low cost of $7.50/month, we believe Cloudways is well worth the price. Cloudways‘s combination of features and support make it a good option for any web project. What’s more, you can save 100% off today using this link to sign up.

If you’re still unsure, see how Cloudways compares to our top picks and how Cloudways pricing compares to cheap hosting plans. We believe your research will show Cloudways to be worth the 4.8/5.0 rating and a great overall value at $7.50/month.