Cloudways Review in 2020: Full Analysis + Pros & Cons

Last updated on: April 2021

Overall, they have everything that is needed to offer you a stellar-quality customer support service.

It is extremely reliable, regardless of your technical level, they will treat you kindly all the time, and it happens because they have a real experienced and trained customer support staff.

I have tested them with simple questions as well as very technical ones, and they have managed them perfectly. No complaints here, only congrats, because their job is exceptional.

I would rate it a 9.5 out of 10, because I feel it is amazing, and many other customers will agree with me.

Uptime & Downtime:

I will simply write this:

Cloudways has an amazing 99.999% uptime guarantee, which makes it one of the most reliable hosting services in the world.

And yes, they remain loyal to what they promise, and I have tested it myself. So, if you want to have your website online practically every single second of the year (who wouldn’t like it), then you will fall in love with Cloudways. Guaranteed.

Now that you know that your website will be online practically all the time, you need to know whether the speed will be optimal or not, and fortunately, Cloudways excels in this department as well.

Thanks to their proprietary cutting-edge VMAN technology their ensure that your WordPress websites will load up to 50% faster. This amazing tech works by deploying:

This powerful stack optimizes the loading speed of your website, making it more reliable than most of the competition. You will get the most out of your resources, which will allow you to take the maximum benefit out of their Pay-as-you-go scheme, making it more affordable than using traditional hosting solutions.

If you have a website that gets tons of traffic, then you will notice the difference even more, and that alone will boost your UX score through the roof. Your visitors will love how fast your website loads.

In addition, I have to add that they are capable of transmitting content to your users based on their location, which means that they will use the nearest server, bringing your users an even faster loading time. Most competitors cannot offer this superior advantage.

Overall, I will rate it a 9 out of 10 in the uptime and speed department, because it is one of the fastest and most reliable options in the market as of now.

Key Features:

Many features make Cloudways truly unique in the web hosting industry.

It brings you insightful and clear server monitoring, to monitor the performance of your cloud server. It will show you up to 15 different variables that include:

The easiest way to take care of your server health and guarantee an optimal performance. A feature that advanced users and developers will appreciate a lot, because you can keep a close look on the load of your servers, which is critical when you are managing websites that receive tons of traffic. You need to tune up every single detail, because it can make a huge difference.

By default, Cloudways enables server-monitoring alerts, to keep you informed of what is going on with your servers.

Another feature that makes this company a home run is the endless capacity for scalability. You can scale your resources as your website grows, thanks to Virtual Scaling, a powerful feature you will only find in Cloudways.

If you ever experience a traffic surge, you can allocate more resources with only a couple of clicks, so the performance of your website can match the requirements of the moment.

Even if you are scaling only for the short-term, the Pay-as-you-go allows you to do it without having to pay for resources that you will not need later. Worry not, because their pricing is very competitive, although it will depend on your plan (something we discuss properly in the Pricing Plans section, because it will depend on the features like RAM and bandwidth).

Cloudways makes it very easy to install a wide myriad of add-ons like SSL, restore backups and integrate GIT, with only a couple of clicks.

It works perfectly with WordPress, and in fact, the vast majority of their customers use this CMS, because their servers are built to run this system optimally. You can install it with only a couple of clicks, because Cloudways allows you to choose between three default installations:

Furthermore, the installation will be configured for optimal speed and performance, because it also includes the W3 Total Cache plugin, which will bring your users a faster page load time.

As WP is an easy target for hackers, Cloudways has developed their own advanced firewall to keep their attacks at bay, and they constantly monitor it and patch vulnerabilities as soon as they appear.

Also, it is great if you want to build multiple sites on record time, because it only takes a click to do it. If you are building a network of any kind, then Cloudways will make it very easy for you, especially since you can monitor everything perfectly. Ideal if you have to handle multiple sites.

Just to show you even more of the immense value of Cloudways, here you have a list of exclusive features:

In conclusion, Cloudways is superior to many options in the competition because they offer key features that will translate in a better experience for you and a superior performance. Guaranteed!

Pricing Plans:

As it is not your traditional hosting solution, it has a different way of pricing its plans. Worry not, because I cover everything in detail below.

