Alexis Kestler
Hey there! If you‘re looking for a managed cloud hosting provider to easily deploy and run your websites, I highly recommend checking out Cloudways.
I‘ve personally been using Cloudways for over 2 years now to host all my client sites, and it‘s by far the best hosting solution I‘ve ever used.
In this detailed guide, I‘ll explain 10 key reasons why Cloudways blows away traditional shared hosts and is my top pick for managed cloud hosting.
Let‘s dive in!
1. Choose From 5 Leading Cloud Providers
One major advantage Cloudways has over other managed hosts is giving you the flexibility to choose between 5 major cloud providers:
- Google Cloud Platform
- Amazon Web Services
- DigitalOcean
- Vultr
- Linode
So you‘re not limited or locked into any single provider here.
I really like having the freedom to select the right infrastructure for each website based on the specific needs:
- For large business-critical sites, I go with Google Cloud or AWS for maximum scalability and performance.
- For smaller personal blogs or side projects, I prefer DigitalOcean or Vultr for the affordability.
- Linode balances performance and value nicely for mid-sized sites.
The ability to switch between these cloud providers as needed makes Cloudways really flexible.
And migrating sites between them is easy since Cloudways handles all the hosting infrastructure and you just manage the apps/websites.
Cloudways Infrastructure Focus Allows Provider Flexibility
This flexibility is possible because Cloudways focuses solely on the managed hosting layer while utilizing the underlying infrastructure from these major cloud providers.
Most other managed hosts lock you into their own proprietary infrastructure.
But by staying cloud provider agnostic, Cloudways empowers you to choose the right platform for your apps and websites.
I like having the freedom to optimize my hosting setup as needs change without being limited to a single provider.
2. Fully Managed Servers Save You Time
Deploying and managing cloud infrastructure across multiple providers is complex with a steep learning curve.
Configuring servers, optimizing performance, securing networks, scaling resources…it‘s extremely time consuming!
The beauty of Cloudways is that they handle all that challenging backend work for you.
You simply focus on your actual websites and applications while Cloudways takes care of everything related to managing the servers.
Some key features that make the hosting experience fully managed:
Automated Server Provisioning
- As soon as you launch a new server, Cloudways automatically provisions the compute resources, storage, and networking based on your chosen cloud provider.
Optimized LAMP Stack
- Every new server comes pre-configured with a high performance LEMP/LAMP stack out-of-the-box. This includes optimizations for PHP and MySQL apps.
Ongoing Monitoring
- Cloudways monitors your entire infrastructure 24/7 and rapidly responds to issues before you even notice them.
Autoscaling Capabilities
- They make scaling up resources seamless by automatically adding RAM, bandwidth, or storage on-demand when needed.
Rapid Deployment
-You can instantly spin up new apps and sites thanks to the optimized stacks and automated workflows. No time wasted on configuring hosting!
Worry-Free Maintenance
- Cloudways handles all backend maintenance like security patches, software updates, migrations and more for you.
The complete automation and optimization allow me to deploy new client sites rapidly without worrying about the hosting infrastructure.
And I can sleep soundly knowing Cloudways has everything covered on the server management side.
3. Intuitive Control Panel Centralizes Everything
Here‘s a look at the Cloudways control panel:
Cloudways provides a super intuitive control panel that centralizes everything required to manage your hosting infrastructure and applications.
I absolutely love having all my key hosting management tasks in one place:
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Server Management – Provision, monitor, clone, and resize cloud servers
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Account Administration – Manage account settings, billing, and users
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App Management – Deploy and configure apps like WordPress and Magento with 1-click installers
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Domain Management – Add domains and provision SSL certificates
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Performance Analytics – Review detailed traffic and resource monitoring
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Access Controls – Manage permissions for teammates
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Configuration – Access advanced server and infrastructure settings
The control panel is extremely user-friendly while still providing visibility into advanced configurations. This combination makes Cloudways accessible for non-technical users while still offering all the controls developers need.
I‘m able to complete most daily management and monitoring entirely through this centralized dashboard, which is invaluable!
4. SSH & Git Access Provides Flexibility
While the control panel covers most common management tasks, Cloudways also provides developer-friendly SSH and Git access for maximum flexibility:
Full SSH Access
SSH access allows me to directly log into the servers when needed to handle custom configurations or troubleshoot issues.
Compared to some other managed hosts, Cloudways doesn‘t limit shell access. This is extremely helpful for tackling server or app configs that can‘t be handled through the control panel.
Git Deployment Workflow
Cloudways integrates with Git repos allowing me to easily push code changes from local dev environments to the live servers.
This speeds up my deployment workflow substantially compared to FTP uploads. Git deploy allows easily rolling back changes as well.
The combination of complete SSH access and Git deployment integrates Cloudways seamlessly into my existing dev workflows rather than getting in the way.
5. Bank-Level Security Included
With many high-profile breaches in recent years, security has become my #1 priority when choosing any hosting provider.
I‘m happy to report Cloudways includes enterprise-grade security protections covering the entire managed hosting stack:
- Dedicated firewalls on each server
- Automatic server hardening
- Ongoing threat monitoring
- DDoS protection
- Regular penetration testing
- Rapid patch management
For the websites and apps themselves, Cloudways auto-installs free SSL certificates using Let‘s Encrypt and enables HTTP/2 by default. This provides fast, secure access for all sites.
