Recently, I subscribed to one of the Cloudways hosting plans to figure out whether it is a good enough hosting service. If you are considering Cloudways to be your next hosting provider, then read on to find the answer.
The main takeaway from my exploration is that Cloudways is a great solution if you have a growing website and you want to migrate from a shared hosting service, but don’t want to use a managed WordPress hosting service (Kinsta, WP Engine, etc.) due to its high cost.
Cloudways is a great solution for a growing website because it offers isolated resources. More importantly, it has a reasonable pricing plans.
You can use Cloudways for only $11 per month with the bandwidth of 1TB!
Shortcuts ⤵️
- What is Cloudways?
- Cloudways core features
- Getting started with Cloudways
- Performance test
- Pricing
- Support
- Pros and cons
- Summary
What is Cloudways?
Cloudways is a managed VPS hosting owned by DigitalOcean. More precisely, it is a cloud VPS hosting service.
Although the service is owned by DigitalOcean, you can use a cloud provider of your choice to power your hosting service. Apart from DigitalOcean, Cloudways allows you to use AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, or Linode.
Cloudways uses Debian Linux for its VPS service. And although it is a VPS, you don’t need to set up the server-side applications yourself.
When you add a new server on your account, Cloudways will set up all the required server-side applications such as web server, database, to PHP handler. You can manage these apps via a clean, easy-to-use control panel.
One crucial thing to note. Cloudways is not designed specifically for WordPress. Instead, you can also use it to run Laravel and Magento.
However, some add-ons are available if you need WordPress-focused features. For instance, you can enable the SafeUpdates add-on to enjoy the auto-update feature for WordPress core and plugins.
Here are some key details of Cloudways cloud VPS:
- Operating system: Debian Linux
- Web server: Apache + Nginx
- Database: MariaDB
- Starting price: $11/month
Core Hosting Features of Cloudways
- Server-side application manager
- PHP manager
- Security
- Caching
- Backup
- Monitoring
- File access and database access
- Staging management
- Git
Server-Side Application Manager
As mentioned, although Cloudways is a VPS, you don’t need to set up all the required server-side applications yourself. Instead, Cloudways does the “dirty” job for you. It sets up the applications when you add a new server on your account.
What are server-side applications?
These are the applications needed to run your website, which are installed on your server.
Although you don’t install the server-side applications, you can manage them. You can do so from the Manage Services menu on the control panel. From here, you can restart, stop and disable the applications.
PHP Manager
Cloudways is a hosting service designed to run PHP-based applications. Each application may demand different PHP resources.
In WordPress, for instance, there are some plugins that require higher PHP configuration to run.
In Cloudways, you are free to set custom PHP configuration on your server environment. There is a dedicated feature to make it easy to do so, which you can access via the Settings & Packages menu.
From the same settings screen, you can also switch between PHP versions. Cloudways itself supports four PHP versions:
- PHP 7.4
- PHP 8.0
- PHP 8.1
- PHP 8.3
Security
Cloudways offers security features on both the server level and application level. On the server level, you have firewall and malware protection. On the application level, you have a vulnerability scanner and SSL.
Unfortunately, not all security features are available for free. Malware protection is the security feature that requires an extra fee to use.
Here are the security features offered by Cloudways:
| Security type | Provider | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Malware protection | Imunify360 | From $4 per month |
| Firewall | Imunify360 | Free |
| Vulnerability scanner | Patchstack | Free |
| SSL | Let’s Encrypt | Free |
Malware Protection
Cloudways uses Imunify360 to power its malware protection feature. The Imunify360 application is already installed on your server (installed automatically when you add the server). However, you can only enable it by paying an extra monthly fee.
How much?
Depending on how many apps (websites) you have on your server. For five websites or fewer, you need to pay an extra $4 per month.
When enabled, Imunify360 will do the following things on your website:
- Identify and block phishing attacks
- Protect your website from malicious attacks
- Clean up infected fields in database
- Clean up files infected by malware
- Block malware injection
Firewall
If you need to block certain traffic on your website, Cloudways offers a firewall feature to do so. You can, for instance, block traffic from a specific country.
