Cloudways Review (October 2021) – Best Managed Hosting??

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About Cloudways

Cloudways Hosting is a Managed Hosting founded by Uzair Gadit, Aquib Gadit, and Pere Hospital in 2009. Its headquarters are in Malta, Europe. 

The primary aim behind creating Cloudways was to offer a perfect mix of managed and unmanaged hosting to their customers so they can enjoy the best features of both worlds!

Cloudways marks itself differently from other hosting providers, like Hostinger and A2 Hosting, because it is a ‘Managed Cloud Hosting Provider’. Let us see what that means.

Difference between Managed Vs Unmanaged Hosting

An unmanaged web host basically rents you a storage space on their server and offers little or no additional services. 

So, everything from software maintenance to backups is your responsibility, which might be a difficult task for non-technical users! 

Some popular examples of unmanaged hosting are: Digital Ocean, AWS, Google Cloud, Linode, etc.

Whereas, if you go with a managed web host, apart from providing server space, it handles everything from server maintenance, software updates, security, backups, etc on your behalf. You also get to see more reliable support. 

However, these managed cloud hosts cost a little higher than the regular ones. Some examples of managed hosting might be Cloudways, Kinsta, WPEngine, etc.

Advantages of Managed Hosting

Opting for a Managed Cloud provider might be a great option for beginners because it offers a bunch of advantages like:

• Automated one click backups and restoration process.
• More responsive and reliable support available at all times.
• Saves a lot of time spent in configuring website 
• Advanced security against viruses, malware, and unauthorized users.
• Cloud Server maintenance, software updates, and website monitoring is performed by their technical experts.

Cloudways Overview

Cloudways is a Managed Cloud Hosting company which is built on top of 5 unmanaged web hosts – DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Linode, and Vultr. 

In a Cloud Hosting, your data is stored on multiple servers which ensures a better uptime and easier site migrations in case of accidents.  

Find all the features of Cloudways summarized in the table below. 

Speed	Bangalore: 864.9 ms
Uptime	99.99% (last 240 days)
Data Centers	On 65+ locations
Servers	Combination of Apache and Nginx
Backups and Restoration	Scheduled and On Demand Backups Charges $0.033/GB of backup Restore with one click
Migration	1 free migration on all hosting plans WordPress Migration Plugin for WP users
Customer Support	Email, 24/7/365 Live Chat Support, Knowledge base. Community Forum
Features (DigitalOcean Starter Plan)	Free Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates, Unlimited Applications, 25 GB SSD storage, 1 TB Bandwidth, Staging, Team Management, Security Patching, Breeze Cache plugin (WordPress), Vertical Scaling
Security	2FA, New Login Alert, Free SSL, Bot Protection, Server Monitoring, Self Healing Servers, Firewall, Blocklist and Whitelist IP, SSH and SFTP Access
Paid Add-ons	Advanced and Premium Support, DNS Made Easy, Cloudways CDN, Rackspace Email, Elastic Email
Payment Methods	Credit and Debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), Paypal, Bank Wire Transfer on minimum purchase of $1000.
Refund Policy	No Refund policy. 3 -day’s free trial offered
Pricing	Starting from $10/month (DigitalOcean)

Cloudways Review Video

If you are a video person, you can watch my video review of Cloudways here. (It’s in Hindi with English subtitles)

Cloudways Console

As soon as you log in to your Cloudways account, you will come across an interface like the one mentioned below. Everything regarding your hosting will be managed from this page.

Cloudways does not have the usual cPanel like other hosting providers, but its custom control panel grants you both application-level access and server-level access! 

This means that you don’t need to install any third party apps for accessing your server and making changes to it. You can do all of this from the Cloudways console within a few clicks!

If you go to the Server tab and select your server, you can access the following server-level settings:

• Stats about utilization of server resources.
• Check the status of services running on your account like Apache, Nginx, Varnish, Memcached, etc.
• Edit server level settings.
• Blacklist/Whitelist IP addresses.
• Increase your server size by Vertical Scaling.
• Manage your backup preferences.
• Add email service.

