Established in 2011, Cloudways is a well-established competitor in the managed cloud space of web hosting.
With thousands of customers and a strong reputation in business, is Cloudways the right choice? In this review, we will learn.
Cloudways Review: first impressions
First of all, the Cloudways site is the work of a master. It is presented in a pleasant and user-friendly manner, which will surely appeal to many visitors, including me.
But it doesn’t matter from the outside.
Cloudways offers a massive range of services from the bytes of its managed cloud servers. These include managed hosting solutions that specialize in specific applications such as WordPress, Magneto, Joomla, Drupal, Laravel, WooCommerce, and shared PHP.
With each package that it provides, it offers a wide range of features.
The idea of peace of mind through 24/7 support is excellent and would be incredibly helpful to most (if not all) web hosting users. However, it is often easier said than done, as many providers offer 24/7 support, but do not keep their promises.
I tried a live chat to ensure its effectiveness – еo my surprise, I was able to contact the agent in a matter of seconds.
More importantly, I was able to resolve my question within a minute.
Not bad!
But was my experience different from other users?
Other Reviews of the Cloudways
Cloudways reviews of other clients are quite controversial. Many users have been happy enough to stay with Cloudways for several years.
But others are not so happy.
However, Cloudways seems to have improved over time. Although the reviews for 2018 were quite mixed, in 2019, they were overwhelmingly positive.
So there’s something to take away from here. While Cloudways may have had some problems, this is a company that is willing to listen to customer feedback and improve. And it’s pretty great.
And even negative reviews shouldn’t scare you too much. You have to keep in mind the fact that most hosting providers do have negative customer reviews. In general, people are more likely to leave reviews if they have something bad.
Pricing
For its core service (Managed Cloud Web Hosting) Cloudways offers five different cloud server providers from which you can choose:
- DigitalOcean – Starting from $10 per month.
- Linod – Starting from $12 per month.
- WULTHER – Starting at $11/month.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Starting at $34.91 per month.
- Google Cloud Platform – Starting from $33.30 per month.
For my Cloudways review, I will check prices for Vultr provider as I believe it is the best value for money. I chose Vultr over DigitalOcean (which is also a reasonable price) due to the broader choice of server locations.
With the cheapest option at $11/month, offering 1GB of ram, 1-core processor, and 25GB of disk space, the prices for Cloudways with Vultr will be very affordable for most users.
The company’s plans include a massive 96 GB ram package with 800 GB of storage and 15 TB of bandwidth. Of course, there is something for everyone.
If you are not worried about server speed on the eastern continents, then Cloudways plans with DigitalOcean may be the best choice. As the main reason, I analyzed the ones with Vultr that were related to the choice of an Asian server.
Cloudways plans
All this is good and good, knowing that Cloudways prices with Vultr start at $11/month, but how do you figure out which plan is right for you?
There is a vast amount of 11 plans, but I have summed up four plans whose price is the most differentiated.
I also contacted support to find details that are not available on their website. This way, you can make a much more informed decision. You’re welcome.
VULTR1GB | VULTR4GB | VULTR32GB | VULTR96GB | |
Ram | 1GB | 4GB | 32GB | 96GB |
Processor | 1 Core | 2 Core | 8 Core | 24 Core |
Disk Space | 25GB | 60GB | 300GB | 800TB |
Bandwidth | 1TB | 3TB | 6TB | 15TB |
SSL Certificate Included | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HDD or SDD | SDD | SDD | SDD | SDD |
No. of Domains Allowed | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Dedicated Environment | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Mailboxes Included | $1 per mailbox per month | $1 per mailbox per month | $1 per mailbox per month | $1 per mailbox per month |
Which plan is best for you depends entirely on your circumstances. If your demands are monstrous, you can consider a VULTR96GB or a similar plan.
If you don’t need a substantial 24-core processor and 15TB of bandwidth, you’re likely to be better off at the other end of the chart.
For example, for a site that is currently running at a higher level of traffic and is not yet too loaded with content, I would recommend starting with VULTR1GB – you can always switch later!
Cloud Computing Performance
Since you will be looking for another set of servers to choose from, your performance will strongly depend on your choice.
As you can see, the response time around the world is excellent.
I do not have any problem with speed displayed. It’s rare to find a provider with a constant speed on every continent, but Cloudways did the job. In a way, it makes perfect sense. It’s a premium cloud hosting provider – and it has to behave as such!
Summary of Cloudways Review
There are both heavy upside down and negative aspects of using Cloudways.
On the positive side are round-the-clock support, free extended SSL Certificate, and a wide range of specialized hosting packages. I’m particularly interested in the Vultr packages so that you can choose between servers in the US, Europe, and Asia.
On the other hand, there are problems reported by numerous users when servicing customers. However, if it’s any consolation, I need to confirm that my experience with the customer support team was fine.
In general, I can recommend Cloudways as a hosting option for those who have high requirements and technical know-how. If you are looking for cloud servers with pay-as-you-go without the hassle of managing yourself, give Cloudways a try.
Pros
- Support for live chat 24/7
- Wide range of packages
- Better speed around the world
- Free SSL Certificate with each package
Cons
- Not suitable for small websites
- Reasonable technological know-how is preferable