Cloudways Review 2023: The Good, Bad, And Alternatives After Being Acquired By DigitalOcean (Did Performance Degrade?)

Ever since Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean, I’ve seen quite a few complaints about price increases, removing Vultr (but you can still get it here), and people looking for alternatives.

Cloudways also scored poorly in Kevin Ohashi’s 2023 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks which explains why I’ve seen also complaints about degraded performance. Which is interesting… because Cloudways is supposed to be fast with cloud hosting, NVMe SSDs, Redis Object Cache Pro, and Cloudflare Enterprise which now supports full page caching (and Argo Smart Routing).

Needless to say, if you’re looking for alternatives, I moved to Rocket.net which costs more but averages a 100ms global TTFB with better support/TrustPilot ratings (and more hands-off). If you’re on a budget, look at ChemiCloud’s WordPress Turbo plan (which uses LiteSpeed, NVMe SSDs, and Redis). Or ServerAvatar which is similar to Cloudways but cheaper and has LiteSpeed.

If you still want to go with Cloudways, I still think they’re better than SiteGround, Kinsta, and most mainstream hosts. I’ll cover some things I’ve learned throughout the years including speed tweaks and why an ideal Cloudways setup would like something like this: Cloudways Vultr High Frequency + Cloudflare Enterprise + FlyingPress (not Breeze) + Google Workspace.

Cloudways does 3-day trials along with a free migration, and here’s a coupon for 30% off 3 months. Feel free to comment with any questions or reach out to their community manager.

 

1. Cloudways Acquired By DigitalOcean

Since Cloudways was acquired by DigitalOcean, they’ve

• Increased prices.
• Removed Vultr and other non-DO providers.
• Added full page caching to Cloudflare Enterprise.
• Had several complaints about support and billing issues.

Getting bought out usually isn’t a good thing, and it also wasn’t with Cloudways.

 

2. Little Awards In Kevin Ohashi’s 2023 Benchmarks

Even with faster technology, Cloudways didn’t perform well in Kevin Ohashi’s WordPress Hosting Benchmarks. In fact, they received hardly any rewards for tests they competed in.

Rocket.net did! But I don’t recommend SiteGround, WPX, or GreenGeeks for various reasons (mainly because of limited resources and poor ethics). You can read my other hosting reviews.

 

3. Cloudways vs. Shared Hosts

While I try to keep this as accurate as possible, hosting companies change things often and I can’t guarantee 100% accuracy. Drop me a comment if something needs updating (thank you).

Notes

• LiteSpeed is faster than Apache.
• NVMe SSDs are faster than SATA SSDs.
• MariaDB is more powerful than MySQL.
• Redis is more powerful than Memcached.

	SiteGround GrowBig	Hostinger Business WP	WPX Business Plan	ChemiCloud WordPress Turbo	Cloudways Vultr HF (2GB)
Type	Shared	Shared	Shared	Shared	Cloud
Cores/RAM	Not listed	2 cores/1.5GB	1 core/1GB	3 cores/3GB – scalable to 6/6	1 core/2GB
Server	Apache + Nginx	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	Apache + Nginx
Storage	20GB SATA	200GB SATA	15GB SATA	40GB NVMe – 10/11 locations	64G NVMe
CDN	Google Cloud	QUIC.cloud	QUIC.cloud	QUIC.cloud	Cloudflare Enterprise
DNS	Internal (blocked for 4 days)	Internal	Internal	Internal	DNS Made Easy ($5/mo)
Cache plugin	SG Optimizer	LSC	LSC or W3TC	LSC	Breeze
Object cache	Memcached	Memcached	x	Redis	Redis Pro
PHP processor	FastCGI	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	FPM
Database	MySQL	MariaDB	MariaDB	MariaDB	MariaDB
Bandwidth or monthly visits	100k visits/mo (estimated)	At discretion	200GB	Unlimited*	2TB
CPU limits	Common	Low resources	3 PHP workers	Efficient w/ LiteSpeed	Average (use at least 1 core/RAM)
Email hosting	✓	1GB storage	Low limits	✓	x
Major incidents	TTFB/DNS/CPU issues, unethical	Fake reviews, scam reports, 2019 breach	Global outage blamed on dead CEO	None	None
Migrations	$30/site	Unlimited	5-35 sites	200 cPanel + 10 non-cPanel	1 free + $25/site
TrustPilot rating	4.8/5	4.7/5 (fake)	4.9/5	5/5	4.6/5
Intro price	$3.99/mo	$3.99/mo	$20.83/mo when paying yearly	$5.99/mo	$26/mo
Renewal price	$24.99/mo	$14.99/mo	$20.83/mo	$19.95/mo	$26/mo
3 year price	$659.64	$299.40	$749.88	$215.64	$936

