Cloudways

What is Cloudways?

Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that simplifies cloud infrastructure management for businesses, developers, and agencies. It provides a unified platform to deploy, manage, and scale PHP-based applications including WordPress, Magento, Laravel, Joomla, and Drupal without dealing with complex server administration.

It handles server setup, security monitoring, automated backups, and performance optimization, allowing you to focus on growing your business rather than managing infrastructure.

You can host unlimited applications on any plan, scale resources vertically with one-click upgrades, deploy staging environments for testing, and benefit from advanced caching technologies including Varnish, Memcached, Nginx, and Redis. The platform is designed for users who want cloud hosting power without the complexity of traditional cloud management.

Quick Review of Cloudways

Pros and Cons of Cloudways

Pros

• Flexible multi-cloud infrastructure: Cloudways offers access to five major cloud providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud) with 65+ data centers globally, providing unmatched flexibility to choose the best infrastructure for your needs and audience location.
• Transparent pay-as-you-go pricing: Unlike traditional hosting with fixed tiers, Cloudways charges only for the resources you use with hourly or monthly billing options, making it cost-effective for projects of varying sizes without lock-in contracts.
• Exceptional performance and speed: The platform delivers fast loading times with advanced caching mechanisms (Varnish, Memcached, Redis, Nginx), built-in CDN options, and SSD/NVMe storage. Users report load times under 500ms and excellent uptime of 99.99%.
• Unlimited applications and scalability: You can host unlimited websites on any plan and easily scale server resources (RAM, CPU, storage) vertically with one click, making it ideal for growing businesses and high-traffic sites.

Cons

• Learning curve for beginners: While Cloudways simplifies cloud hosting, it still requires some technical knowledge to configure server settings properly. Complete beginners might find shared hosting providers more user-friendly.
• No email hosting or domain registration: Cloudways focuses purely on application hosting and doesn’t include email hosting or domain registration services, requiring you to use third-party providers for these features at additional cost.
• Variable support quality: While many users praise the 24/7 live chat support, some reviewers have noted that support quality has declined since the DigitalOcean acquisition, with occasional slow responses during peak periods and inconsistent expertise levels among agents.

Cloudways Pricing

Cloudways uses a transparent pay-as-you-go pricing model based on the cloud infrastructure provider you select and the server resources you need. Unlike traditional hosting with fixed packages, you only pay for what you use, with both hourly and monthly billing options available.

The pricing structure varies by provider:

• DigitalOcean: Starting at $11/month for 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, 1TB bandwidth
• DigitalOcean Premium: Starting at $14/month with enhanced NVMe storage
• Vultr Standard: Starting at $14/month for 1GB RAM, 32GB storage, 1TB bandwidth
• Vultr High-Frequency: Starting at $16/month with faster NVMe storage and improved CPU
• Linode: Starting at $14/month for 1GB RAM, 50GB storage, 1TB bandwidth
• AWS: Starting at $20.56/month (varies by region and configuration)
• Google Cloud: Starting at $37.45/month (varies by region)

Plans scale up to 500GB bandwidth and terabytes of storage space, with costs increasing based on your resource requirements. There are no fixed contracts—you can start, stop, upgrade, or downgrade anytime.

Add-ons and extras:

• Cloudflare Enterprise CDN: $4.99/month (price decreases with multiple sites)
• CloudwaysCDN: $1 for first 25GB, then $0.04/GB
• Premium Support: $100/month for priority application and server-level support
• Advanced Support: $500/month with dedicated senior engineers
• Additional bandwidth: $1 per 10GB
• Additional storage: $2 per GB
• Offsite backups: $0.033/GB per server

To get started, you need to select your preferred cloud provider, choose server specifications based on your traffic and resource needs, and sign up. Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial (no credit card required for DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode) and frequently runs promotional discounts of 20-40% off for new customers.