You can also block traffic from certain IP addresses and put certain IP addresses to the whitelist. The option to set TTL is available every time you add a new IP address to either the blacklist or white list.
The firewall feature of Cloudways is also powered by Imunify360, but it is available for free unlike malware protection.
If you have a website with multiple users (membership site, LMS site, etc), the firewall will automatically prevent them from logging in with a weak password. If they do, they will be redirected to the password reset page.
Furthermore, the firewall also protect your site from DoS attacks by tracking requests per 30 seconds. If the request exceeds the defined internal, the associated IP address will automatically be added to the greylist and an Ati-Bot challenge will appear.
Vulnerability Scanner
To make sure your website is not vulnerable to cyber attacks (malware in particular), Cloudways offers a vulnerability scanner feature — which is powered by Patchstack.
The feature is free to use and is enabled on all websites hosted on Cloudways.
Patchstack acts as the first security layer on your website by making sure all of your plugins and WordPress core (if you use WordPress) are up to date.
It also performs real-time monitoring of potential threats on your website. You will get a notification over potential threats found on your website.
SSL
SSL is a standard security feature that nearly all hosting services have. Of course, Cloudways also comes with an SSL.
In Cloudways, SSL is provided by Let’s Encrypt.
If you prefer using a paid SSL, Cloudways makes it easy to install it. Cloudways offers a dedicated feature to manage SSL of your websites.
Caching
Installing a caching plugin is not necessary if you use Cloudways because the hosting service already has caching features.
Well, Cloudways adds two drop-in plugins during the application installation process (WordPress only). But these plugins are not required and can be disabled.
If you disable these plugins, the caching functionality keeps working on your website.
Not just one, Cloudways offers three caching features as follows:
- Varnish
- Memcached
- Redis
Especially for Varnish, you can exclude specific pages to be excluded from the caching process.
Backup
Another plugin you don’t need to install when you use Cloudways is the backup plugin. That’s because Cloudways already comes with a backup feature.
Cloudways offers two backup types: automatic backup and on-demand backup.
For automatic backup, Cloudways will perform the backup according to the duration you set. Whether hourly, daily or weekly. Backup retention is also controllable. You can instruct Cloudways to store each backup for up to four weeks.
No worries about your hosting storage because Cloudways stores your backup files to a different location from your server for this backup type (off-site backup).
If you want to have the actual copy of your website files and database, Cloudways also allows you to perform an on-demand backup and download the back files to your computer.
But keep in mind that on-demand backup, unlike automatic backup, takes storage space on your server so you better perform it only when you need it.
Unfortunately, Cloudways offers no option to download the backup file instantly. You need to download the backup file manually via SSH or SFTP.
Monitoring
Cloudways offers a built-in monitoring feature to allow you to monitor the resource usage on your server. There are a lot of things you can monitor with the Cloudways’ built-in monitoring feature. From disk usage, memory availability, monthly bandwidth usage, and so on.
You can monitor all those stats from the Monitoring menu on the control panel. As you can see below, there are three tabs available here. On the Summary tab, you will be presented with a summary of your server resources usage stats.
On the Details tab, you can view the detailed number of each stat.
There is an extra tab called New Relic. From this tab, you can integrate your website with New Relic by just pasting the API key.
New Relic itself is an online monitoring tool which you can use to monitor your app (website) performance in real-time. The tool is useful for debugging purposes.
Monitoring on the Application Level
The monitoring I mentioned above is for the server level. If you plan to add multiple applications (websites) on your server, you can monitor the stats of each app via the respective control panel.
Access logs and error logs are also available in case you need them.
File Access and Database Access
Cloudways doesn’t offer a file manager feature. To access your files, you can use either SFTP or SSH. Cloudways already offers a ready-to-use SSH and SFTP account which you can use on apps like Putty and FileZilla.
If you need to add another account, you can also do so.
Cloudways also allows you to launch an SSH terminal in a web browser.
