The use of cloud hosting has numerous benefits. It is frequently cost-effective, easily scaleable, and gives you a lot of flexibility over your server options. The issue is that the majority of non-developers find it difficult to use cloud hosting services like Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The mission of Cloudways is to make cloud-based hosting accessible to everyone, not only developers. It’s a managed cloud service that works with various platforms, including WordPress. A user-friendly interface on Cloudways makes it simple to deploy a website on a high-performance cloud server.
About Cloudways
Uzair Gadit, Aquib Gadit, and Pere Hospital established Cloudways Hosting, a Managed Hosting, in 2009. Malta in Europe serves as its headquarters.
The main reason for launching Cloudways was to give their clients the ideal balance of managed and unmanaged hosting so they could benefit from the greatest qualities of both worlds!
The recent acquisition of Cloudways by DigitalOcean may enhance the company’s capacity to assist small business owners during the various phases of business startup.
Cloudways review for WordPress
It’s crucial to state upfront that Cloudways isn’t a hosting company in the traditional sense. Instead, you may use it to set up web apps on a variety of cloud hosts, such as DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. Of course, one of the programmes offered is WordPress.
Cloudways gives you the ability to choose every aspect of the creation of a new website, including the server size and the cloud service to use. You might also have the option to select from a variety of server locations, depending on the host:
On a single screen, everything takes place. In reality, Cloudways makes it possible for you to quickly set up a WordPress website utilising the cloud service of your choosing.
Cloudways receives high rankings for usability. No matter what setting you choose for your server’s configuration, you can also enjoy the following features:
- Hosting and security services that are managed
- Simple setup of an SSL certificate
- Should you require more resources, simple server scaling
- Various versions of PHP are supported
- Support for both the database management systems MySQL and MariaDB
- Access to FTP and SSH
- Integration of Git
However, Cloudways does not support hosting or sending emails. To send emails for free, Cloudways does feature a straightforward integration with SendGrid, and you may host your emails using free or premium services like Zoho Mail or Google Workspace (previously G Suite). Or, for inexpensive email hosting, Cloudways also has a dedicated connection with Rackspace.
The majority of the capabilities that Cloudways provides are equivalent to those of some of the best WordPress managed hosting alternatives. (such as SiteGround or WP Engine). Additionally, keep in mind that although this Cloudways review will mostly focus on WordPress, it also integrates with other systems like Magento and Drupal.
Cloudways Data Centers
75+ data centres are available with Cloudways Hosting, which is located all over the world. You can see the locations of each server for DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud, and Vultr on their website.
Cloudways review
The performance of Cloudways can change based on your settings because it uses servers from third-party cloud hosting platforms. We selected the most basic DigitalOcean configuration for our test website, which included 1 GB of RAM and 25 GB of SSD storage. Every server also includes the following in addition to that:
- Setting up cache and installing a caching plugin for WordPress
- PHP 7 is the standard choice.
- a specific type of content delivery network (CDN)
If you ever need to increase performance, you may always choose to scale your server to add more RAM or storage. You must backup and restore your server settings in order to downgrade, though. In any event, Cloudways provides one-click options for backup and recovery.
Although cloud hosting should theoretically offer nearly flawless uptime, your results may vary based on the server you select. You can check out the thorough records of incidents kept by Cloudways at any time:
According to the specs, Cloudways should offer the best WordPress performance. To see if it lives up to expectations, we put it through several tests.
Our Cloudways review pros and cons
Let’s briefly go over the advantages and disadvantages of this service as we’ve covered a lot of ground in our Cloudways review.
Pros
- It’s the easiest method to start using cloud hosting.
- Server optimisation is taken care of for you by Cloudways.
- Your server resources are completely under your control.
- WordPress websites may be put up in a matter of minutes.
- Resources can be scaled up at any time.
- Overall, Cloudways performs incredibly well. (though exact performance will depend on your chosen cloud provider and specs)
Cons
- Customer service might use improvement (although your mileage may vary)
- If you don’t have any prior server management knowledge, it can be challenging to evaluate what resources you actually need.
- Because of the intricate pricing structure, certain solutions could end up being very pricey.
Should you use Cloudways?
For 2023, Cloudways remains one of the top web hosts in my opinion. It offers you greater speed, scalability, uptime, and load testing performance. In addition, it provides strong choices for security and backups.
They have made numerous platform improvements during the past year. These include Astra Pro Collaboration, Safe Updates, Partial Restoration, and Cloudflare Enterprise CDN.
As a result, Cloudways provides you with high-quality service and regular updates at a reasonable price. This is why I think it’s worth every penny you spend on it!
Cloudways would be a wonderful option if your blog receives a lot of visits (above 100k+) or you make money from it. Small and medium-sized companies, expert bloggers, resellers, agencies, and seasonal websites should all give Cloudways a look.
However, you might use Hostinger, Chemicloud, or FastComet if you need a hosting service on a tight budget.
Conclusion
It’s not necessary to be intimidated by cloud hosting. You can obtain all the benefits of the top cloud hosting providers through a platform that is much more user-friendly by using services like Cloudways. A WordPress website can be set up in the same manner as a standard host.
There are many other options to take into account if you’re still unsure about whether cloud hosting is the right choice for you.
First off, you could prefer inexpensive managed WordPress hosting if you’re utilising WordPress, as it will be even more user-friendly than Cloudways.