Are you considering Cloudways for your web hosting? Let’s find out how it fares as the ideal web hosting service provider.
Cloudways markets itself as one of the best web hosting service providers for eCommerce businesses and agencies with unrivaled performance. The company has a large following with plenty of satisfied customers around the world.
Founded in 2011 and based in Malta, the company changed its name to Cloudways 2.0 in 2016. With centers situated all around the globe, Cloudways can offer its users timely support.
Managing your server can be a hassle, as is often the case with traditional host providers. With Cloudways, users do not need to worry about setting up and maintaining a server. Cloudways web hosting centers on managed cloud hosting, offering fast and easy scalability. It allows users to integrate all cloud-based functions from a central console.
After a free initial trial run, simply choose the disk space and provider, and Cloudways will set up a virtual server within minutes.
Cloudways was designed with scalability as its key feature. You can choose between any of five platforms, which include Google Cloud Platform, Digital Ocean, Vultr, and Amazon Web Services.
Users can also enjoy wallet, friendly pay-as-you-go plans. You don’t have to subscribe to long-term package deals. Instead, pay for what you have used.
Are you considering Cloudways for your web hosting? Let’s find out how it fares as the ideal web hosting service provider.
Performance and Reliability
Cloudways promises an uptime of 99.999% with super-fast loading speeds of 400-600 milliseconds. This is not surprising, as it is a cloud-based web hosting service. The speeds are also thanks to Cloudways partnership with some of the best providers in the business, including Vultr and Linode. These offer dedicated and VPS SSD servers.
After testing several sites using Google PageSpeed Insights, the results came out 100/100. And this is on both mobile and desktop.
No matter where you live in the world, you can expect fast performance and reliability. The Cloudways servers are in The US, UK, France, Japan, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. You can even choose a city closer to your site visitors in many countries where the servers are located to further optimize loading speeds.
Users can scale up their server depending on their website needs. If your site experiences a boost in visitors, you can increase the RAM to your server. This will help keep speeds to an optimum.
There are many WordPress managed web hosts that offer decent performance for smaller sites. However, if your site suddenly experienced an increase in traffic, chances are you would need to change to a unique plan or even a new host entirely. With Cloudways, you can simply access server management and scale up the server resources.
These features allow Cloudways to offer speeds that are up to 50% faster than shared web hosting. This is also thanks in part to the VMAN technology. It loads Apache, Varnish Memcached, and Nginx for optimal WordPress site speeds.
Users enjoy limitless access to several applications and websites. With traditional shared hosting, you will need to upgrade your plan. That is not an issue with Cloudways. They also isolate all the applications from each other, ensuring greater security.
If you want to boost performance, you can do so in several ways. You can use the Cloudways CDN, Installing Redis, or Upgrade PHP version.
Flexibility
Several factors make Cloudways a highly flexible web hosting. First off, it is simple to use. Setting up a website and installing applications and plugins is intuitive with only a few clicks. You can also automatically install apps such as Magento and WordPress.
You don’t have to be a technical geek to use Cloudways. This is all thanks to the user-friendly and intuitive interface. You also get automated backups, which are created at an offsite location. You can restore backups with a simple click of a button.
Disable access to an app from over the web with a single click. There is no need for complicated commands, as you can change all the app settings from the user-friendly platform. With real-time monitoring, you can see 16 different metrics from the comfort of the platform. With its dedicated staging environment, users can test applications without affecting the live version.
One team member can be part of different teams. This adds efficiency and allows for a project to be allocated to original team members.
Unlike many other web hosting service providers that require users to subscribe to a long-term contract, Cloudways offers a pay as you go payment plan. You only have to pay for what you have used.
Regardless of where your customers are located worldwide, you can choose from over 60 different servers ensuring that page load times remain at an optimum. You can also extend your server storage space, altering no other server parameters. Scale up the RAM without affecting customization. With the SSD based hosting, you can enjoy up to 3X faster speeds. This enhances load times for dynamic websites.
Another way Cloudways proves its flexibility is through its ability to launch multiple apps with a single click. You can launch several WordPress and Magento sites on a single server. Through server transfers, you can easily change ownership of your server to another party or client.
You can add multiple applications and add-ons to help manage your accounts. From Cloudways Bot channels for real-time notification via channels such as Slack and HipChat to the Rackspace email add on for cloud-based email inboxes.
Pricing
Cloudways’ strong point is its pricing. Compared to its competitors, Cloudways is way cheaper. Their pricing starts at $10 and increases depending on the features that you will look for. Cloudways offers a one-stop-shop for all types and sizes of websites.