Want to access your database? Cloudways offers a GUI-based app similar to PhpMyAdmin which you can use to access your database.
Staging Management
If you are the type of user who always tests the changes (codes, themes or plugins) on a staging site first before applying them to the production site, then the staging management feature that Cloudways offer will be useful.
If you are not familiar with a staging site yet, it is a clone of your website aimed at development purposes. With a staging site, you can test some changes safely without worrying about affecting your live site.
All changes you made on the staging site won’t take place on the live site until you push them.
For every website you have on your server, you can create the staging version with a single click.
Once you are done testing the changes on the staging site and everything is good, you can apply the changes to the live site with a single click.
Before you test some changes on the staging site, you can bring in the current version of the live site to the staging site first and then push the changes back to the live site.
Deployment via Git
If you plan to build a custom plugin for your website project, then this particular feature is super useful. You can connect your project with a Git hosting service like GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket.
You can then sync your code by clicking the Pull button on the Cloudways control panel. For this feature to work, all you need to do is to add the SSH key that Cloudways provides.
Deployment via Git is available on both live site and staging site. In other words, you can apply the code changes to the staging site first to make sure they work before you apply them to the live site.
Does Cloudways Come with a Built-in CDN?
Cloudways is pre-integrated with Cloudflare Enterprise, but it is not enabled by default. You need to enable the integration manually if you want to add CDN to your website.
One crucial thing to note. Cloudflare CDN is not available as a core feature in Cloudways. Instead, it is available as an add-on. There will be an extra monthly fee you need to pay if you want to use it. The cost varies depending on the number of websites you have.
| Number of Websites | Cloudflare Add-on Price |
|---|---|
| 1 – 4 | $4.99/month per domain |
| 5 – 9 | $3.99/month per domain |
| 10 – 24 | $2.99/month per domain |
| More than 24 | $1.99/month per domain |
Cloudways offers a 100GB CDN bandwidth per month. Apart from CDN, you will be able to use the following features to boost your site performance:
- Automatic image compression
- Early Hints
- Edge caching
In Cloudways, Cloudflare CDN subscription is transferable. Meaning that you can transfer Cloudflare currently active on a certain website/application to another application on your account.
Getting Started with Cloudways
If you are currently using a shared hosting service, please be aware that getting your website online in Cloudways requires more effort. That’s because, once again, Cloudways is a VPS.
You need to set up your server first before you can install an application (WordPress, Laravel or Magento).
But first and foremost, you definitely need to have a Cloudways account before you can even add a server. Simply visit its official website to get your account.
💡 You can use this coupon code to get a 10% discount for three months in Cloudways (first three invoices). Code: WPBDEAL
USE COUPON CODE
How to Add a Server and Application in Cloudways
Before adding a server, you need to create a new project first. In Cloudways, a project is mandatory. A default project is available which you can rename if you want. You can add more than one server on a project.
Similarly, you can add more than one application on a server.
Here is your project hierarchy in Cloudways.
💡 There are two versions of Cloudways dashboard interface: Classic and Unified (new version). All screenshots in this content were taken on the Unified Interface.
To add a new project, you can hover your cursor over the cabinet icon on the left panel and select My Projects. You will be presented with the projects you have on your account.
To add a new one, simply click the Add Project button.
Give your project a name and click the Create Project button at the bottom.
Once your project is ready, you can start to add a server.
Keep in mind that adding a server on your Cloudways account means subscribing to a hosting service. You will be charged according to the cloud provider and the specs you set.
That being said, before you add a server, make sure to learn the price of the VPS hosting specs on the pricing page.
Adding a Server
Once you already know the VPS specs you want to use, you can hover your cursor over the cabinet icon on the left panel and select My Servers. Click the Add Server button to add a new server.
Select an application you want to add to your server from the dropdown menu and then give your app and the server a name and select the project you have just created above.
Pick a cloud platform to power your VPS (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud) and select the server type. Use the slider to set your VPS specs (you can toggle between Premium VPS and Standard VPS).