Cloudways Features

Multi-Cloud Provider Flexibility

One of Cloudways’ standout features is the ability to choose from five major cloud infrastructure providers—DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud. This gives you access to 65+ global data centers, allowing you to select the best location for your target audience and optimize for low latency. You can deploy different applications on different providers based on your specific needs and budget.

Advanced Performance Optimization

Cloudways utilizes ThunderStack, a proprietary technology stack that combines Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, Memcached, Varnish, and Redis to deliver exceptional performance. The platform includes built-in caching at multiple levels, free Object Cache Pro for WordPress installations on 4GB+ servers (normally $95/month), and support for both Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and CloudwaysCDN for faster global content delivery.

Automated Backups and Staging

The platform provides customizable automated backups at both server and application levels, with configurable backup frequency and data retention periods. You can create free staging environments with one click to test changes safely, then push them live when ready. This feature is essential for developers and agencies managing client websites.

Server Management and Monitoring

Cloudways handles all server management tasks including security patches, software updates, and OS-level configuration. The platform includes 24/7 real-time monitoring, auto-healing server restart features for crash recovery, and dedicated firewalls for each server. You get full SSH/SFTP access and can manage PHP versions, install SSL certificates with one click, and configure server settings through an intuitive dashboard.

Vertical Scaling and Autoscaling

You can scale server resources (RAM, CPU, storage) vertically with a single click without migration or downtime. For WordPress sites expecting traffic spikes, Cloudways Autonomous (starting at $35/month) offers Kubernetes-based autoscaling that handles thousands of concurrent users automatically with pay-as-you-go flexibility.

Developer-Friendly Tools

Cloudways supports Git integration for version control, provides WP-CLI access for command-line management, includes staging environments for testing, and offers integration with New Relic for advanced application performance monitoring. The platform supports custom PHP applications and one-click installations for popular CMS and e-commerce platforms.

Security Features

Every server includes free SSL certificates, dedicated firewalls, two-factor authentication, IP whitelisting, regular security patching, and DDoS protection. Recent additions include WordPress vulnerability scanning, safe updates feature, login alerts, and an optional malware protection add-on for proactive defense.

Team Collaboration

For agencies and teams, Cloudways provides team management features allowing you to add team members with different permission levels, manage multiple client applications from a single dashboard, and collaborate efficiently on projects without sharing sensitive credentials.

Cloudways Support Quality

Cloudways provides three levels of customer support to accommodate different user needs and budgets.

Standard Support (Free) includes 24/7/365 live chat assistance with trained support team members, support ticket system for non-urgent issues, comprehensive knowledge base with detailed articles and video tutorials, and community forums for peer support. The live chat typically responds within minutes, and the chatbot handles common queries before connecting you to human agents.

Premium Support ($100/month) offers priority 24/7/365 live chat and ticketing from senior engineers with improved SLAs, help troubleshooting plugin and theme conflicts, on-demand optimization tweaks for application performance, and collaborative investigation of server errors.

Advanced Support ($500/month) includes all premium features plus proactive investigation when servers go down, customization of stack/server configurations including deploying additional packages, dedicated primary contact at Cloudways for personalized guidance, 24/7/365 private Slack channel connecting directly to senior support engineers, and hands-on assistance with mission-critical issues.

Cloudways Alternatives

Summary

Overall, Cloudways stands out as one of the best managed cloud hosting platforms available, particularly well-suited for growing businesses, agencies managing multiple client sites, and developers who need flexibility without server management complexity.

With its transparent pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $11/month, access to five major cloud providers, 65+ global data centers, and exceptional performance with advanced caching technologies, Cloudways delivers outstanding value. The platform excels in scalability, allowing unlimited applications per server and easy vertical scaling with one click, making it ideal for websites experiencing growth or traffic fluctuations.

Start your cloud hosting journey with Cloudways’ 3-day free trial—no credit card required. Experience lightning-fast performance, flexible scaling, and expert support that grows with your business.

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