What is Cloudways?
Cloudways is a managed hosting platform designed to provide a simple and high-performance hosting experience. The platform is known for offering comprehensive services that handle everything from launching applications and websites to server management and continuous maintenance. This helps businesses focus on growing their operations without worrying about the technical aspects of hosting.
About the Establishment of Cloudways
Cloudways was founded in 2011 in Malta and relies on the infrastructure of the five largest cloud computing platforms to provide hosting services. These platforms include:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- DigitalOcean
- Linode
- Vultr
- Google Cloud Platform
Although the platform uses servers from these cloud services, you won’t need to open accounts with them. Cloudways will take care of this step on your behalf.
Features of the Cloudways Platform
- Comprehensive Support for All Content Management Systems (CMS): While Cloudways is known for offering excellent hosting for WordPress, it also supports all popular content management systems and PHP applications. Whether you’re using open-source software or custom applications, you’ll find support at Cloudways.
- User-Friendly Interface: The platform provides a convenient and easy-to-use dashboard that makes managing servers and websites simple, even for beginners.
- Pay-as-You-Go Model: What sets Cloudways apart is its payment model, which is based on actual usage. This means you only pay for the resources you use, making it an ideal option for small and medium-sized businesses or projects with a limited budget.
Illustrative Example
If you’re a small business owner looking to launch a website or an app, you can use Cloudways to set up cloud servers quickly without worrying about complicated technical details. Once you create an account, you’ll be able to launch your project online within a few minutes, all through a simple dashboard.
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that provides everything you need to launch and manage your website or application with minimal effort and the highest level of performance. With support from the largest cloud service providers and a pay-as-you-go model, it offers a flexible and efficient hosting experience.
Advantages of Cloudways Hosting
Cloudways is considered one of the best options for website owners using WordPress as a content management tool, as this category forms the largest portion of the platform’s clientele. Cloudways provides all the necessary tools to run your site efficiently, such as installing SSL certificates, redirecting HTTPS traffic, regular backups, and handling many technical tasks that might be complex for non-technical users.
Additionally, support is not limited to just WordPress but also extends to all other PHP applications. Here are some of the key advantages and tools of Cloudways:
Excellent Uptime
Uptime is one of the most crucial aspects of Cloudways hosting, and it is closely tied to the cloud hosting system. Cloud hosting provides greater stability compared to traditional hosting types, as your website is hosted across multiple servers simultaneously. This means that if one server goes down, visitors are redirected to another server, enhancing the site’s stability and reducing the likelihood of service interruptions.
Cloud Hosting Benefits:
- Load Distribution Across Servers: This system allows you to maximize the use of computing resources to improve site speed and performance.
- Automatic Upgrades: Cloud servers can automatically upgrade their resources to handle sudden increases in visitor traffic, improving site responsiveness.
- Test Results: No downtime was recorded for the test website over the past year, proving the platform’s stability.
Private and Secure Hosting One of Cloudways’ main advantages is that it is a managed hosting service, rather than just a traditional hosting provider. Cloudways manages the hosting servers, meaning you get a dedicated server for your website only, with no sharing with other users. This feature significantly enhances security and performance, as the server’s resources are entirely allocated to your website.
Private Hosting Benefits:
- Higher Security and Protection: Since the server is dedicated solely to your site, you won’t face issues with other websites, which enhances security.
- Improved Performance: With a dedicated server, you can fully utilize all its resources without interference from other sites.
- No Resource Manipulation: Cloudways is different from some companies that over-allocate server resources. They do not distribute server resources excessively, which often happens with other hosting providers.
Cloudways Hosting: High Speed and Exceptional Performance
Performance speed is one of the standout features of Cloudways hosting. The service has always been known for providing high response times, regardless of the server provider you choose or the number of visitors to your site. Several factors make Cloudways superior in speed and performance tests, including:
Dedicated Computing Resources
Cloudways uses a special isolation technology in cloud servers to ensure that server resources are allocated solely to you. This means you don’t have to worry about the impact of other websites sharing the same server on your site’s speed and performance.By using this technology, you receive dedicated resources, which enhances your site’s stability and performance continuously.
SSD Storage
SSD drives are exclusively used in all Cloudways plans. These drives provide higher response speeds compared to traditional hard drives, significantly improving your site’s load time.
Advanced Caching Technologies
Cloudways offers a set of advanced caching technologies through Breeze, which is provided free to all users. Additionally, all plans include technologies such as:
- MemcachedVarnishNginx
Redis Technology Support
You can enable Redis technology via the control panel to enhance the performance and speed of database queries. This technology integrates seamlessly with Apache, Nginx, and Varnish, improving site speed and reducing response time.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) Services
While Cloudways doesn’t offer free CDN support like some other services, it provides its own CDN service at a low cost, starting at $1 per 25 GB of bandwidth. This service offers a fast network of servers that provide high performance compared to free services like CloudFlare.
Self-Healing Technology
Cloudways offers self-healing technology that automatically applies backup measures when a server encounters issues or errors in code or software. The system automatically reboots the server in a short period without human intervention.