The comprehensive security precautions give me peace of mind that my sites are well protected against online threats. Cloudways handles security professionally so I can focus on development.
6. Lightning Fast Performance Out-of-the-Box
The high-performance infrastructure from Google Cloud, AWS, and other providers coupled with extensive performance optimizations makes Cloudways incredibly fast.
Premium Infrastructure
By leveraging leading cloud data centers, you benefit from cutting-edge hardware like SSD storage, global private networks, and multi-tier caching.
Cloudways servers featuring 32 GB of RAM and 8 vCPUs are common, along with unlimited burstable bandwidth.
LAMP Stack Optimization
In addition to the premium infrastructure, Cloudways optimizes every new server with configurations tailored for PHP/MySQL apps:
- Opcode caching – caches compiled PHP code
- Database caching – caches MySQL queries
- Object caching – caches application data
- Content delivery network – caches static assets globally
This combination of speedy infrastructure and optimized configurations provides an instantly fast hosting environment.
For a concrete example, I migrated an old WordPress site from GoDaddy shared hosting to Cloudways and the page load times improved from 12+ seconds to under 1 second!
The Cloudways performance advantage is instantly noticeable.
7. Built-in Caching & CDN Are Game Changers
Two key performance features Cloudways offers out-of-the-box are server-level caching and content delivery networks (CDNs).
Server-Side Caching
Cloudways automatically enables server-level caching on new accounts. This accelerates apps by caching PHP code, database queries, and static assets in memory.
The caching optimizes performance by reducing the amount of processing required per request. You get a speed boost without changing any code.
Global CDN
Cloudways also provisions a fast CDN with each new server to distribute cached assets from nearby edge locations.
This means visitors around the world accessing your site will fetch static content like images, CSS & JS files from the closest CDN nodes.
Having both the caching and CDN enabled by default is awesome. It provides a big performance lift immediately after migrating sites over to Cloudways.
And the best part? You don‘t have to install or configure anything. The platform handles it automatically in the background.
8. Scale Seamlessly on Demand
If your websites experience viral growth or a surge in traffic due to promotions, Cloudways makes it easy to scale up your hosting resources.
You can either scale vertically by upgrading your server plan to add more RAM, CPU cores, storage, and bandwidth.
Or you can scale horizontally by setting up multiple servers and load balancers to distribute traffic.
Cloudways offers complete flexibility to scale based on your website traffic patterns. And best of all? The scaling happens instantly with just a few clicks thanks to the automated infrastructure provisioning.
This on-demand scalability ensures your sites can easily grow from handling 100 to 100,000+ visitors per month without breaking a sweat.
9. Cloning and Staging Accelerates Development
Cloudways provides two killer features that dramatically improve and speed up my development workflows:
One-Click Cloning
I can rapidly duplicate any existing live server into a new staging environment with a single click.
This cloning makes it easy to spin up near-identical dev/test servers anytime I‘m evaluating design changes, testing plugin updates, or experimenting with infrastructure tweaks.
Integrated Staging
Cloudways also offers "GitPush" staging built right into each account. Any code I push to these Git repos automatically deploys to a staging site for testing before going live.
Combining cloning and staging enables quickly testing changes in a production-like environment before touching my live sites. I can try new WordPress versions, themes, plugins, and infrastructure tweaks safely.
These capabilities help me prevent downtime and problems down the road. I‘m a huge fan!
10. Hassle-Free Migrations
Migrating an existing site or application onto Cloudways is super smooth:
WordPress Migration Plugin
For WordPress sites, I simply install the Cloudways migrate plugin on my existing installation. This allows migrating the site with zero downtime including the database, files, and URLs.
Couldn‘t be easier!
For Other Apps
Cloudways provides optimized LAMP stacks for Drupal, Magento, and other platforms making it easy to migrate. Their support team is also available 24/7 if any issues come up.
Free Professional Migration
Every Cloudways account includes one free professional migration service. Their technical team will safely move even complex sites onto your new hosting account without headaches.
Between the self-serve plugins and expert migration assistance, moving my sites over to Cloudways has proven seamless every time.
If you‘ve made it this far, hopefully I‘ve shown you exactly why Cloudways is my top recommendation for managed cloud hosting at the moment:
Flexibility – Choice of 5 leading cloud providers, scale up/down instantly
Speed – Optimized high-performance infrastructure and caching
Security – Bank-level protection included
Productivity – Fully managed backend, time-saving cloning and staging
Support – Exceptional 24/7 live customer support
Simplicity – Intuitive control panel with advanced access
Affordability – Powerful managed hosting starting at just $10/month
Compared to traditional shared hosting, Cloudways provides a managed cloud hosting experience that is faster, more secure, full-featured, and flexible.
While more technical users can dive into server configurations using SSH, everyone can benefit from the easy-to-use control panel. This combination works great for my clients who want a reliable, high performing hosting solution without the headaches.
I‘m able to deploy new client websites in minutes thanks to the optimized stacks and automation. And the flexibility to switch cloud providers, scale dynamically, and clone servers allows seamlessly adapting as needs change.
Plus, their 24/7 live support is top notch!
There are certainly other great managed hosting providers out there. But so far, I‘ve found the combination of performance, security, and ease of management with Cloudways impossible to beat.
If you currently manage your own hosting infrastructure or are looking to migrate from another provider, I highly recommend giving Cloudways a try.
Visit their website to get started with a new account today.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
John
