Since DigitalOcean acquired Cloudways, there have been complaints about price increases, the removal of Vultr (although you can still access it through certain affiliate links), and decreased performance. Cloudways also performed poorly in recent WordPress hosting benchmarks.
If you’re looking for alternatives, Rocket.net offers better performance and support, but at a higher cost. Budget-friendly options include ChemiCloud’s Turbo plan with LiteSpeed, NVMe SSDs, and Redis, or ServerAvatar, a cheaper Cloudways alternative also with LiteSpeed.
This review explores Cloudways’ performance, features, pricing, and alternatives, helping you decide if it’s the right choice for your website. We’ll cover speed optimizations and the ideal setup, which combines Cloudways Vultr High Frequency, Cloudflare Enterprise, FlyingPress, and Google Workspace.
1. Cloudways Acquired By DigitalOcean
The DigitalOcean acquisition brought significant changes to Cloudways: price increases, the removal of non-DigitalOcean providers like Vultr, the addition of full-page caching to Cloudflare Enterprise, and numerous complaints regarding support and billing. Acquisitions often bring challenges, and Cloudways hasn’t been an exception.
2. Little Awards In Kevin Ohashi’s 2023 Benchmarks
Despite advancements in technology, Cloudways underperformed in the 2023 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks, receiving few accolades. Rocket.net, on the other hand, excelled. However, hosts like SiteGround, WPX, and GreenGeeks aren’t recommended due to limited resources and questionable practices.
3. Cloudways vs. Shared Hosts
This comparison table highlights key differences between Cloudways and shared hosting providers. It’s important to note that hosting details can change frequently.
Factors like server type (LiteSpeed vs. Apache), storage (NVMe vs. SATA SSDs), database (MariaDB vs. MySQL), and caching (Redis vs. Memcached) are considered. The table also includes information on CDN, DNS, CPU limits, email hosting, and pricing.
4. Cloudways vs. Other Cloud Hosts
Rocket.net outperforms Cloudways in speed, leveraging LiteSpeed and offering more resources. However, it can be more expensive due to lower bandwidth and storage limits, and it restricts the number of sites per server. A detailed spreadsheet comparison is available for a deeper dive.
5. My Results
Migrating from SiteGround to Cloudways in 2019 yielded significant performance improvements, demonstrated by KeyCDN performance tests, PageSpeed Insights scores, Core Web Vitals, and GTmetrix reports.
6. No More CPU Issues
Cloudways significantly reduced CPU usage compared to SiteGround. However, it’s essential to consider that Cloudways uses Apache servers, which are less efficient than LiteSpeed. ChemiCloud, with its LiteSpeed servers, offers a more efficient alternative for handling CPU-intensive tasks.
7. Monthly Pricing, Scaling Gets Expensive
Cloudways offers monthly pricing without renewal fees. However, scaling resources can become costly. For high-traffic websites, more hands-on alternatives like RunCloud or CyberPanel can be more cost-effective.
8. Sign Up
Cloudways offers a free trial and a free migration. Affiliate links can provide discounts.
9. Launch A Server
Launching a server on Cloudways is a simple process involving selecting the application, server size, cloud provider (Vultr HF recommended), and data center. Vultr HF is favored for its NVMe storage, high CPU clock speeds, and numerous data centers.
10. Connect Your Domain
Connecting your domain involves updating DNS records, adding your domain in Cloudways, and installing a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
11. Request A Free Migration
Cloudways offers a free migration service for your first site. Alternatively, you can use the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin for a DIY approach.
12. Cloudflare Enterprise
Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise add-on provides enhanced CDN performance, WAF, DDoS protection, image optimization, full-page caching, and other features.
13. Redis Object Cache Pro
Redis Object Cache Pro, free on Cloudways, is particularly beneficial for WooCommerce and dynamic websites, offering improved performance over Memcached.
14. Use FlyingPress, Not Breeze
While Cloudways has improved Breeze, FlyingPress remains the recommended caching plugin for optimizing core web vitals and real-world browsing performance.
15. More Cloudways Optimizations
Further optimizations include using PHP 8.0+, MariaDB 10.4, a higher memory limit, activating Redis and Varnish, configuring Varnish rules, optimizing PHP-FPM settings, scheduling backups, using Cloudflare’s DNS, replacing wp-cron, and analyzing error logs.
16. Support Isn’t Great
Support is a common area of concern with Cloudways. Reaching out to their community manager or Facebook group can be helpful for pre-sales questions and support.
17. No Email Hosting
Cloudways doesn’t offer email hosting directly, recommending Rackspace or suggesting alternatives like Google Workspace or Cloudflare’s email routing.
18. You’ll Want A Separate Backup Plugin
Using a third-party backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or ManageWP is recommended for offsite backups, despite Cloudways’ local backup feature.
19. File Manager Workaround
Cloudways lacks a built-in file manager, but SFTP access is provided. Tiny File Manager can be used as a workaround for file management tasks.
20. Navigating The Dashboard
The Cloudways dashboard provides access to server settings, application management, staging site creation, traffic monitoring, error logs, domain management, SSL configuration, cron jobs, backups, and application-specific settings.
21. Pros & Cons
Cloudways offers advantages like cloud hosting speed, Vultr HF performance, Cloudflare Enterprise integration, multiple caching layers, MariaDB, PHP-FPM, regular PHP updates, monthly pricing, improved CPU handling, granular server control, and numerous data center locations.
Disadvantages include Apache servers, inconsistent support, the Breeze plugin, lack of email hosting, potential high CPU usage on smaller servers, absence of a file manager, expensive scaling, past Cloudflare Enterprise limitations, complaints after the DigitalOcean acquisition, and backup storage costs.
22. More Migration Results
Numerous users have shared their positive migration experiences to Cloudways, showcasing performance improvements.
23. Alternatives: Rocket.net, ChemiCloud, ServerAvatar
Rocket.net offers superior performance and support compared to Cloudways but at a premium price. ChemiCloud is a strong shared hosting option without the CPU limitations of other providers. ServerAvatar is a budget-friendly alternative to Cloudways but with fewer features.
