Cloudways Review 2022: The Good & Bad (Honest Thoughts)
Have you considered using Cloudways to host your WordPress or other types of websites? We'll help you decide whether this popular hosting provider is right for you in our hands-on Cloudways review.
Cloudways is an outlier in the hosting industry because it takes a novel approach to hosting. Cloudways, rather than providing its own infrastructure, allows you to select from five different cloud hosting providers: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.
Cloudways then takes care of properly configuring and maintaining the server, as well as providing you with a plethora of useful tools for managing your site.
The end result of this strategy is that you can get very good performance at a low cost. However, because Cloudways is more complicated than traditional hosting, we do not recommend it to all users.
Here's everything we'll cover in our Cloudways 2022 review:
- Key features
- Performance tests
- User experience
- Support
- Pricing
- Pros and cons
- FAQs
- Recommendations
Here’s How We Tested Things for Our Cloudways Review
Because we always want our hosting reviews to be completely objective, we signed up for and paid for our own Cloudways account in order to write this review. Our experience was identical to yours, and Cloudways did not provide us with any special treatment or even know that we were writing this review.
All of the tests we ran, screenshots we collected, and general thoughts we had stemmed from our direct experience with the Cloudways account we purchased.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get into our Cloudways review.
⚙️ Cloudways Key Features
While Cloudways employs the novel cloud hosting approach mentioned in the introduction, the company also provides a suite of features that compare favorably to more "traditional" hosting providers.
Let's start with the hosting environment itself. Cloudways installs a hybrid "Apache + Nginx" stack on your server. It then provides multiple caching layers, including Nginx, Varnish, and Memcached, to improve performance. There's also the option of quickly installing Redis.
When Cloudways configures your server, it will automatically implement all of this, as well as secure it and keep it up to date.
Aside from that, Cloudways provides the following useful features:
Automatic server-level backups and on-demand single-site backups
- Staging sites
- Free WordPress performance plugin called Breeze
- Site cloning
- Free SSL certificates
- Built-in content delivery network (CDN)
- SMTP at the server level for transactional emails
- Bot protection
- Cron job management
- Basic server monitoring
- Option to add team members for collaboration
Many of these features will be covered in greater detail later in our review.
Click Here To Visit Cloudways Official Website
🚀 Cloudways Performance Tests
Let's start our hands-on Cloudways review with some performance tests. After all, one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a hosting provider is performance.
We set up a real test site using the popular Astra theme and a full demo site to test Cloudways' performance. The Breeze performance optimization plugin, which Cloudways installs by default, is also present on our test site.
We're using the cheapest DigitalOcean server, which costs $10 per month.
Then we ran it through two different website speed testing tools:
To collect one-time performance metrics, run WebPageTest with a throttled FIOS connection. We ran nine tests and took the mean of the results.
Load Focus to see how Cloudways performs at scale. We had 20 visitors in 60 seconds on our website.
WebPageTest
Cloudways performed admirably in the one-time WebPageTest analysis, with a median load time of less than a half-second. This is one of the best results we've seen from any WordPress host we've tested:
Load Focus
Cloudways also performed admirably in the Load Focus testing. The average response time was 582 milliseconds, and the 90th percentile time was 611 milliseconds. This is one of the better results from any of the hosts we've tested, though Nexcess (our review) and WP Engine (our review) performed slightly better.
Nonetheless, Cloudways outperforms other budget hosts, which is quite impressive given that our test site costs only $10 per month.
Overall, Cloudways performed admirably in our tests, especially given its low cost.
To Visit Cloudways Official Website Click Here
🤗 Cloudways User Experience
Because Cloudways offers a one-of-a-kind experience, let's start at the beginning by configuring a server and installing WordPress. Then, we'll walk you through some of the tools that come with Cloudways' custom dashboard for managing your sites and servers.
