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One hour with Cloudways: 60 minutes with a top managed cloud hosting provider
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Cloudways is a brand that likely anyone who wants a WordPress website will have come across. Their concept is straightforward: make powerful cloud-based web hosting as easy to manage as possible. Cloudways is also well-known as one of the best WordPress hosting providers, thanks to robust infrastructure, specialized apps, and excellent tech stacks.
I use Cloudways for several of my websites and have never been disappointed. However, I decided to approach them with fresh eyes. Starting anew, I wanted to see what I could achieve in 60 minutes with Cloudways for this article.
Start the clock 0:00
Signing up
Signing up with Cloudways is pretty simple. Their main page is highly simplified, with a "Try Now Free" button immediately drawing my eyes. To reinforce the point, Cloudways also gently reminded me that I didn't need a credit card for the three-day trial.
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Creating an account is also simple, and all I had to do was provide some basic details such as name, email address, and phone number. The latter two are necessary for them to verify the account, since Cloudways uses multifactor authentication.
02:23
Once registration was over, I had to make my first major decision. Would I be using Cloudway Autonomous or Cloudways Flexible? The choice included details for each category, and I decided to go with the cheaper option, Cloudways Flexible, which starts at $12.
For those who aren't used to cloud hosting, the next step might be a bit more daunting. I had to choose from a range of infrastructure providers, server types, and configurations. Most service providers were priced similarly, except for AWS and Google Cloud, which are consistently expensive.
Since DigitalOcean owns Cloudways, I decided to go with that option and selected a basic server with minimal configuration. Note that the default configuration Cloudways offers sets the bar pretty high with a premium server on 4GB of RAM. If you aren't sure what you need, drag the slider down all the way and choose a standard server for just $12 per month.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.With that, I hit the launch button and was immediately dumped into my server management screen. A counter next to the server I had just specified indicated it would take 7 minutes to create the server.
The one downside was that none of the Cloudways plans included email. For that, you need the Rackspace add-on, which costs an extra dollar per month per email address.
09:02
Once the server was ready, I clicked it and saw a "Upgrade Flexible Plan" notice. Cloudways wanted me to start my payments to access the server. However, this notice is misleading because you can access your server and apps via the sidebar options.
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After jumping through a few clicks, I finally came to the application management screen. Finally, I reached a location where I could access the WordPress app I had requested during setup. From here, it was simply a matter of using the WordPress admin panel as usual. There's no need to fiddle with any server or application settings at the beginning.
Meanwhile, I received an onboarding email from Cloudways explaining how to migrate my WordPress website to their platform. This, of course, I happily ignored.
15:46
Attempting to log in to the WordPress admin panel started another short drama. For some reason, WordPress kept rejecting the default password. It was only after I changed the WordPress admin password that I was able to log in.
WordPress comes as standard on Cloudways, except for two plugin additions. You get Breeze, Cloudways' native WordPress cache plugin, and Object Cache Pro, a Redis object cache for WordPress.
From here on, working with your WordPress website won't be any different from working with any other website but you don't get those beginner tools like you do with Hostinger and Bluehost. If you want more beginner friendly WordPress options there are better choices but for WordPress hosting specifically Cloudways come out on top.
I uploaded our standard sample site to Cloudways in less than 10 minutes, including plugins, configuration, themes, and the database. After another 5 minutes spent updating the plugins and themes, I was ready to go.
This success was something that I don't always experience. When testing hosting providers, I typically face varying degrees of struggle just to get this far in at least 50 percent of my attempts.
31:43
With the sample site in place, I couldn't resist running a quick benchmark to see how Cloudways performs. The benchmark provided me with a bird's-eye view of Cloudways' performance across key WordPress metrics.
Interestingly, despite being managed Cloud hosting and having dedicated resources, Cloudways didn't exactly ace the benchmarks. Its performance was about average but we did only use the cheapest option.
Regardless, I decided to move on and explore what else Cloudways had to offer. After all, I did not doubt that performance would improve once I'd attached a Content Distribution Network (CDN) and fine-tuned a caching plugin.
42:01
One of the things that struck me the most was how easy it was to do many things with Cloudways. For those who are used to shared hosting, unmanaged Cloud or VPS plans are generally a nightmare to configure, secure, and maintain.
Cloudways, by comparison, helps you handle almost everything, either with a few simple clicks or a dedicated plugin. Think of it as having the luxury of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) where command-line operations are the norm.
Application Settings
With just a few clicks, you can configure everything about the applications you're running. This includes file access, caching, Cron optimization, PHP versions, and more. You can even access advanced PHP configurations like memory limits, execution times, and file sizes.
Server Monitoring
Cloudways provides comprehensive monitoring options for your application, including traffic analytics, disk usage, database connections, and more. This information can help you identify application bottlenecks, such as which database queries are running slowly or which Cron jobs are running.
Security
Security is one of the more contentious aspects I've encountered with Cloudways. While it offers a built-in malware scanner, it only informs you whether you're affected. If you want Cloudways to clean malware for you, it will be an additional add-on subscription that costs $4/mo and covers one to four websites.
Web Stack
One of the more unique aspects of Cloudways is the option to choose between two web stacks, either hybrid or Lightning. The latter is used by default and offers a faster server configuration that's primarily focused on Nginx.
The Hybrid stack uses a mix of Apache and Nginx. This is an older stack that other hosts primarily use, but it offers better compatibility if you're running more complex deployments, such as WordPress multisite.
Cloudways Autonomous
Cloudways Autonomous is one of the "big things" Cloudways offers for large or enterprise-scale sites. Starting at $100/mo, Cloudways offers high-availability hosting that automatically scales with your web traffic. These plans also come with extra features such as Cloudflare Enterprise, load balancing, and unlimited PHP workers.
55:14
One thing that hit me at the end was how little intervention Cloudways provided as I explored the platform. That made me wonder what would happen if I needed some help. Clicking the support button, I was given the option to start a live chat, open a support ticket, or take a more DIY approach via support articles.
There's also a community support option, but this just took me to their Facebook page. Not exactly what I call a traditional support community. The support articles are pretty good, though, and offer insight on everything from billing to technical matters like PHP compatibility.
60:00
Overall impressions
Looking at Cloudways with fresh eyes, this service provider genuinely focuses on providing users with a smooth journey into cloud hosting. While it's true that there is terminology that newbies may struggle with, it's a lot better than being dumped into a command line when accessing a bare-bones cloud or VPS account.
The general feeling I get is that there's a focus on getting what's necessary out of the way first, so you can deploy a WordPress site with minimal fuss. That convenience is extended to site migration with a customized migration plugin.
Once you get all of that out of the way, you can take your sweet time exploring the multiple configuration options Cloudways offers.
- I've also rounded up the best WordPress hosting providers
Timothy ShimTechnology writerTimothy Shim is an independent writer, editor, and lifelong tech enthusiast. He started his career in Information Technology, managing systems and networks before moving into journalism. His key focus areas include web hosting and digital privacy tools.
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