First, before configuring your server, you will have to choose your preferred cloud provider, and based on that, you will be able to choose the plan that better suits your needs.

All plans include the following:

Let’s review the featured plans available for each provider. Take note that you can get plans with much more resources, for example, 192 GB RAM, 3840 GB storage and 12 TB bandwidth. Of course, they are more expensive, but if you know what you are doing, then you will not have any issues.

Digital Ocean:

Honestly, their Plan 1 is perfect for most small websites, because you get all the web space you need, plenty of bandwidth and RAM.

Linode:

Vultr:

Amazon Web Services:

Google Cloud Platform:

As I said, these are just the featured plans, because they have plans for websites and apps with higher demands.

Furthermore, you can configure the web space and bandwidth to pay as you go, making it very easy to scale or to support traffic surges and spikes.

Pretty straightforward, so just pick a plan that suffices your needs and that’s all! If you ever need more help, you can always reach out a customer support agent.

Security Features:

Security is one of the most important aspects of any hosting service, and therefore, the big question here is, does Cloudways offer solid security features?

In short, yes, they do. Their security is top-tier, so you can host your website with them without worries, because they have state of the art security technology and the best practices, to guarantee the protection of your online assets.

First, they are a cloud hosting company, and that alone makes it safer than traditional hosting solutions, because your web content will be hosted in different servers, making it infinite times more reliable.

Their datacenters and servers are equipped with the latest technology, which includes cutting-edge hardware and software, to optimize efficiency and security. We go in detail about their servers and datacenters in the Special Remarks section.

They have a team of professionals dedicated to releasing regular firmware and operating system updates, in order to patch vulnerabilities and protect your websites from online threats.

Also, they monitor EVERYTHING permanently, because it is the only way to fix problems as soon as they pop up.

They feature state of the art firewalls at platform level on each server, which guarantees optimal security. In addition, their team of professionals constantly supervises it and fixes possible bleaches as soon as possible.

For enhanced security, they also offer two-factor authentication. I would recommend you to enable this option, because it will add another layer of protection to your account and data.

It also allows you to set up automatic backups of your cloud server images, to protect your data on autopilot. If you wish to do it manually, then it is very simple, because you only have to click a button and that is all.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that their API keys are based on OAuth, which is awesome news for developers, because it is the best way to restrict access and keep everything under control.

In conclusion, I would rate it 9 out of 10, and therefore, in terms of security, it ranks alongside other amazing options like A2.

Special Remarks:

It is important to note that Cloudways is different than your standard hosting, because for starters, it is cloud hosting, and that alone provides many advantages:

Overall, you get more speed, better security and improved reliability. Who wouldn’t like it? Especially when you are aware of the huge advantages it will offer you (more conversions and juicier profits).

You also need to know that Cloudways works in cooperation with five cloud providers:

They bring cloud-based servers and datacenters to Cloudways, so they can host websites.

I reckon that at first it might be a bit hard to digest for some, because using the infrastructure of another company does not sound like a good idea, but here we are talking about the top five cloud providers in the world, so it is all right.

They will guarantee optimal uptime, superior speed, and overall, a solid performance that has been tested by tons of clients around the world, including myself.

Before configuring your server, you will have to choose your preferred cloud provider, which is very easy, as it only takes a couple of clicks.

Pros:

As you can see, there is a lot of goodness about Cloudways, and that is why it is one of my favorite hosting solutions nowadays.

Cons:

Other than that, I cannot see any con in using Cloudways for hosting your website, because it offers tremendous value for a fair price.

Conclusion:

Now you know everything about Cloudways, and you should understand why it is one of the best-rated solutions in the industry, because they offer tremendous value for the price.

They are one of the companies with the largest number of key features, because as you have seen, I have talked a lot about them in that section, because Cloudways deserves it. They pack tons of value in every plan.

I hope that this review was useful for you, and if you need more help, feel free to comment below or to send me a message. I will be happy to assist you!

Resources:

https://www.cloudways.com/blog/wordpress/

https://www.wpoutcast.com/install-wordpress-on-cloudways-step-by-step-guide/