Alternatively, the Application tab lets you manage the settings of specific apps like WordPress. Here, you can access:

• Website staging.
• Analyzing web traffic and disc usage.
• Security services like SSL Certificate and Bot Protection.
• Domain management settings.
• Backup, restore, and migration services.
• Cloudways CDN at additional charges.

Overall, the Cloudways Console might seem a little complex at first, but trust me, it’s not! I even have a free Cloudways training program for you! How can you enroll in it? Well, I’ve discussed it in depth below. So keep reading!

Cloudways Testing Parameters

For this review, I have purchased the DigitalOcean starter servers on Cloudways, which is priced at $10/month. Along with this, I have made use of the following services and settings on my website: 

• Ocean WP Theme (Elementor Based)
• Gym Template (Elementor Based)
• Breeze Cache Plugin (with default settings)

Note – This website is also hosted on Cloudways currently.

Cloudways Server Response Time

Because the servers of DigitalOcean are located in Bangalore, you will get to experience better Server Response Time in Asian regions like Mumbai or Singapore. 

When I tested the SRT in Mumbai, India, it came out to be just 34 ms, which is extraordinarily fast! 

Cloudways does not support Litespeed servers. Instead, they implement a powerful combination of Apache and Nginx servers that guarantee an improved performanceI 

Overall, the Server Response Time was quite impressive!

Cloudways Speed Test

Cloudways performed really well in the speed test too! 

When I selected the Bangalore servers, I got to see page load speeds of 864.9 ms. This is excellent considering the fact that I had not optimized the Breeze Cache plugin at all! 

Similarly, I also tested my main website, kripeshadwani.com, which is hosted on the Singapore servers. 

The only difference was that I had optimized it using the WP Rocket plugin. On this website, I got to see even faster speeds of 769.66 ms! 

Overall, the speeds on Cloudways hosting are well under 1 sec, with or without optimization. This is great for SEO and better audience retention. 

Cloudways Uptime 

Even though Cloudways does not offer an uptime guarantee, it’s excellent anyway l! I have been monitoring the uptime of my website hosted on Cloudways for the last 308 days using the Better Uptime tool. This tool checks the uptime of my website every 30 seconds. 

The average uptime that I observed was 99.99%, which is highly impressive! The total downtime in the last 308 days was just 35 minutes. 

Last 12 months average uptime of Cloudways hosting:

• September 2021 :100%
• August 2021 :100%
• July 2021 :100%
• June 2021 :100%
• May 2021 : 100%
• April 2021 : 99.99%
• March 2021 :100%
• February 2021 :99.97%
• January 2021 : 99.98%
• December 2020 : 100%
• November 2020 : 100%
• October 2020 : 100%
• September 2020: 100%

And FYI, my website has experienced no downtime in the last 3 months! 

So, I loved the uptime of Cloudways. Even their $10 servers of DigitalOcean performed exceptionally well and I didn’t face any issues at all!

Cloudways Load Testing

For conducting the load test, I sent 50 virtual users on my website that made a total of 7k requests. Surprisingly, none of the requests failed! 

There were no major spikes in the response time and the average response time was 87 ms, which was amazing! 

So, we can conclude that Cloudways is good for high traffic. It can handle loads without going down or increasing the response time.

Is Cloudways Good for High Traffic Websites?

After looking at these results, I would highly recommend Cloudways even for websites with high monthly traffic with over 1-2 lakh viewers per month. Why? 

Because with its Vertical Scaling feature, you can upgrade or downgrade your servers whenever you want. Start with $10 plan and upgrade as your traffic grows. In case you want downgrade later then also you can do it easily. 

Cloudways Data Centers

You get 65+ data centers on Cloudways. On their website, you can view all the servers for DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud, and Vultr. 