Stress Test Results
We tested Cloudways hosting with 50 virtual visitors and achieved impressive results. The platform recorded an average response time of 94 milliseconds, even with over 116,000 requests in a stress test. There was no impact on response time, demonstrating the strength and performance of its servers.
Gmetrix Score for Cloudways Servers
Gmetrix tests show that Cloudways achieves excellent load speeds. This performance not only boosts your site’s speed but also gives you additional SEO points, improving your site’s ranking in search results, leading to more visibility and attracting visitors.
Outstanding Technical Support in Cloudways Hosting
Cloudways provides exceptional technical support around the clock to ensure customer satisfaction. You can reach the support team through:
- Live chat: The team responds within 30 to 60 seconds.
- Email.
- Phone calls.
While some reviews mention the complexity of certain technical instructions, our experience with technical support was positive, with friendly and professional assistance to resolve any issues.
Free Website Migration
Cloudways offers free website migration to their hosting for the first time through their technical support, ensuring your site remains operational during the transfer. They also provide a WordPress plugin to help users handle the migration themselves.
Although this service is typically charged ($25 per site), the free first-time migration makes Cloudways more competitive compared to its rivals.
Managed Security Services and Free SSL Certificate in Cloudways Hosting
Security is a top priority in Cloudways Hosting, where a comprehensive set of security measures is provided to protect your website data. Cloudways plans come with multiple security features designed to ensure the safety of your servers and data. These measures include:
Operating System-Level Firewall
All servers are protected by an advanced firewall to safeguard your site from system-level attacks and threats.
Regular Security Updates and Patches
Cloudways applies regular software updates to maintain your site’s security and protect it from vulnerabilities.
One-Click Free SSL Installation
Cloudways makes it easy to install a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt with a single click. This enhances secure communication between visitors and your site. Cloudways also supports paid certificates, which can be uploaded and installed effortlessly from the control panel.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
To protect your Cloudways account, the platform provides two-factor authentication, adding an extra layer of security to your personal account against unauthorized access.
IP Whitelisting for IP Filtering
You can specify which IP addresses are allowed to access your server using IP whitelisting, providing an additional layer of security and preventing unauthorized access.
Free Regular Backups
Cloudways offers free regular backups of your website and data. You can restore your data with a single click in case of any issue, ensuring your site remains up and running with minimal intervention.
Installing SSL Certificate in Cloudways Hosting
SSL certificates are essential for securing your website, and Cloudways makes it easy to install SSL certificates. If you choose to use the free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt, simply select it from the control panel and install it with one click. If you have a paid certificate, you can upload it easily by specifying the KEY and CRT files in the control panel.
Global Data Centers
Cloudways has a global network of data centers across over 65 locations, including:
- North and South America
- Europe
- Asia
- Australia
This allows you to choose the data center closest to your target audience, improving website load speed and enhancing the overall user experience.
The managed security services in Cloudways Hosting are among the key advantages that ensure the protection of your data and website. From regular security updates to free SSL certificate installation, Cloudways provides everything you need to secure your site. Additionally, with multiple global data centers, Cloudways allows you to choose the most suitable center to enhance your site’s speed and performance.
Cloudways Offers Free Backup for Your Website
As part of Cloudways’ strategy to enhance data security and protect customer websites, the platform provides the ability to easily schedule backups through its control panel. This service helps manage potential risks and ensures that your website data is safe from loss.
Manual or Automatic Backup
With Cloudways’ control panel, you can easily perform a manual backup with just a click. Additionally, you can schedule automatic backups either daily or weekly, giving you peace of mind that your data is always protected. Moreover, you can easily restore your data to any previous backup without any additional costs.
Extra Costs for Off-Server Backup Storage
While the backup and data restoration services are entirely free, Cloudways charges extra fees if you want to store your backups off-server on Amazon AWS. This step provides an additional layer of security in case your server experiences complete failure.
The additional cost for this service is $0.033 per GB of storage used, which is relatively low compared to many other options.
Flexible Payment Options with Easy Billing Model
Cloudways features a billing model based on hourly payment, which differs from most cloud hosting services that bill monthly.
Although the hourly billing might raise concerns for new users, this model is flexible and allows you to track your monthly costs in real-time through the control panel. It also gives you the ability to accurately estimate future costs.
This system is extremely useful when you need to upgrade your server or add extra resources instantly, as the cost is calculated based on your actual resource usage.
Available Payment Methods
Cloudways offers flexible payment options via all standard credit cards and PayPal. Although they had previously offered payment via cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, this service has currently been discontinued.
The free backup service at Cloudways is one of the platform’s standout features, providing additional protection for your website with options for both manual and automatic backups. Additionally, Cloudways offers a flexible hourly billing model, which gives you financial flexibility in managing your hosting costs.