For instance, the 2CPU+4GB Ram plan costs around $80 on SiteGround, while on Cloudways, the same package costs $42.
You can make payments via credit card, which may be MasterCard, Visa, or American express. You can also pay via online channels, including PayPal. Cloudways offers to pay as you go pricing plans. Unlike most other web hosts, Cloudways allows you to pay for what you have used.
There are 11 plans that you can choose from. In each of these plans, you can opt for either a monthly payment or an hourly payment. The pricing plans range from the smallest DO 1GB offering 1TB bandwidth to the largest, which is the DO 192GB with 12TB bandwidth.
All of Cloudways’ plans come with 24/7/365 support. This is not something that you can expect with all plans from traditional hosting providers. You will also get free SSL, CDN add-ons, dedicated firewalls, automated backup, auto-healing, and team management.
You can choose from several cloud infrastructure providers. These are DigitalOcean, which starts at @10/month. It is among the most popular of the Cloudways packages. DigitalOcean has 59 data centers on the globe. Vultr starting at $11/month with 17 data centers worldwide. Linode, which starts at $12/month, has 11 centers on the world.
Google Compute Engine at $34. 17/month is at the top offend of Cloudways packages and is suitable for developers, eCommerce, and digital agencies. Amazon Web Services at $36.04/ month is also among the costlier packages that Cloudways offers. It is an ideal package for eCommerce sites, developers, and agencies.
While Cloudways has great pricing plans, note that they will also charge you value-added tax if you live in the European Union. They will charge goods and Services Tax GST to customers who are in Singapore.
Cloudways Free trail plans offer users a chance to test the waters by familiarizing themselves with the platform with no risk or obligation. However, out of the 11 pricing plans, you can only access a free trial in the first two smallest plans which are the 1TB and the 2TB plans. The trial is only valid for three days. That is enough to discover everything you need about the Cloudways control panel and features.
Users can also launch multiple servers in the same pricing plan and different pricing plans. There is also no limit to the number of applications you want to launch on your server and pricing plan.
Since Cloudways charges its users per hour, it is easy to change from one pricing plan to the next. After all, you only pay for what you have used. Thanks to its vertical scaling feature, you can start with a smaller plan and change to a larger plan as your website grows.
There are no long-term contracts, and customers will simply pay every month. Note that by using Cloudways, you will pay more compared to if you went directly to cloud providers. However, Cloudways offers access to its super intuitive control panel, support, help, and security. You will also access features that allow your site to load faster.
Security
All website owners want a host that can keep out intruders and filter out malicious traffic. All servers hosted by Cloudwaysare protected by OS-level firewalls that do just that. Cloudways also features a 1click free SSL installation that allows for free HTTPS requirements.
You can create a white list of IP addresses. This allows you to easily access regions or networks that have restricted access to SSH and SFTP. With regular OS patching to your server, Cloudways helps provide greater security to the server by keeping vulnerabilities at a minimum.
The best web hosts will provide TFA or two-factor authentication. This is an extra security layer that helps keep out intruders and ensures your account and server are safe.
Bots can wreak havoc on your WordPress websites. Cloudways has you covered with Bot protection. It helps keep your website safe from congestion caused by brute force login attacks, malicious bots, and Denial of Servers DoS attacks.
Customer Support
Any website owner needs access to support at any time of day and night in case they experience issues with their site. Cloudways offers 24/7/365 support via Live chat, email, and phone. The Cloudways platform makes it simple to access help.
Sometimes the problem can be complex, requiring the help of a more technically aware representative. The significant thing is that Cloudways has a team of highly qualified technicians ready to offer help at any time of day or night.
You can track the progress of the problem solving using the Online ticketing feature. You have the option of submitting your ticket or the support team can create the tickets. By taking advantage of the enhanced SLAS and advanced support, the normal priority for online ticketing response is around 3 hours. During times of top priority, you will get a response in 30 minutes.
With the server customizations and configurations feature, you can get catch configurations, server configurations, or even ask the support team for custom packages, including PHP.
The premium support adds allows you to move from the web-based online chat to a more private slack chat for even quicker support. This enables you or your team to directly access and speak with the senior support engineer at any time of the day. The support team is always on Slack, ready to offer help. Think of it as an extension and part of the in-house support team. It will also notify you in case the server is down via the proactive monitoring feature.
However, on the downside, some customers have complained that they could not reach the support team on Live chat during a Saturday evening. They were, however, able to access help through the customer bot. Since this is an automated feature, however, they could not get help for more technical and complicated queries.
If you ever faced such a challenge, you may have better luck after signing for a free trial.