Cloud Server	Server Locations
Digital Ocean	USA, Germany, Singapore, England, Canada, Netherland, India
AWS	France, Germany, Singapore, Ireland, England, Brazil, Canada, Korea, Japan, India, Australia, Bahrain, China, USA, Sweden, Belgium
Google Cloud	Singapore, Germany, England, Canada, Japan, India, Australia, China, USA
Vultr	USA, France, Singapore, Germany, England, Canada, Netherland, Japan, Australia
Linode	Singapore, Germany, England, Canada, Japan, India, Australia, USA

User Interface

The user interface of Cloudways is modern with an attractive design that leaves the traditional cPanel behind! All the options and tabs are well organized and easily accessible. But, I still won’t call it ‘easy to use’. 

Compared to other hosting providers, Cloudways offers a unique interface divided into ‘Server’ and ‘Application’ tabs. 

If you are a beginner, it might seem a little overwhelming and complex to understand at first. So, you might experience a short learning curve to familiarize yourself with all the features. 

Once you get the hang of it, it will feel like the smoothest and easiest experience! And if you still find it difficult, you can check out my Cloudways Training Program! 

Cloudways Domain Name

Cloudways is not a domain name registrar, so you won’t find the functionality to register domains with them. 

However, if you have not yet connected your domain to your hosting, they provide you a temporary domain which you can use as your website. It is also called a Preview URL, and is free to use forever!

Backups and Restoration on Cloudways

On Cloudways, you can create three different backups.

1. Scheduled Backups

It refers to automated backups performed by Cloudways Hosting. However, you are free to customize the backup preferences as you like.

For example, you can set a backup frequency, time, and retention frequency, and all your further backups will be taken according to that schedule.

2. On Demand Backups

You can manually create a backup of your database and files before implementing an important change on your website.

3. Local Backups

It makes a copy of the latest data that you backed up using the above methods and stores it on your server. 

The Backups service of Cloudways is not free, though. They charge $0.033 per GB of data backed up, which amounts to ₹2.43. Opting for the backup service is compulsory by default if you purchase a Cloudways hosting. Backups are stored on a different server for better recovery management.

Talking about Restoration, you can restore your backups with a single click using their Restore Service. Just select the version you want, and hit Restore. 

The number of entries stored in the backup depends on the preferences you mentioned earlier.  

Server Recovery

Recently, Cloudways also introduced a Server Recovery feature that lets you restore a deleted server within 15 days!

Cloudways Support

With Cloudways, you get email support, 24/7/365 live chat support, but no call support. 

Their Live Chat is available in 3 different stages. 

1. The Standard support is free and available 24/7. 
2. The Advanced support add-on promises faster response time and deeper troubleshooting. It comes for $100/month!
3. The Premium support offers 24/7/365 days of call support, dedicated account manager, and a private Slack channel. This add-on costs a massive $500/month! 

They also feature an extensive knowledge base of helpful annotated articles, a community forum, and a blog where they post content around startups, ecommerce, affiliates, apps, and the latest updates on Cloudways.

I personally found their Live chat support to be quite fast, technically sound, and humble. They even gave me detailed answers for all my queries, and did not just forward links to articles for the same! Overall, I faced no problems with getting my queries solved quickly and effectively. 

Inode Count

Inode Count refers to the total number of files stored on your hosting plan. In my $10/month plan of DigitalOcean, I get 16 lakh inodes, which is much around 4 times higher than other shared hosting providers that offer 4-6 lakh inodes. 

Cloudways Staging

Cloudways offers a staging environment with all its plans. Staging helps you create a copy of your entire website and test changes over it.

These changes are done locally and don’t reflect on the live website. Once you are happy with the changes, you can implement them on your live website with a single click. 

So, if you want to test a change, you will first need to clone your live website. 

You can do this using the ‘Push’ operation. All you need to do is:

• Select the Staging application and hit the Push button. 
• Select if you wish to clone only the application files or the entire database.

It will create a clone of your website. Now you can modify it and test out changes over it. 

After you are done, you can use the Pull operation to copy your clone site’s data to the original one with a single click. Sounds easy, right?

Cloudways offers 2 types of options while copying your files. 

• Overwriting copies the changes on top of the previous ones. So, it completely replaces your original data with the new one. 
• Incrementing only copies the changes that you’ve made to the files and all the other files remain as they were originally. 

