Cloudways offers excellent performance and flexibility with reliable customer support, but it may have a learning curve for beginners, limited email hosting options, and a pricing structure that can be complex.
- Excellent Performance
- Flexibility and Scalability
- Reliable Customer Support
- Learning Curve for Beginners
- Limited Email Hosting
- Pricing Complexity
Cloudways Review
A Comprehensive Analysis of Managed Cloud Hosting
In today’s digital age, establishing an online presence is essential for any business. With the internet becoming the go-to source for information and services, it’s crucial to provide your customers with easy access to your website. However, to make your website accessible, you need reliable web hosting services. While many hosting companies offer excellent services, they often come with high costs and require technical expertise to manage effectively. That’s where Cloudways comes in, a managed web hosting provider that offers affordable and reliable unmanaged hostings. In this in-depth Cloudways review, we will explore the features, performance, support, and pricing of this hosting service.
About Cloudways
Cloudways, founded in 2011, brings over a decade of experience in the hosting industry. Headquartered in Malta, the company has grown to include around 500 employees. Cloudways has partnered with renowned cloud hosting providers like Google Cloud, AWS, and DigitalOcean, ensuring top-notch infrastructure and services.
Managed Web Hosting with Unmanaged Hostings
Cloudways differentiates itself by providing managed web hosting services for reliable unmanaged hostings. This unique approach allows users to enjoy the benefits of unmanaged hosting, such as flexibility and customization, while offloading the technical aspects of hosting management to Cloudways. This includes tasks like server maintenance, data security, updates, and more. By leveraging their expertise, Cloudways saves you time, money, and effort.
Performance Testing and Analysis
To assess the performance of Cloudways, we conducted several tests to evaluate key aspects such as speed, uptime, and customer support.
User-Friendly Interface
Cloudways provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to manage your hosting effortlessly. Upon logging in, you can easily access your purchased plans and navigate through your applications and projects. While some features may require a bit of searching, the overall interface is intuitive and provides a smooth user experience.
Impressive Speed
Website speed plays a vital role in user experience and search engine rankings. Cloudways optimizes speed by leveraging top server software, including Memcache, PHP FPM, Varnish Cache, Redis, and Apache. During our speed tests, we found that all servers performed admirably, with Asian servers standing out for their exceptional speed. Even the basic plans with default settings delivered impressive speed performance.
Reliable Uptime
Maintaining a reliable uptime is crucial for online businesses. Cloudways guarantees 99.99% uptime, ensuring your website remains accessible to visitors at all times. Our own test results confirmed the exceptional uptime record, solidifying Cloudways’ reliability as a hosting provider.
Robust Security Measures
Data security is a paramount concern for any website owner. Cloudways takes security seriously and offers comprehensive protection measures. Alongside features like DDoS attack protection and Web Application Firewall (WAF), Cloudways incorporates Cloudflare for enhanced security. These measures work together to safeguard your data and protect your website from potential threats.
Exceptional Customer Support
Prompt and reliable customer support is essential when dealing with hosting-related queries and issues. Cloudways excels in this aspect, providing free 24/7 customer support via live chat, ticketing system, and email. Additionally, they offer various support levels tailored to your specific needs. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced user, Cloudways ensures you have access to expert assistance whenever you require it.
Extensive Data Center Locations
Cloudways has established partnerships with over 25 data center locations worldwide. This widespread presence allows you to choose the data center nearest to your target audience, reducing latency and improving website loading times. With options like Google Cloud, AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr, Cloudways offers flexibility and scalability to meet the needs of diverse businesses.
Key Features
Cloudways offers a range of key features that enhance the overall hosting experience:
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SSD Storage: All Cloudways plans come with high-performance Solid State Drives (SSD) storage, ensuring fast data retrieval and faster website loading times.
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Free SSL Installation: Cloudways simplifies the process of securing your website by providing a 1-click free SSL installation. This feature enables encrypted communication between your website and its visitors, enhancing trust and security.
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Block Storage: Cloudways offers additional block storage that allows you to expand your storage capacity based on your needs. This scalability ensures your website can handle increasing data requirements without compromising performance.
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1-Click Backups: Regular backups are crucial for safeguarding your website and data. Cloudways simplifies this process with its 1-click backup feature, allowing you to schedule automatic backups or perform manual backups with ease.
Pricing
Cloudways offers transparent and flexible pricing plans, catering to businesses of all sizes. The pricing is structured based on the cloud hosting provider you choose, with options including Google Cloud, AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr. You can select the desired provider, along with the server size and location, to customize your plan.
While Cloudways’ pricing might appear slightly higher compared to traditional shared hosting providers, the additional benefits, such as managed services and top-tier infrastructure, make it a worthwhile investment. Additionally, the pay-as-you-go approach ensures you only pay for the resources you consume, allowing for scalability and cost-efficiency.
Pros and Cons of Cloudways
Pros:
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Excellent Performance: Cloudways offers impressive website performance with optimized server software and top-tier infrastructure. Their use of technologies like Memcache, PHP FPM, Varnish Cache, Redis, and Apache helps deliver fast loading times and ensures a smooth user experience.
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Flexibility and Scalability: Cloudways provides a flexible and scalable hosting environment. With a wide range of cloud hosting providers and data center locations to choose from, you can easily customize your hosting setup based on your specific needs. Additionally, the pay-as-you-go pricing model allows for easy scalability as your business grows.
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Reliable Customer Support: Cloudways offers exceptional customer support, available 24/7 through live chat, ticketing system, and email. Their knowledgeable support team is responsive and provides prompt assistance, ensuring that any hosting-related queries or issues are addressed in a timely manner.
Cons:
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Learning Curve for Beginners: While Cloudways simplifies the management of unmanaged hostings, there is still a learning curve involved, especially for beginners or those without prior hosting experience. The platform’s advanced features and customization options may require some time to fully grasp and utilize effectively.
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Limited Email Hosting: Cloudways primarily focuses on web hosting and does not offer built-in email hosting services. While you can use third-party email providers or set up email hosting separately, the lack of integrated email hosting may be a drawback for those seeking an all-in-one hosting solution.
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Pricing Complexity: While Cloudways’ pricing is transparent and flexible, the pricing structure can be complex for some users. Determining the costs based on the cloud hosting provider, server size, and additional features can be a bit overwhelming, especially for those who prefer straightforward pricing plans without many variables.
Conclusion
Cloudways stands out as a reliable and affordable managed web hosting provider. With its unique approach of offering managed services for unmanaged hostings, Cloudways bridges the gap between flexibility and ease of use. The company’s focus on performance, security, extensive data center locations, and exceptional customer support make it an excellent choice for small and medium-sized businesses.
Whether you’re a startup, an e-commerce store, or a growing business, Cloudways provides a comprehensive hosting solution that ensures your website is fast, secure, and easily manageable. With its recent acquisition by DigitalOcean, Cloudways is poised to deliver even greater value to its customers and further solidify its position in the hosting industry.