Website builder
Cloudways makes it simple for anyone to build and set up their website. You can start by creating a server. From here, you can log in with the credentials. From the control panel, you can pick a theme and then choose the colors and images you want to use. Essentially, you will have full control of how your web pages appear.
With so many WordPress site builders available online, WordPress website owners can get confused about which one is best. The WordPress blueprint maker is simple and intuitive to use. You can use the WordPress Blueprint maker to design your own website quickly. One of the major benefits of the tools is that it is free to use. Users can forget about wasting time choosing themes and plugins and can focus their time to boost productivity.
You will start by choosing a category that best describes your website. This could be a blog, portfolio, real estate, etc. Every website needs a theme. It helps grab attention and keep the interest of the visitor. Different categories will have their specific themes. Cloudways also provides both free and premium themes. A demo link runs the theme, allowing you to experience it before making your ultimate choice.
The third step lets you choose the plugins. You have unlimited access to plugins and can choose any that serves your purpose. You will view the themes and plugins that you select in the last step. Using a form, you can send the plugins to your email address.
If you want a great-looking website, yet you don’t have any coding experience, you can also opt for the Elementor page builder. With its drag-and-drop features, you can quickly and easily set up a stunning website through its intuitive platform. Splendid news for all those non-techies out there who still want a stunning website. Note that you will need to buy Cloudways hosting separately to host your site.
The significant thing is that with Cloudways, there is no limit to the number of websites that you can host on a single server. And when you want to migrate your website, you can do so hassle-free with Cloudways. Users also get free backup and security on the website.
If you plan to set up an eCommerce store, you can access various eCommerce website builders such as Magento, Woo-commerce, Shopify, and Wix. They offer some outstanding features, such as an easy drag-and-drop interface, multiple widgets, and multiple layouts. All of this helps optimize your online store and boost traffic.
Users can also make sure of the one-click cloning feature. This lets you quickly make duplicates of servers and apps. Staging areas lets you make tests on different website elements before going live. With Cloudways, users can also separately monitor all the applications that are hosted on a server. There are two sections of the app-monitoring feature—Analytics and Logs.
The analytics feature lets you see the traffic information, MySQL requests, Disk Usage, PHP requests. With the logs section, users can access the access log and the error log.
Sign up
Web owners want a host that is simple and fast to sign up for. Cloudways makes it easy to sign up for their free trial or any of their plans. For those who are new to Cloudways, the free trial is the best way to judge whether it suits their services for you.
You can sign up using either your username and password from Google, Github, or LinkedIn. You will then pick a content management system CMS which could be Magento, Drupal, Joomla, and many more. The downside is that there is no CPanel access. Most hosting providers will offer CPanel, making it easier to manage the website, domain, and applications.
Pros
– Great value for money as even the cheapest package offers excellent web hosting features.
– Free website migrations. The migration process is also quick and easy.
– Cloudways supports a huge number of apps
– Users get to pay as you go plans, allowing them to pay for what they have used
– Free trials allow users to find out how Cloudways works before committing to the service.
– Fully managed cloud hosting takes away the hassle of maintenance.
– Intuitive and simple to use UI means users can easily navigate the platform
– Top-notch reliability. Users can expect 99.99% uptime.
– It takes less than one minute to spin up a server or application.
– Highly scalable servers means users can increase the RAM depending on the traffic and resources that your site needs.
– 24/7/365 customer support. Users can access help anytime, anywhere.
Cons
– Can be pricey depending on the type of hosting plan
– There is no CPanel. Some people may find this disadvantageous.
– There is domain registration. Users will have to get their domain name from a registrar such as GoDaddy.
– It costs extra to use the email feature. It doesn’t include email hosting.
– Users cannot create a custom app in python, Ruby, or JavaScript.
– There is no root access. Cloudways maintains healthy and functional servers, but users will still need root access.
Conclusion
Cloudways is perhaps the best web hosting provider you can find today. With its free trials, you can sign up and find out if Cloudways will work for you.
Whether you are an experienced website designer or are just starting out, Cloudways can be an excellent place to begin. Its intuitive user interface means that users without a website building background will find Cloudways simple to use.
Together with console-based web hosting, the company also attracts PHP developers using unlimited application development and Git integration features.
Different customers will have their own unique needs and requirements, such as budget and bandwidth. There is also a need for speed, support, and uptime. Cloudways offers some of the best web hosting features available in the market today.
In a nutshell, Cloudways is a splendid choice for eCommerce sites, developers, and well as WordPress websites. The company caters to all size websites and offers pricing plans to match.
