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CloudWays: Fast and Secure Cloud Hosting for WordPress

Discover how CloudWays offers high-performance cloud hosting with simplified management and 24/7 support. Read this expert review to learn more!

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4.6

/5 | 234 reviews ⭐️

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💵 Start from  

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🗺 HQ :Malta

📆 Last Update :

10/2025

📊 Key Takeaways

Cloudways managed hosting revolutionizes how you manage your cloud servers. Entrepreneurs, web agencies, and PHP/Laravel/WordPress developers will find a simple, performant, and transparent service here. Discover how Cloudways saves you time and money.

Cloudways G2 ratings

Cloudways caters to SMEs/startups, IT managers, and project managers seeking a managed solution for AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and others. WordPress performance, free migration, and 24/7 customer service ensure a smooth experience.

What is Cloudways and who is it for?

Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform, offering an abstraction layer to deploy and manage your servers on major providers (AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode).

Customers using Cloudways cloud hosting

Designed for non-experts, it allows anyone to launch a web project in just a few clicks, including:

  • ⚙️ Server management via proprietary control panel
  • 🔒 Integrated security (free Let's Encrypt SSL, DDoS protection, Bot Protection)
  • 📈 Vertical and horizontal scalability

💡 Why does it matter?

Businesses gain agility: no need for a full-time DevOps engineer to manage infrastructure.

Key Features

🔑 Cloudways 2025 – Essential features and benefits
🌟 Feature ✅ What Cloudways offers 🚀 User benefit
⚡ WordPress Performance Optimized ThunderStack (Nginx + Varnish + Redis + PHP 8.2) Ultra-fast loading times for WordPress and WooCommerce sites
🔄 Free Migration Integrated Cloudways WP Migrator plugin Migrate your site without interruption or hidden fees
🛡️ SSL Security Free Let's Encrypt certificate in one click Builds trust and protects user data
🌐 SSH & SFTP Access One-click activation for each server Advanced deployment and simplified technical management
📊 Monitoring & Analytics Cloudways monitoring + New Relic integration Real-time visibility on traffic, RAM/CPU usage, and performance
📦 Automatic Backups Configurable daily backups (hourly to daily) Quick restoration in case of technical issues
🌍 Multi-cloud & Scaling Choice between DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, GCP Total flexibility to adapt hosting to your needs
🤝 24/7 Support Live chat & tickets, rich knowledge base Fast and continuous assistance, even during critical peaks
💡 Example: A web agency reduced WordPress site deployment time by 50% thanks to staging environments and integrated Cloudflare.

✅ Advantages and ❌ Disadvantages of Cloudways

Cloudways key metrics

Advantages

  • 24/7 customer service via chat and ticketing system
  • Transparent hourly and monthly pricing
  • Redis Cache options and integrated CDN
  • Multi-site environments and staging

Disadvantages

  • Higher initial cost than classic VPS
  • Limited server customization outside Cloudways options
  • No complete root console like with pure IaaS

Server Management and Scalability

Cloudways workflow

Cloudways offers an intuitive control panel:

  1. Choose cloud provider
  2. Configure RAM/CPU/disk
  3. Activate SSL and set up firewall
  4. Monitoring and automatic backup

Scalability options allow you to go from 1GB to 192GB RAM in just a few clicks, without service interruption.

Pricing and Plans

💰 Cloudways — Updated Hosting Plans, Pricing & Cloud Providers (2025)
🏷️ Plan / Tier 💵 Estimated Monthly Price* ☁️ Cloud Provider ⚙️ Typical Resources / Key Features 📝 Notes
Starter / Basic ≈ $11/month DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode – 1 GB RAM
– 1 vCPU
– 25–50 GB SSD
– ~1 TB bandwidth
Best for small blogs, portfolios, or low-traffic sites.
Business / Standard ≈ $24/month DigitalOcean, Vultr – 2 GB RAM
– 1 vCPU
– 50 GB SSD
– ~2 TB bandwidth
Balanced choice for small eCommerce or agency projects.
Premium / Medium ≈ $46/month DigitalOcean, Vultr High Frequency – 4 GB RAM
– 2 vCPU
– 80 GB SSD
– ~4 TB bandwidth
Ideal for growing businesses, SaaS MVPs, or WooCommerce stores.
Advanced / Large (8GB+) ≈ $88/month DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud – 8 GB RAM
– 4 vCPU
– 160 GB SSD
– ~5–6 TB bandwidth
Great for high-traffic apps, multi-site hosting, or enterprise-level sites.
Flexible / Custom Custom quote (typically $30–$40+ depending on provider) AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Vultr, Linode – Fully customizable RAM / vCPU / SSD / bandwidth
– Vertical and horizontal scaling available
Best for agencies or projects needing tailored infrastructure and auto-scaling.
💡 *All prices updated for 2025 — based on Cloudways’ official pricing (excl. provider fees or add-ons like Cloudflare Enterprise).

