Cloudways web hosting review | IT PRO

In our Cloudways review, we check out among the best web hosting companies, within the sphere of the perfect cloud hosting, in the marketplace.

Cloudways review: Snapshot

Cloudways presents a number of highly effective, extremely configurable managed cloud hosting choices, and it’s identified for its wonderful efficiency and nice worth for cash. Its cloud hosting options are among the many finest we’ve seen. 

The firm brings a neat mixture of energy, affordability, and further options, making its hosting a viable choice for every part from small WordPress web sites to worldwide ecommerce shops. 

Its costs are barely increased than these you’ll pay for the equal shared hosting, however there are not any long-term contracts or misleading introductory value presents. Hourly billing is accessible, which signifies that you’ll solely ever pay for what you want. 

In addition, Cloudways companies are backed by a set of neat options, industry-leading efficiency, dependable servers, and a really pleasant customer support crew. If you’re searching for a extremely scalable host that allows you to improve or downgrade your plan at any time, Cloudways is value contemplating. 

Score: 4.5/5

Read on for our full Cloudways review.

Quick competitor comparability

How does Cloudways evaluate to its predominant rivals?

  Cloudways Hostwinds Hostinger
Score 4.5/5 4.5/5 4.5/5
Pros – Attractive PAYG pricing mannequin
– A number of totally different cloud hosting networks
– Excellent efficiency with even the most affordable plans
– Leading efficiency
– Friendly help crew and nice self-help assets
– Great worth for cash
– Excellent safety instruments
– Great choice for these on a finances
– Attractive native hPanel management panel
Cons – No area registration companies
– Sometimes complicated native management panel
– Confusing SSL set up course of
– Prices are fairly unclear
– High-end choices are absent
– Budget plans have vital useful resource limitations
Verdict Cloudways presents high-end cloud hosting options and is a beautiful, dependable choice for these in search of a mixture of energy and affordability. Hostwinds presents among the finest hosting we’ve seen, together with every part from shared hosting to devoted servers and cloud accounts.  Hostinger presents a number of entry-level hosting options, together with among the least expensive however finest shared hosting we’ve seen.
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Cloudways: Key options

Cloudways is named a high-end cloud hosting firm, and it naturally presents a set of fantastic options to enhance its companies. One factor that stands out instantly is the corporate’s deal with safety. 

For instance, you can be coated by every part from devoted firewalls and DDoS assault safety. The firm boasts superior bot detection and blocking, two-factor authentication, and automated safety patches to make sure your web site is protected always. 

Another standout function is Cloudways’ customized PHP app installer. Automatic set up is accessible for WordPress, WooCommerce, Laravel, and Magento, however you may add customized apps with the clicking of a button. Simply set up a customized app, launch it, and observe the prompts so as to add no matter scripts you require. Just a little developer data will probably be helpful right here. 

Cloudways' PHP hosting knowledgebase, with walkthrough and guide links

One of the keys to Cloudways’ wonderful efficiency with WordPress web sites is its proprietary Breeze WordPress plugin. This caching plugin is designed that can assist you scale back web page load instances, combine with a CDN, and minify your code information. It’s robotically put in once you add the WordPress app to your server, and it’s designed to be simple to make use of and newbie pleasant.

Cloudways' download page for its Breeze WordPress plugin

All Cloudways customers may also have entry to 24/7 real-time monitoring companies. Along with the anticipated safety monitoring, you’ll profit from useful resource utilization, server well being, and varied different kinds of helpful monitoring instruments. 

Cloudways' user interface with application management tab open on disk usage settings

Last, however definitely not least, Cloudways presents a number of add-ons that you should use to handle and add performance to your web site. For instance, there’s a lot of electronic mail add-ons, a CDN, and a DNS Made Easy app for streamlined DNS administration.

Cloudways' add-on index of applications

Cloudways: What’s new in 2022?

Cloudways options an Updates Tips and Tricks class as a part of its weblog. Expect one to five-plus articles to be posted right here a month. These are inclined to element minor updates, and the platform doesn’t seem to have modified an ideal deal prior to now 12 months. 

The most up-to-date replace, on the finish of December 2021, mentioned the Cloudways Staging 2.0 staging space for web site testing. The Breeze WordPress plugin, developed by Cloudways, for Cloudways customers, is usually up to date.

Cloudways: Pricing

Cloudways’ pricing is a bit on the difficult aspect. This is basically as a result of variety of hosting choices out there. 

For starters, you may choose from 5 cloud networks, together with DigitalOcean, Linode, VULTR, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud. These all include a number of totally different subscription choices, and a few networks are additional separated into Standard and Premium plans. Hourly and month-to-month funds can be found, however there are not any long-term subscription reductions. 

To offer you an instance of what this seems like, we analysed the DigitalOcean plans a bit additional. Prices for the Standard plans vary from £8.41 to £67.25 a month, with premium choices coming in at £10.09 to £80.70 a month. Custom plans are additionally out there, enabling you to pick out the precise quantity of storage, RAM, and bandwidth you require. 

All plans on all networks include a set of options together with free SSL certificates, devoted firewalls, limitless app installs, and automated backups.