Disadvantages of Cloudways Hosting
Cloudways is one of the premium hosting services that provides excellent performance and many features, especially in supporting content management systems, which caters to a large segment of users. However, despite all these advantages, there are some drawbacks that could affect the experience of certain users. Below, we present the most notable disadvantages related to this service:
Custom Control Panel
Although Cloudways’s control panel does not have any significant flaws, many website managers are accustomed to using well-known control panels such as cPanel or Plesk. If you decide to use Cloudways, you will need to adapt to their custom control panel, which does not yet support the Arabic language, which could be annoying for users who are used to working with cPanel. To overcome this issue, we have created a dedicated section explaining how to use Cloudways’s control panel in a simplified way.
Lack of Email Hosting
This can be a frustrating disadvantage for some, as Cloudways does not provide email hosting as part of its packages. Instead, it relies on Rackspace, a third-party service, which offers email hosting for $1 per email address, which is half the price compared to what you would pay directly through the service’s main site.
For performance and security reasons, it is preferable not to host your email on the same server as your website and to use a dedicated email service instead.
No Domain Registration Service
Cloudways lacks a domain registration service, either free or paid. This means that users must purchase their domain from another provider and then set up domain forwarding to Cloudways servers, which can be complex for beginners. While some may see this as a disadvantage, many experts recommend separating hosting and domain for greater security and control.
Use of Paid Content Delivery Networks
While many competing hosting services offer free access to Content Delivery Networks (CDN) such as CloudFlare, Cloudways relies on the paid service StackPath. While this service provides better performance, it costs $1 for every 25GB of bandwidth usage, which could increase costs, especially if you have large amounts of data. Alternatively, you can subscribe to a larger StackPath plan directly for $10 per month.
Restrictions on Server Access
Cloudways is an ideal choice for beginners who prefer fully managed hosting services, but it may not be suitable for developers or system administrators. It imposes certain restrictions on access, such as not granting root privileges or providing a built-in file manager in the control panel. Additionally, Cloudways designs server environments primarily to suit content management systems like WordPress, while some other programming languages are not supported by default.
These restrictions are intended to protect the performance and security of the service, as giving full access could lead to configuration errors that negatively affect hosting. However, if you are capable of managing the server yourself, these restrictions may not be necessary for you.
Control Panel Design
The Cloudways control panel features a modern and simple design, but it may be uncomfortable for users who are accustomed to cPanel. Despite this, the control panel offers many essential functions such as server management, application installation, domain settings, backup management, and resource monitoring.
Although Cloudways offers excellent performance and flexible features for both beginners and developers, it may not be the ideal choice for all types of websites. You should be aware of potential disadvantages such as using a custom control panel, and the lack of email hosting and domain registration services. However, if you are looking for fully managed hosting with high performance and can adapt to these limitations, Cloudways could be the perfect choice for you.
Cloudways Hosting Packages and Prices
Cloudways offers various server providers and configurations. Below is an overview of the server resources and their pricing, with detailed information on the providers, available resources, and additional services:
Provider | DigitalOcean | Linode | Vultr | Google Cloud | Amazon AWS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
vCPU Cores | 1 vCPU | 1 vCPU | 1 vCPU | 1 vCPU | 1 vCPU |
RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1.75 GB | 2 GB |
Storage | 25 GB | 25 GB | 25 GB | 20 GB | 20 GB |
Free Bandwidth | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 2 GB | 2 GB |
Free SSL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CDN Service (Optional) | $4.99 per 100 GB | $4.99 per 100 GB | $4.99 per 100 GB | $4.99 per 100 GB | $4.99 per 100 GB |
External Backups | Yes ($0.033 per GB) | Yes ($0.033 per GB) | Yes ($0.033 per GB) | Yes ($0.033 per GB) | Yes ($0.033 per GB) |
Website Migration | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
Email | Paid Add-on | Paid Add-on | Paid Add-on | Paid Add-on | Paid Add-on |
Package Price | $11 | $14 | $14 | $37.45 | $20.56 |
Additional Bandwidth Price | $0.02 per GB | $0.02 per GB | $0.01 ~ $0.05 per GB | $0.14 per GB | $0.12 per GB |
Free Trial | Coupon Activation | Coupon Activation | Coupon Activation | Coupon Activation | Coupon Activation |
Advice: If you’re looking for small yet powerful cloud servers from Cloudways, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr are the ideal options in terms of cost and performance. If you need high-performance hosting for large projects or businesses, Google Cloud and Amazon AWS offer robust solutions, but at higher prices.
Our evaluation of the web hosting after reviewing it from all aspects
The web hosting was evaluated based on speed, security, customer support, and the resources provided. The evaluation helps in determining the quality of the hosting and its suitability for different needs.
4.6 / 5
Pros
- Comprehensive support for all content management systems (CMS)
- User-friendly interface
- Pay-as-you-go model
- Excellent uptime
- Private and secure hosting
- Exceptional speed and performance
- Outstanding technical support
- Free website migration
- Managed security services and free SSL certificate
- Global data centers
- Free backups
Cons
- Custom control panel
- No email hosting
- No domain registration service
- Use of paid content delivery networks
- Restrictions on server access