*Hourly pricing available.

🛡️ Why choose Cloudways?
Thanks to pricing flexibility, you only pay for what you need, with the ability to adjust in real-time.
Cloudways pricing by provider
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Why choose Cloudways: value proposition and use cases

Cloudways offers a unique value proposition for businesses seeking managed cloud hosting without DevOps complexity.

Cloudways target customers

With an intuitive interface and a control panel designed for non-technical users, Cloudways allows you to deploy servers in just a few clicks on DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, AWS, Vultr, or Linode.

  • 💡 Value proposition: free migration, transparent pricing, and 24/7 support via live chat.
  • 🔧 Use cases: web agencies deploying WordPress sites with Migrator plugin, startups in scaling phase thanks to auto-scalability.
User Experience
With Cloudways, no more server configuration headaches: you save time and control your hosting costs.

Multi-site environments and staging workflow

Cloudways facilitates managing multiple projects thanks to multi-site environments and staging workflows.

Cloudways flexible and Cloudways autonomous

You can clone your production to a test environment in one click, make your modifications (themes, plugins, scripts) without risking the stability of the live site, then push your changes to production.

  • Quick activation of a staging environment per site
  • Independent database management for each environment
  • Update clamp (push/pull) between staging and production
  • Support for multi-domains on the same server
🌟 Cloudways – Management & productivity tools
🌟 Feature ⚙️ Usage 🎯 Benefit
One-click clone Create a staging environment identical to production site – Isolated testing without risk
– Enhanced security before going live
– Time savings for busy developers
Multi-domain management Host multiple sites (WordPress, WooCommerce, PHP apps) on a single server – Drastic reduction in hosting costs
– Centralized view for agencies
– Less time wasted on administration
– Ideal for multi-project freelancers
Push/Pull database Synchronize databases between staging and production with granularity – Client content preservation
– Fewer human errors
– Smoother testing workflow
Dedicated SSH access Secure command-line connection to manage servers and files – Enhanced security
– Full control for advanced developers
– Automation of recurring scripts
– Per-project isolation (reduced risks)
– Supports Git and CI/CD deployments

Advanced monitoring & Cron task automation

Ensure continuous performance of your applications with monitoring tools and integrated Cron automation in Cloudways.

Cron task automation

Monitor CPU, RAM, disk usage and network latency in real-time, and configure Cron tasks to automate backups, cache cleaning or report sending.

  • Real-time dashboard: CPU, RAM, I/O, latency
  • Custom alerts via email or webhook
  • Cron configuration via interface (simplified Unix syntax)
  • Pre-configured scripts for automatic backup and cache purge
📊 Cloudways – Monitoring & Automation
📊 Feature ⚙️ Usage 🎯 Benefit
Real-time monitoring CPU, RAM, storage and bandwidth graphs accessible from dashboard – Detect load spikes
– Adjust resources before saturation
– Anticipate scaling needs
Visual Cron editor Programming automatic tasks (backups, scripts, maintenance) Automates repetitive routines and reduces risk of human error
Alerts & backups CPU/RAM notifications + hourly or daily backups – Be notified before a crash
– Quickly restore after incident
Logs & audit Complete error logging and server activity tracking Enables quick and documented diagnosis of anomalies
Cache automation & integrations Auto-cleaning of Varnish cache, Slack/Webhook integration – Continuously optimizes performance
– Sends real-time notifications to your team tools
– Reduces need for manual intervention

Performance and scalability: Thunderstack & Cloudflare Enterprise

Cloudways performance features

Cloudways relies on Thunderstack (NGINX, Varnish, Redis, Memcached) and the Cloudflare Enterprise option to guarantee ultra-fast loading times and smooth scaling.

  • 🚀 PHP 8.2 optimization and integrated Redis cache
  • 🌐 Cloudflare Enterprise CDN for global distribution
  • 📊 Traffic stats and real-time monitoring
⚡ Cloudways – Key technical elements & benefits (2025)
🌟 Element 🔎 Technical description 📈 User benefit
⚡ Thunderstack – Advanced cache (Varnish + Redis)
– Optimized PHP 8.2
– Hybrid Nginx + Apache stack
– MySQL/MariaDB database
– Faster sites, reduced TTFB
– PHP scripts executed instantly
– Smooth navigation even under high traffic
🌍 Cloudflare Enterprise – Integrated DDoS protection
– Premium CDN (270+ PoPs)
– Intelligent routing + image optimization
– Enterprise-level security
– SEO and Core Web Vitals improvement
– Global stability for e-commerce sites
🧪 Staging environments – Cloned sites for pre-production testing
– One-click deployment
– Fix without breaking live site
– Peace of mind for agencies and developers
🔧 Monitoring & statistics – Cloudways dashboard
– CPU, RAM, traffic tracking
– Integration with New Relic
– Total visibility on performance
– Quick anomaly detection
🛡️ Security & backups – Free Let's Encrypt SSL
– Automatic daily backups
– Dedicated firewall
– Data protected 24/7
– 1-click restoration in case of incident
– Enhanced customer trust

