In a Nutshell
pros
- 24/7 expert support
- A host of performance-oriented features to assure high speed
- Unlimited app installation
cons
- Does not include unlimited bandwidth or storage
- No email servers
- More expensive than some other options
Standout Features
Finding the right hosting solution for your website can be crucial to ensuring that you’ve got the speed and reliability to keep things running smoothly. Cloudways cloud hosting offers:
- 50% enhanced page load speed
- All-in-one solution for small-medium businesses
- 1-click SSL (secure sockets layer) certification
- 16+ key metrics monitoring
- Fully-managed, dedicated cloud servers
- Team collaboration
- Easy migration
- 24/7 customer support
- Packages ranging from $10 per month to $1,035 per month
Ideal For
Cloudways is the perfect fit for small and medium-sized businesses because they handle all application hosting aspects from building to server maintenance, backups and security. The site is structured so that designers and developers can enjoy the feature-rich platform, but non-technical users can also navigate the system with ease.
Hosting Features
- Significant Cloudways features include:
- Dedicated cloud servers.
- Cloudways provides their own control panel that allows users to navigate all areas of the platform quickly using 1-click scaling, backup/restore, and cloning. Clients can also refresh or restart services, manage settings, and troubleshoot through the control panel.
- Nginx + Apache deployment so you can easily host apps on a solid web server.
- Compatible with Drupal, SugarCRM, etc. for easy content creation.
- Intuitive management console.
- SSL installation, an integral security feature that encrypts transactions.
- Preconfigured with Varnish and Memcached. Caching tools save frequently accessed information for faster loading. Cloudways incorporates these tools for instant access.
Server Types
Cloudways offers Linux-based dedicated cloud servers that support AWS, Vultr, DigitalOcean, and Google’s Content Engine. Cloudways allows unlimited domain hosting with auto-updates/backups and security features like firewalls for safer transactions.
Pricing
Cloudways has competitive value-for-money pricing options compared to the industry standards. So while customers may end up paying a lot (though not necessarily), they end up getting even more out of the deal.
DigitalOcean/
month
Vultr/
month
AWS/
month
Google Cloud/
month
*Last updated: April 2019
Cloudways doesn’t provide built-in email services; however, customers can use add-ons such as RackSpace and Gmail SMTP.
Ease of Use
Cloudways is a simple solution for non-tech people. We found signing up to be extremely easy with instant signup, and familiarizing ourselves with the site took just a few minutes. The overall site is clean and the dashboards/consoles are easily managed. As mentioned above, Cloudways doesn’t include email servers, which might be frustrating, but does have email add-ons.
Cloudways offers 1-click installation, automatically integrating with WordPress, and users can migrate existing sites within minutes. There are also intuitive site builder and Ecommerce tools, making this part of the process a smooth transition.
Website Builder Features
Cloudways loses points for not providing domain registration. Customers can purchase domains separately, adding unlimited domains to the Cloudways system, and update the DNS records at the local domain registrar. This could be an additional hassle that consumers might not appreciate.
Cloudways does, however, have WordPress, Joomla, Magento and WooCommerce site builders (among others), and several Ecommerce tools, such as Memcached, Nginx, SSL-integration, built-in MySQL manager for easy database management, and a cloning feature to copy apps or websites instantly.
Customer Support
Cloudways customer support includes:
- Live chat, in-depth support center, phone support, and e-tickets
- 98% recommendation/satisfaction rate
- Phone/email queries answered within 1 hour
- Video tutorials
Bottom Line
Cloudways is an all-in-one solution, helping app and site developers manage various hosting aspects efficiently. Their dedicated servers have reliable uptime, fast performance, and effortless scalability, and the site provides excellent functionality, even for laymen. With 1-click SSL installation and convenient customer support, Cloudways has plenty to offer businesses.