Cloudways Self-Healing Servers 

Cloudways has these unique self-healing servers that automatically restart in case any issue is encountered.

So, if the server goes down, you don’t have to do anything. It will automatically start functioning on its own. 

You can also keep a check on the status of the processes running on your server from the Manage Services tab under Server Management. In case of any issues, you can manually restart or stop any service with a single click!

Cloudways Website Traffic Metrics

With Cloudways console, you can keep a check on your website traffic and other important metrics like:

1. IP Requests: It shows which IP address is accessing your site the most.
2. Bot Traffic: It displays a list of bots consuming your website resources, so you can block them instantly.
3. URL Requests: It shows the most visited URLs on your site. 
4. Status Codes: It helps you keep a tab on web pages that are inaccessible due to 404 error, 502 error, etc.

Cloudways Vertical Scaling

With Cloudways hosting, you can scale your server, CPU, and storage space as you encounter any spikes in your website traffic. 

With DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr, this process is permanent and you can’t scale down your resources again. 

Whereas, if you go with Google Cloud or AWS, you can seamlessly scale your services up or down as per your requirements!

With different providers, you get different services. For example, Google Cloud and AWS let you scale your server, CPU, and storage individually. 

But the Linode, Vultr, and DigitalOcean only let you scale up all of them together. This is inconvenient, especially if you have no need for scaling the other factors. 

I’ve discussed a hack to downgrade your server on my Cloudways Training Program.

Also, Vertical Scaling may lead to a server downtime. So, it is always recommended to scale your services during inactive hours.

Cloudways Pricing

Cloudways offers a variety of pricing plans for all the 5 web hosts. Their DigitalOcean plans start from $10/month where you get 1 GB RAM, 25 GB storage space, and 1 TB Bandwidth.

They also implement the unique ‘Pay as you Go’ payment model. This means if you use a server for 2 days, you’ll have to pay the amount for 2 days!

Their lowest specification server, (1 GB plan of DigitalOcean that costs $10/month) costs $0.0139/hour, which amounts to just ₹1.02, which is extremely affordable!

The best part about Cloudways is that the renewal rates remain the same for all their plans. Another important thing to note here is that Cloudways charges you double the plans laid out by the individual hosting providers. 

So, if DigitalOcean offers its Starter plan at $5/month, on Cloudways, you will get the same for $10/month. Sure, you could go with the individual hosting providers for a reduced cost. However, then you will lose the ‘Managed’ aspect of web hosting.

Cloudways charges more because it offers top-notch security, support, and maintenance of your server and applications. Basically it charges for the managed hosting part.

Cloudways Best Plan 

Well, if you’re just starting out with your website, I would recommend going with their $10/month plan of DigitalOcean. 

And if you have an E-commerce store, the Vultr High Frequency servers that come for $13/month would be the best option for you!

Cloudways Free Trial

You get a 3-days’ free trial on their DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr hosting providers without requiring a credit card. 

This might seem very limited, but I think it is enough to test out all the functions and features of Cloudways and then decide if you should purchase it. 

Cloudways Payment Methods 

It primarily supports payments through Credit and Debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and Paypal. However, in some rare cases, you can also pay through Wire Transfer, but the minimum amount has to be at least $1000!

Cloudways Discount Coupon Code

Yes, I have a special discount code for you! Here’s how you can avail it on your hosting plan.

1. Use my link and choose a hosting plan.
2. Click on ‘Get Started Free’. 
3. Enter your basic details.
4. Enter promo code KRIPESH. 

This will give you an additional 20% off on your favorite hosting plan for the next 2 months.

Cloudways Training Program

Now, coming to the most awaited part! Well, I have created a dedicated Cloudways Tutorial which is currently hosted on Thinkific course creator.

It comprises video tutorials in Hindi language and covers all important topics from setting up cloudways hosting, to setting up WordPress, creating backups, managing cache, emails, connecting Cloudflare CDN, etc.

Users who purchase any hosting plan of Cloudways using my link would get a free entry into this program. So, check out my Cloudways training program to know how you can enroll in it!