Launching a Server and Installing WordPress
When you sign up for Cloudways for the first time, you'll be asked to launch a server and deploy an "application." An application is any software that you wish to install on your server, such as WordPress, Magento, or Laravel.
After selecting your application and entering some basic information, you can make three key decisions. You have the option...
1. Your cloud hosting provider
2. The resources for your server
3. Your server’s physical location
At the bottom, you'll see a price summary, and then you can click Launch Now to create your server:
And that’s it!
Managing Your Server
Your Cloudways dashboard has two main tabs:
. Servers – this is where you manage all of your cloud servers.
. Applications – this is where you manage your individual websites.
When you open a server's dashboard, you can manage all server-level details such as:
. Monitoring – keep an eye on your server’s resources.
. Vertical Scaling – easily increases the resources of your server.
. Backups – take backups of your entire server.
. SMTP – you can set up an SMTP provider for transactional emails at the server level.
- Viewing access credentials for WP admin, FTP, MySQL, and so on.
- Associating domains with your site.
- Setting up cron jobs.
- Installing the free SSL certificate.
- Taking and managing backups.
- Deploying a site via Git.
- Integrating the Cloudways CDN.
Exploring Some Useful WordPress Tools
Now, let's look at some of the most useful Cloudways features for WordPress site management.
To begin, Cloudways provides a simple cloning/staging tool, which can be accessed from the main Applications list. You can either create a true staging site or simply clone your site to a different server:
When you create a staging site, it will appear as its own application, allowing you to easily push and pull data between your live site and staging:
In addition to the server-level backups that Cloudways performs automatically, you can create on-demand backups for a specific site in the Backup And Restore tab:
The Cron Job Management tab offers a very simple interface for configuring your own server cron jobs:
Finally, the SSL Certificate tab allows you to quickly install a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate:
This is by no means an exhaustive list of tools, but we want to emphasize that Cloudways provides a full suite of management tools that compare favorably to more "traditional" hosts.
📞 Cloudways Support
At Cloudways, support can be a bit of a challenge.
Cloudways support is adequate for the job, but you should be aware that the scope of Cloudways support isn't as broad as it might be at another host, particularly a managed WordPress host.
Cloudways automatically supports your hosting server and the Cloudways platform. If you have a problem with the server or with Cloudways, Cloudways will definitely step in and assist you.
You can reach them via live chat support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Cloudways, on the other hand, does not provide application support by default. That is, they do not provide official support for any applications installed on your server, such as WordPress.
For example, if you are having issues with the WordPress installer provided by Cloudways, their support will assist you. However, if you encounter an error on your WordPress site, you are outside the scope of the free support (though Cloudways will sometimes help anyway).
If you require this level of advanced application support, you can pay for premium support, which is not cheap.
The cost of Cloudways is determined by the cloud hosting provider you select as well as the resources of your server.
The cheapest option in general is the $10 entry-level DigitalOcean server, which already provides excellent performance. It will be even cheaper if you use our Cloudways coupon.
You do not need to pay for cloud hosting separately. The Cloudways price includes both the underlying cloud hosting charges and the Cloudways fees.
💰 Cloudways Pricing
One thing to keep in mind is that the total cost is usually a multiple of the cost of the underlying hosting.
For instance, here's a breakdown of DigitalOcean's plans:
- Total Price – includes both the underlying and Cloudways’ fee. This is what you pay per month.
- DigitalOcean Price – the price for the unmanaged VPS if you bought it directly from DigitalOcean.
- Implied Cloudways Fee – what you’re essentially paying for the Cloudways service alone (total price minus DigitalOcean price).
As you can see, the premium you pay for Cloudways vs. the underlying cloud hosting increases as you upgrade your hosting, resulting in an odd situation:
Cloudways is very affordable for servers with fewer resources. For example, if you buy the entry-level server (which is sufficient for most sites), Cloudways provides excellent value because you're essentially paying $5 per month to have Cloudways manage your DigitalOcean server.