Pick a server location and click the Launch Now button to launch you server and app.
Wait until Cloudways is done setting up your server and application. This can take minutes and it’s normal because, once again, Cloudways is a VPS.
When you click the Launch Now button above, Cloudways will install and set up the following components:
- Operating system of your VPS (Debian Linux in this case)
- The server-side applications (web server, database server, etc)
- The application (WordPress, Magento or Laravel)
That’s why the process is longer than a traditional hosting service.
Managing Server and Application
Once the installation process is done, you can start to manage your VPS server and application. Cloudways offers two dedicated control panels for the server and application.
To access the panels, you can simply hover your cursor over the cabinet icon on the left panel and select the component (server or application) you want to manage. Click on the server or application to open the control panel.
From the control panel, you can start to manage your server or application. Here is the look of the main screens of the control panel of both server and application.
Adding a New Application on a Server
As I have shown on this image, you can add multiple applications on a single server, which is great if you own multiple projects.
To add an application on a server, first, hover your cursor over the cabinet icon on the left panel and select My Applications. Click the Add Application button to add a new application.
On the appearing popup, select the server you want to add the application to and click the Add Application button.
Select the application you want to add and set the name. Select the project you want to add the application to and click the Add Application button.
Connecting a Domain
Cloudways provides a random URL on every application you add to a server which you can use to access your website.
Of course, this is not the URL you want for your website. You want to add and connect your domain with your website. Don’t you?
To do so, first, go to the application you want to connect your domain to.
Go to the Domain Management tab on the application control panel and click the Add Domain button.
On the appearing popup, enter your domain and click the Save Changes button.
Once your domain is added, you can make it as the primary domain by clicking the three-dot icon and selecting Make Primary.
Next, you need to add a new A record on your domain registrar (Hover, GoDaddy, Name.com, etc.). You do it by entering the IP address of your server.
To find the IP address of your server, simply hover your cursor over the cabinet icon on the left panel and select My Servers. The IP address lies beneath the server name.
Next, login to your domain registrar and select the domain you want to connect to your application and find the menu to manage the DNS.
If you use Hover, you can find the menu under the EDIT menu.
Click the ADD A RECORD button to add a new record.
On the appearing popup, set the record type to A. Type your domain name to the HOSTNAME field and the IP address of your Cloudways server to the IP ADDRESS field. End by clicking the ADD RECORD button.
Wait until the DNS is fully propagated. The process can take up to 24 hours so be patient.
Enabling SSL
After updating your DNS, the next step you need to do is to enable the SSL. As mentioned in this section, Cloudways uses Let’s Encrypt for its SSL feature.
To enable this feature, go to the SSL Certificate tab on the application control panel. Select Let’s Encrypt on the SSL option and type your email address on the Email Address field.
On the Domain Name field, you can type/paste the domain name you have just connected above and click the Install Certificate button.
Performance Testing Results of Cloudways
As I mentioned, Cloudways VPS can be used to run WordPress, Laravel and Magento. In this review itself I use WordPress.
In Cloudways, there are two WordPress versions you can install: Clean version (without optimization plugins) and optimized version (with optimization plugins).
Since I wanted to figure out the quality of Cloudways hosting service, I used the clean version during the test. I applied no optimization tweak at all.
Here are the details of the site configuration during the test:
- Theme: Divi 5
- No optimization plugin
- No CDN
- Font: Google Fonts (not hosted locally)
Cloudways Pricing Model
Cloudways is the best solution if you are looking for a hosting service with a flexible pricing model. That’s because Cloudways adopts the pay-as-you-go pricing model for its service instead of a fixed model like most hosting services.
What does it mean?
Pay-as-you-go means that you only need pay for the resources you consume on your Cloudways account. In this case, resources can be servers and the add-ons.
For every server and add-on you add on your Cloudways account, you will be charged by Cloudways.
For instance, when you add a new DigitalOcean server with the following specs:
You will be charged $28 per month. However, you will not be charged the full monthly fee ($28) if you delete the server and all applications inside it before one month (calculated from the moment you added the server).