Cloudways Refund Policy

Unlike other hosting solutions like A2 Hosting or Bluehost, Cloudways doesn’t have any Refund Policy. 

However, you get to see a 3-days’ free trial that does not require a credit card. This is good for getting a test-run of their services to decide if you need them. 

Cloudways Cache

Cloudways has its own in-house caching plugin called the Breeze Cache Plugin. This plugin optimizes your WordPress site and also reduces page load time. 

Other than this, they also have several other built in caching systems like Varnish, Memcached, Nginx, and Redis that are designed to offer fast performance and smooth experience! 

Cloudways CDN

Well, Cloudways does not provide a free CDN with its hosting plans. The Cloudways CDN add-on is not included with the hosting pack, but can be enabled at a cost of $1 per 25 GB. 

If you are looking for a free CDN, you can connect the Cloudflare CDN.

Cloudways Security

Security is the most important aspect of your website. Cloudways offers the following security features.

• 2FA: With Two Factor Authentication, you can protect your logins with security codes generated by Authenticator apps like Authy or Google Authenticator. 
• New Login Alert: When a new device logs in to your Cloudways account, you can enable email notifications or receive security code for verifying that device!
• SSL: Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates can be installed on all websites. They also support third party SSL certificates. 
• Bot Protection: It actively blocks hackers and bots and prevents them from harming your site.
• Server Monitoring Alerts: If the downtime of the server or any of the resources exceeds 10 minutes, you are automatically notified via email.
• Firewall: It protects your website from malware and cyber attacks.
• IP Blocking: You can Blocklist or whitelist certain IP addresses from accessing your website.

Cloudways Applications

Cloudways supports a variety of CMS platforms, eCommerce applications, and PHP-based apps. You can install WordPress, WooCommerce, PHP, Magento, and Laravel with a single click!  

Whereas, 13 other applications, including Drupal, Joomla, PrestaShop, OpenCart, etc, can be installed on your server manually through the PHP Stack. 

Cloudways Migration

Cloudways offers to migrate your first website for free. This applies to all of its hosting plans. For WordPress users, you even get their own WordPress Migration plugin that helps you transfer your websites easily.

For more migrations, you are charged on the basis of applications. 

Email Hosting on Cloudways

Unfortunately, Cloudways does not offer free email hosting on any of its plans. Their add-on called Rackspace Email lets you host one professional email account for $1 per month. 

However, there are ways through which you can use email hosting for free. Want to know what they are? I’ve discussed them all in my Cloudways Training program. So, make sure you check it out!

Team Collaboration

Team Collaboration is a unique feature for a hosting provider. Cloudways lets you add team members to your account and grant them access to your console. 

You can either grant them full access to your hosting account, or restrict their access to specific categories like Billing, Console, Support, Specific Server, etc.

All these permissions are helpful in situations where you need to give your account access to your clients, manager, support staff, etc.

Cloudways Pros

1. Speed 

You get to experience excellent speeds and almost no website downtime with Cloudways hosting. 

2. Load Handling

The load handling capabilities of Cloudways are par excellence! It passed our load tests with zero HTTP failures and a stable response time, even with many requests.

3. Uptime

Even the cheapest server of Digital Ocean provides 99.99% uptime.

4. Scalable

Cloudways platform is extremely flexible because at any point in time you can scale your servers up as per spikes in your website traffic. 

5. Good Customer Support

I personally liked their fast live chat support. All their representatives were technically well-versed, and I had no issues with getting my queries resolved.

6. No Extra Renewal Fee

On Cloudways, you are charged a fixed amount for purchasing new hosting and its renewal. You don’t need to pay anything extra for renewing your hosting, which is great!

7. Managed Cloud Service

Because Cloudways is a Managed Hosting Provider, everything from backups to server management, apps installation, and resource monitoring is just one click away!

You also get responsive support and automated updates for all your apps!

8. Security

It offers a bunch of security features to safeguard your website from malicious software, unauthorized users, malware, and more. 