Cloudways’ pricing plans

Plan kind/function DigitalOcean Linode VULTR AWS Google Cloud
Cost monthly From £8.41 From £10.09 From £9.25 From £30.69 From £27.89
Cost per yr From £100.87 From £121.05 From £110.96 From £368.28 From £334.69
Free SSL
Free web site migrations
Automatic backups
Free area

*Significant reductions can be found with longer-term subscriptions, and you could be required to pay extra on renewal.

Testing Cloudways

To take a look at Cloudways, we created a easy WordPress web site and monitored its uptime and server response instances for 2 weeks. The majority of internet sites are constructed on WordPress, so it’s vital to carry out exams to find out how properly a bunch is suited to doing this.

How simple is it to create a WordPress web site with Cloudways?

Cloudways' user dashboard with access details tab for WordPress site management

Installing WordPress in your new Cloudways server is a really easy course of. To start, head to the “Applications” tab on the high of your predominant administration dashboard. Select the “WordPress” choice, hit set up, and wait a few minutes for the platform to do its work. 

You will probably be given a brief area identify, enabling you to start out constructing your web site with out a customized area. Your WordPress admin login particulars could be discovered on the Application web page, enabling you to log into your dashboard and start designing. 

All issues thought of, creating a brand new WordPress web site with Cloudways could be very simple to do, and also you shouldn’t run into any points.

How properly does Cloudways carry out?

The author's Cloudways site's performance plotted on a graph

After a 14-day take a look at interval with Pingdom’s web site monitoring instruments, we are able to comfortably state that Cloudways is among the best-performing hosts that we’ve examined. 

For starters, we skilled 100% uptime throughout the take a look at interval. While this could possibly be barely misleading as a result of quick testing time-frame, it’s nonetheless an enormous tick within the platform’s favor. 

The common server response instances had been additionally wonderful. They diverse from 261ms to 351ms throughout the take a look at interval, with a mean of simply 288ms. This signifies that Cloudways sits on the quicker finish of the 200 to 400ms response time vary that we search for with entry-level hosting. Its efficiency clearly isn’t something to be involved about.

Alternatives to Cloudways

Cloudways is among the finest cloud hosting platforms that we’ve used, however it’s definitely not the one choice value contemplating. 

For instance, Hostwinds presents comparable cloud hosting options. Its cloud subscriptions begin at £0.0058 an hour (roughly £4.20 a month), and these embrace full administration, a 99.9999% uptime assure, free web site transfers, and extra. In addition, Hostwinds makes use of a cPanel management panel, which is sort of intuitive and straightforward to familiarise your self with.

It boasts a number of server areas internationally, and you’ll profit from among the finest customer support we’ve seen. We’d suggest Hostwinds in case you’re searching for a strong hosting answer for something from a primary private weblog to a global ecommerce retailer.

Another well-liked different is Hostinger, particularly amongst these on a decent finances. It doesn’t supply comparable cloud hosting merchandise, however its shared hosting plans begin from simply £1.99 a month for the primary three years. What’s extra, all the firm’s hosting options are backed by among the finest safety practices we’ve seen, and a pleasant, educated customer support crew. 

Hostinger makes use of a tidy, native hPanel management panel, which is arguably even higher than the widely-used cPanel. Server assets are a bit restricted with the most affordable shared plans, however it stays our favourite choice for these beginning a small, primary web site on a decent finances.

Cloudways’ options in comparison with the competitors

  Cloudways Hostinger Hostwinds
Control panel Native management panel hPanel cPanel
Free area ✔ (with improve)
One-click installations ✔ (roughly 10) ✔ (greater than 100 functions) ✔ (lots of out there by Softaculous)
Support 24/7 dwell chat and on-line ticketing, precedence cellphone with a premium help plan 24/7 dwell chat and on-line ticketing 24/7 dwell chat, electronic mail, and on-line ticketing
Basic plan £8.41 a month £1.99 a month ~£4 a month

Cloudways: Final verdict

All issues thought of, Cloudways clearly presents among the most versatile web hosting options in the marketplace. Its cloud hosting plans can be found with hourly billing and no lock-in contracts, and they are often scaled up or down at any cut-off date. 

In addition, Cloudways costs are very aggressive. Its least expensive £4.20 a month plan is barely costlier than among the least expensive shared hosting plans in the marketplace, however the worth for cash on supply is extraordinary. 

For one, Cloudways’ hosting is backed by a superb number of superior options. You will have the ability to benefit from issues like built-in safety, 24/7 server monitoring, customized PHP app set up instruments, a local WordPress caching plugin, and a set of add-ons. 

Installing a brand new WordPress web site takes no quite a lot of moments. It’s a beginner-friendly, easy course of that you simply shouldn’t have any issues with. In addition, Cloudways boasts wonderful efficiency and dependable server infrastructure. 

The backside line right here is that Cloudways is a high-quality, dependable cloud hosting supplier, providing among the finest hosting options we’ve seen. We’d extremely suggest contemplating it in case you’re searching for one thing a bit extra highly effective than commonplace shared hosting.

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