Instead, you will only be charged based on the server active duration. For instance, if your server is active for only 5 days, you will be charged about $4.66.
The best part of Cloudways’ pay-as-you-go pricing model is that you can monitor the estimated upcoming invoice in real time.
You have two options to pay an invoice. First, you can instruct Cloudways to deduct the fund from the credit card you have authorized.
Second, you can add funds to your Cloudways account. If you have enough funds, Cloudways will automatically deduct the balance for the upcoming invoice. Cloudways allows you to add funds to your account via PayPal or credit card.
If you want to learn more about how the Cloudways payment system work, you can read this documentation.
Cloudways Support
There are two main ways to get help in Cloudways. First, you can use its Live Chat support which is powered by Intercom. Second, you can open a ticket. Cloudways uses Zendesk for this support type.
For your information. In Cloudways, support is available as an add-on. Every user gets a free support add-on called Standard. This support add-on allows you to get help via the mentioned methodss (live chat and ticket).
To get priority support, you need to use the higher add-on tier called Advanced. Apart from priority support, the Advanced support add-on also offers a dedicated account manager. However, you need to pay a $25 fee per month to get this support add-on.
Another support add-on tier offered by Cloudways is Premium, in which the cost is $500 per month. This add-on offers phone support and Private Slack channel.
More About Free Support Add-on
The Standard support add-on is the default support add-on that every Cloudways user gets. This add-on is available for free. With this add-on, you can get help via live chat and via a ticket.
However, I have to say that the support quality of this add-on is not good enough. For live chat, you will be served by an AI agent instead of a human initially.
If you want to chat directly with a human, you can type something like “I want to chat with human” or “pass me to human” and a human will greet you and you can start to let him/her know the issue you are experiencing.
For ticket-based support, I had to wait for some hours (even days) to get a new reply from the support team, which led to a long turnaround time.
Pros and Cons of Cloudways
If you have a growing website and are looking for a more solid hosting to scale up your business, Cloudways can be a great solution.
Being a VPS, your hosting resources are not shared with other users so that you don’t need to worry your site performance will be interrupted by other sites. Especially when you are running ads to boost traffic.
Cloudways comes with some useful features although not all of them are available as the core features.
On the other hand, using Cloudways may require some adaptation if you are used to using a hosting service that has a file manager feature as Cloudways doesn’t have one.
Here are some pros and cons I found during testing:
Pros:
- Super flexible pricing model
- Offers 3-day trial without credit card
- More affordable. Especially for agencies and anyone running multiple sites
- Excellent performance. Even without Cloudflare (CDN)
- Extremely easy to scale a server
- Multi-layer caching
- Multiple security layers
- Multiple cloud provider options (DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, AWS, Vultr, and Linode)
- Configurable PHP
- Offsite backup
- Clean control panel
Cons:
- CDN and WordPress auto update are not available as the core features
- Free support is not good enough (long turnaround time)
- No file manager
- No email hosting
- Registration requires manual approval
Summary
Cloudways is a popular enough name in the hosting space. But popular means nothing when the quality sucks. Based on what I found after testing Cloudways, I can say that it is a hosting service that has a great quality although, of course, it is not perfect.
Cloudways is especially a great solution if you need a hosting service with isolated resources. It is a managed VPS. You have five cloud provider options to choose from to power your VPS:
- DigitalOcean
- Vultr
- Linode
- AWS
- Google Cloud
You can use Cloudways to run WordPress, Laravel and Magento. Cloudways comes with some handy features to make it easy to manage both servers and applications. In Cloudways, your servers is powered by Debian Linux.
If you want to use Cloudways to run a WordPress-based website, you can enable the SafeUpdates add-on (paid) to enjoy automatic updates for WordPress core and plugins.
Cloudways adopts a super flexible pricing model where you only pay for the resources you use on your account.
If you are interested in trying Cloudways, you can use the following coupon code to get a 10% discount for three months.
Coupon code: WPBDEAL
Use coupon code