9. Modern Control Panel

You won’t find the traditional cPanel on Cloudways. It has its own control panel called the Cloudways Console. I personally found its interface quite modern, attractive and easy for the technically sound users. 

10. Customizable Backups

With Cloudways, you get full control over your server and your apps. You can either create on-demand backups, or set your backup preferences for automated backups of your site as frequently as you need.

11. 65 Server Locations

Cloudways partners with 5 unmanaged web hosts, including Linode, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, and Vultr, which together offer 65+ data center locations to their users. 

12. Pay as you go

Cloudways offers the ‘Pay as you Go’ pricing model. This means users only need to pay for what they use, which is very cost effective.

Cloudways Cons 

1. No Email Hosting

Sadly, you don’t get free email hosting on Cloudways. You can enable this feature through their Rackspace add-on for $1/month for one email account. 

2. More Charges on Larger Server

The hosting prices keep on increasing as you go on scaling up your server size. For example, the Starter plan of DigitalOcean servers with 25 GB space costs $10/month. But their 160 GB servers cost you $80/month!

3. Slight Learning Curve

Techno friendly users would have no problems with operating the Cloudways console. But beginners might experience a slight learning curve with the numerous options and settings. 

4. Cannot Register Domains

Cloudways does not function as a domain registration service. So, you need to register your domain on some other registrar and then get a hosting for it using Cloudways.

5. No Litespeed Servers

Cloudways uses a powerful combination of Nginx and Apache servers on all plans. They perform exceptionally well, but I hope to see Litespeed servers on Cloudways in the future.

Cloudways Alternatives

If your work heavily revolves around WordPress CMS, then Cloudways is an excellent option for you. However, if you want to look for alternatives, you can check out the few mentioned below.

1. WP Engine

WPEngine is a managed WordPress hosting platform that offers 24/7 support, free SSL, regular backups, website staging, and automated migrations on it. 

You also get access to 10 premium themes on all its plans which you won’t find on Cloudways. Its hosting plans start from $30/month!

2. Kinsta

Kinsta is another managed WordPress hosting site with competitive pricing and features. It offers 24/7 support, free CDN, SSH access, security services, and manual and automated daily backups on all plans. 

Its 30-days refund policy and unlimited free migrations give it an upper hand on Cloudways. The hosting plans of Kinsta start from $30/month. 

3. Flywheel

Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting that is mainly focused on clients. So, it would be a good option for business websites. You get a free CDN, in-house cache plugin, free migrations and 24/7 support.  

Its loads of workflow management tools and 10 StudioPress themes make it stand out from Cloudways. The hosting plans of Flywheel start from $13/month.

Should you use Cloudways? 

Cloudways is one of the best web hosts in my opinion. It provides you with superior performance in terms of speed, scalability, uptime, and load testing. Thus, I find it completely worth every dollar of your money spent!

Small to mid-sized businesses, resellers, agencies, seasonal websites, or users on a budget can definitely look at Cloudways. 

Basically, anyone who is aware of what they need from their hosting and wants more control over it can use Cloudways. 

In my experience, Cloudways is much better compared to its alternatives like WP Engine or Kinsta. And as of now, I am intrigued by Rocket.net. It is a new hosting provider, but it’s the only one that stands an equal chance against Cloudways.

However, the only uncertainty regarding Rocket.net is that it’s very new. If you want to stick to an established hosting company, Cloudways is the answer! 

Conclusion

With Cloudways, you get excellent speeds, uptime, and data centers in 65+ locations around the globe. Along with fast and reliable customer support, you also get top-notch security at affordable rates.

Thus, Cloudways proves to be a powerful hosting solution for 2021. 

If you want to try out Cloudways, you can use my link and get a 20% discount on any plan of your choice. 

Along with this, you will also get a free entry into my training program, where I will show you how to set up and configure Cloudways Hosting with ease. So, go grab this offer right away! 

Anyway, if you find my content useful, don’t forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter where I share updates on my latest videos, blog posts, and the best discount deals running on digital tools! 

This is Kripesh signing off. See you in the next article. Keep learning! 🙂

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