Security and reliability: SSL, automated backups and advanced protections

Security on Cloudways dashboard

Security is at the core of this web hosting offering:

  • 🔐 Free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates in one click
  • ⚔️ Bot Protection and native DDoS protection
  • 💾 Configurable hourly/daily automatic backup
  • 🔄 Restoration points (snapshots) to roll back when needed
🔒 Cloudways – Security & Reliability (2025)
🔒 Feature ✅ Availability 🎯 Impact / Benefit
SSL Let's Encrypt Free & unlimited – HTTPS encryption activated automatically
– Immediate visitor trust
– SEO bonus on Google
DDoS Protection & Bot Protection Included by default – Blocking automated attacks
– Enhanced availability even under attack
– Peace of mind for high-traffic e-commerce sites
Automatic backup Up to 5 retained backups – Scheduled daily backups
– One-click restoration after bug or hack
On-demand snapshots Scheduled or manual – Instant rollback before update
– Ideal for feature testing

Customer Support

With Cloudways, you get email support, 24/7/365 live chat support, but no phone support.

Add-ons offered by Cloudways with their hosting services

Their Live Chat is available in 3 different tiers:

  1. Standard support is free and available 24/7.
  2. The Advanced Support add-on promises faster response time and deeper troubleshooting. It's offered for $100 per month!
  3. Premium Support offers 24/7/365 phone support, a dedicated account manager, and a private Slack channel. This option costs $500/month!
Search for answers in Cloudways knowledge base

They also have an extensive knowledge base of helpful annotated articles, a community forum, and a blog where they publish content about startups, e-commerce, affiliates, apps, and the latest Cloudways updates.

Cloudways Live chat user interface

I personally found their live chat support quite fast, technically solid, and humble. They even gave me detailed answers to all my questions, and didn't just pass along links to articles! Overall, I had no issues getting quick and effective responses to my questions.

Final Verdict

Cloudways is one of the best web hosts in my opinion. It delivers superior performance in speed, scalability, uptime, and load testing. So I find it completely worth every dollar spent!

Start without credit card with Cloudways

Small and medium businesses, professional bloggers, resellers, agencies, seasonal websites, or users on a limited budget can certainly benefit from Cloudways.

Basically, anyone who knows what they want from their hosting and wants more control over it can use Cloudways.

In my experience, Cloudways is much better than alternatives like WP Engine or Kinsta.

FAQ

What is Cloudways and how does it work?

Cloudways is managed cloud hosting that deploys your servers on DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, AWS, Vultr, or Linode via a simplified control panel. You choose your provider, configure RAM/CPU/disk, then activate SSL and CDN.

What are the pricing and hosting plans available?

Plans start at $11/month (1GB RAM) on DigitalOcean/Vultr, up to custom offers on AWS/GCP. Hourly billing offers unique flexibility.

Where are Cloudways data centers located?

Cloudways doesn't own its own data centers; the platform lets you choose from its cloud partners' data centers:

  • DigitalOcean: US (New York, San Francisco), Europe (Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt), Asia (Singapore, Bangalore)
  • Vultr: US (Atlanta, Miami, Seattle), Europe (Amsterdam, Paris), Asia (Tokyo, Seoul), Australia (Sydney)
  • AWS: 27 global regions (US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East)
  • Google Cloud: 35 regions and 106 zones worldwide
  • Linode: US (Atlanta, Dallas, Newark, Fremont), Europe (Frankfurt, London), Asia (Mumbai, Singapore)

You can select the data center closest to your audience to reduce latency and optimize your site's performance.

What benefits for WordPress?

– WordPress performance thanks to PHP 8.2 optimized Thunderstack
– Migrator plugin for free migration
– Dedicated staging environments

Does Cloudways offer technical support?

Yes, 24/7 support via live chat and ticketing system. Technicians cover PHP, MySQL, CDN configuration, and security.

What security protections are included?

– Free Let's Encrypt SSL
– DDoS protection and native Bot Protection
– Automatic backup and snapshots

Can we access the server via SSH and SFTP?

Yes, SSH & SFTP access configurable in one click from the panel. Ideal for advanced deployments.

What are alternatives to Cloudways?

– Kinsta: high-level WordPress performance, high price
– WP Engine: expert CMS support, limited hosting
– RunCloud and Ploi: self-managed, open-source, fewer software integrations

Is Cloudways suitable for large enterprises?

Absolutely, thanks to AWS/GCP integration, vertical scalability up to 192GB RAM, and Cloudflare Enterprise options.

How does Cloudways stand out among cloud providers?

Through its managed management, add-ons (Redis, CDN, pre-configured Cron), and UX interface designed to simplify developers' and decision-makers' daily work.

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