Cloudways Web Hosting Review Including Real Users Experiences

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loud-based web hosting services are now common, but Cloudways does several interesting things with its cloud hosting that makes it stand out in a growing field.

It lets you select from one of five platforms, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, offers wallet-friendly pay-as-you-go plans, and even lets you sign up for a trial run without whipping out a credit card. The shine is dulled a bit by its lack of amenities, such as domain registration and included email. Still, this excellent cloud hosting service is well worth considering.

Getting Started

Unlike most other web hosting services, Cloudways lets you build a site without spending a dime. You can sign up for a three-day trial account by creating a username and password, or logging in using either Github, Google, or LinkedIn credentials, which is a nice touch. After you've logged in, you're tasked with selecting a content management system (CMS) from several popular and respected sources, including Drupal, Joomla, Koken, Magento, Media Wiki, PHP Stack, Prestashop, and, of course, WordPress. There's a lot of flexibility on display here.

This flexibility extends to the server selection, too, as you can build a site atop one of several infrastructure-as-a-service solutions, including Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud Platform, Linode, Stackpath, and Vultr. You also pick one of several server locations scattered around the country.

About Cloudways

Cloudways was founded by Uzair Gadit, Pere Hospital, and Aaqib Gadit in 2009 and their headquarters is on the island of Malta in Europe. They also have offices in Spain and Dubai and their 30+ staff helped 8,000 users from 43 different countries to launch 12,000+ servers, 25,000+ web apps.

Cloudways’ mission is to provide managed cloud hosting solutions so that their customers can concentrate on the business side while they handle their hosting headaches efficiently.

Cloudways is one of the few companies that offer a great balance between affordability and great functionality when it comes to cloud-based managed WordPress hosting.

Some Omissions

Unfortunately, Cloudways doesn't offer domain registration, so you have to secure a domain from NameCheap or some other seller. Another URL-related downside: Cloudways' unusually designed back end makes it a chore to point that purchased URL to your hosting setup. I didn't have much issue connecting those dots upon exploring the online documentation, but the process may prove confusing to novices. Furthermore, unless they're dead set on Cloudways, I can definitely see users simply never returning if they have to go elsewhere just to get started.

The service's email offering is another issue worth noting, as Cloudways' plans come with zero electronic mail accounts. Instead, Cloudways—in conjunction with RackSpace—expects you to pay for your email at $1 per email account per month. That may prove costly, depending on your needs. Most other web hosts provide at least some level of service as part of even the most basic plan.

Building a Website

Cloudways may not possess some of the typical web hosting elements, but building a site is a fairly straightforward affair. WordPress was my CMS of choice in testing, and the service created a server in just seven minutes. I logged in with my Cloudways credentials, selected a theme, tweaked how pages and posts appeared and added images. It was a trouble-free experience.

This particular WordPress flavor is of the managed variety, so your installation receives the white-glove treatment by auto-updating the CMS, performing automatic daily backups, and providing real-time site monitoring and WordPress-specific security. Cloudways also has useful one-click cloning (so you can quickly create duplicates of your apps and servers) and staging areas (so you can test website elements without placing them live on your site).

Cloudways lets customers separately monitor the applications hosted on a server. This application-level monitoring has two sections: Analytics and Logs. Analytics displays traffic information, PHP requests, MySQL requests, and Disk Usage. Logs, on the other hand, show your website's access log and error log.

Cloudways vs. Traditional Hosting

• Cloud hosting means your site is stored on multiple servers, compared to traditional hosting where your site is stored on one server (with a backup)
• Because your site is on multiple servers, it can be migrated easily in the case of any incidents
• Cloud hosting improves uptime because one of the other servers in the network can take over if anything goes wrong
• It’s usually faster than traditional hosting, the server can detect your customers’ location and transmit content from the server nearest to your customer
• Many cloud hosts use SSDs (solid-state drives) to improve your site performance
• In general, cloud hosts offer more security than traditional hosts. Cloudways uses a range of security techniques to process your WordPress site
• Cloud servers can scale very quickly; this is ideal if your business site suddenly sees a spike in traffic
• You have more control of your hosting bill with pay as you go pricing
• SSD-based WordPress Hosting keeps your site fast with dedicated resources

Customer Service

Cloudways offers 24/7 customer service, so you'll be able to reach someone around the clock. There's a catch, though, if you wish to speak to a human being. You must fill out a form to request a phone or Skype call.

You also have the option to speak with a customer service representative via webchat. That way, you can get answers in an immediate fashion. I never waited more than a few seconds before a Cloudways rep fielded one of my chat questions. The team is quite knowledgeable, too. The members fed me accurate information about the differences between cloud hosting and traditional hosting and the company's payment structure. I also received an infrastructure-as-a-service primer.

Cloudways refund policy isn't the typical 30-, 60-, or 90-day money-back guarantee that you find with most other web hosts. In fact, the structure is so detailed that Cloudways' customer service team simply referred me to this link. It's a lot to digest.

Key Features

• If you’re moving hosts, Cloudways will take care of your site migration
• The Cloudways CDN improves server speed. Faster site speeds are especially important for online stores
• The auto-healing feature resolves any issues, lowering the risk of your site crashing
• WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system, as a result, it’s a target for hackers. Cloudways uses a dedicated firewall to secure your site
• Built-in Let’s Encrypt SSL secures communication between your site and your customers
• Two-factor authentication offers an extra layer of security against attackers
• One-click installation for apps
• Easy set-up for new sites – deploy a new site on your server with a single click
• Access to 24/7 expert support
  

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