However, if you're looking to buy one of the higher-resource servers, Cloudways can be pricey for what it provides. You go from paying a $5 premium over the underlying hosting on the 1 GB plan to a $40 premium on the 8 GB plan, despite the fact that the Cloudways platform is identical in both cases.
Which Cloud Hosting Should You Use?
If you are unsure about which cloud hosting provider to use, we recommend beginning with the Vultr High Frequency servers. They're a little more expensive than DigitalOcean's entry-level servers, but the small extra fee is well worth it for improved performance.
You can begin with the fewest resources (the cheapest server) and scale up as needed.
👍👎 Cloudways Pros and Cons
As we near the end of our Cloudways review, let's discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of using Cloudways for hosting.
Pros
Excellent performance for the money. Even the cheapest Cloudways plan can offer excellent performance even under scale.
No arbitrary limits. Cloudways doesn’t put any arbitrary website limits. As long as your server has the resources, you can host as many sites as you want.
Useful WordPress tools – you get helpful features such as staging sites, backups, a WordPress optimization plugin, and more.
Server-level SMTP – this is a really useful tool for reliable emails, as many other cloud server panels make you set up SMTP services for each individual WordPress site.
Cons
A little bit more complicated than traditional hosting. Again, you definitely do not need to be a developer, but total beginners might want to stay away.
Pricing isn’t as good for high-resource servers. Because Cloudways charges a multiple of the underlying hosting cost, it can be expensive for high-resource servers.
No email hosting. If you want to create a custom email address (you@yoursite.com), you’ll need a separate email hosting service.
❓ Cloudways Review 2022 FAQ
To round out our Cloudways review, let's go over some frequently asked questions.
Is Cloudways fast?
Yes! Cloudways is very fast and they offer excellent performance for the price. Consider the Vultr High Frequency servers for the best performance on a budget.
Is Cloudways good for WordPress?
Yes! Cloudways works great for WordPress and includes a number of WordPress-specific tools such as WordPress-optimized server-level caching, staging sites, a free WordPress optimization plugin, and more.
Is Cloudways good for beginners?
Cloudways is definitely accessible for non-developers, but we wouldn’t recommend it to total beginners who are just getting started with their first websites. You might want to choose a more traditional host until you understand the basics of running your website.
How long is Cloudways free trial?
The free trial lasts for three days. After that, you’ll need to pay for a plan.
How does Cloudways billing work?
Cloudways offers pay-as-you-go billing – there are no long-term contracts. You’ll pay every month based on your actual usage for that month, which is billed down to the hour. At the beginning of the month, you’ll receive an invoice based on your usage for the previous month.
What are some good Cloudways alternatives for cloud hosting?
Because cloud hosting has become so popular, you can find a lot of tools to help you manage cloud hosting. Some of the most popular options are RunCloud, GridPane, SpinupWP, and Ploi.
These tools are a little more complicated, but not by much.
🤔 Should You Use Cloudways in 2022 and Beyond?
As we mentioned in the beginning, Cloudways is an excellent hosting provider that can offer very good performance for the money, but it isn’t the right host for everyone.
So – let’s talk about when you should choose Cloudways, and when you should choose a different host (along with some good Cloudways alternatives).
Use Cloudways If…
Cloudways is a great option if you’re looking for excellent performance on a budget, thanks to its unique cloud hosting approach. With just the cheapest DigitalOcean server, you can host multiple websites with surprisingly high traffic (as long as you’re using page caching).
Cloudways is a little bit more complicated than a traditional website, but you should have no issues using it as long as you’ve made a few websites before.
Overall, if you’re looking for high-performance hosting in the $10-$50 price range, Cloudways is definitely one of your best options.
To Visit Cloudways Official Website Click Here
Also Read: 5 Best Web Hosting Services of 2022 (Providers Ranked)
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I will make a small commission if you click on any of these links and ultimately make a purchase.
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