 
 

4. Cloudways vs. Other Cloud Hosts

As I mentioned earlier, Rocket.net is faster (you get faster PHP processing with LiteSpeed and way more cores/RAM) but it usually costs more than Cloudways due to less bandwidth/storage. You can also host multiple sites on the same Cloudways server while Rocket.net limits # of sites.

	SiteGround Cloud Jump Start Plan	WP Engine StartUp Plan	Kinsta Starter Plan	Cloudways Vultr HF (2GB)	Rocket.net Starter Plan
Type	Cloud	Cloud	Cloud	Cloud	Private cloud
Cores/RAM	4 cores/8GB	Not listed	12 cores/8GB	1 core/2GB	32 cores/128GB
Server	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx
Storage	40GB SATA	10GB SATA	10GB SATA	64GB NVMe	10GB NVMe
Cache plugin	SG Optimizer	x	x	Breeze	x
CDN	Google Cloud	Cloudflare free + Polish	Cloudflare free	$5/mo Cloudflare Enterprise	Free Cloudflare Enterprise
DNS	Internal (blocked by Google)	Internal	Amazon Route 53	DNS Made Easy ($5/mo)	Cloudflare
Object cache	Memcached	Memcached	Redis ($100/mo)	Redis Pro	Redis
PHP processor	FastCGI	HHVM	FastCGI	FPM	LiteSpeed
PHP workers	Not listed (but common issue)	Not listed (but common issue)	2 PHP workers	No limit	No limit
Memory limit	Adjustable	512MB	256MB	Adjustable	1GB
Database	MySQL	Not listed	Not listed	MariaDB	MariaDB
Nginx reverse proxy	✓	Manual configuration	$50/mo	✓	✓
Bandwidth or monthly visits	5TB	50GB + 25k visits/mo	25k visits/mo	2TB	50GB + 250k visits/mo
Email hosting	✓	x	x	x	x
Malware removal	Scanner only	x	Removal pledge	x	Imunify360
Major incidents	TTFB/DNS/CPU issues, unethical	2015 breach	None	None	None
Migrations	$30/site	Paid (quoted)	Free (most hosts)	1 free + $25/site	Unlimited free
TrustPilot rating	4.8/5	4.7/5	4.2/5	4.6/5	4.9/5
Price	$100/mo	$25/mo when paying yearly	$29/mo when paying yearly	$26/mo	$25/mo when paying yearly

 
 

5. My Results

What happened when I moved from SiteGround to Cloudways (this was in 2019):

 

6. No More CPU Issues

For example, SiteGround’s CPU limits can be a nightmare especially on their cloud hosting. I had to upgrade from GoGeek to a $120/month cloud hosting plan just to get rid of them, and $180/month to have acceptable load times. While this is a common theme with shared hosting because they use limited resources, SiteGround’s is by far the worst I’ve seen. I wrote a popular guide on reducing CPU usage in WordPress and couldn’t fix it. It’s from their low resource limits.

Once I ditched SiteGround for Cloudways, CPU usage averaged under 10%. So I scaled down CPU cores/RAM and was able to save about $100/mo. SiteGround’s cloud hosting was a ripoff.

I’m not saying Cloudways will fix everyone’s CPU limits and you have to take into account they use Apache servers (instead of LiteSpeed which can handle 2x the capacity of Apache). I’m more saying: think twice about upgrading because of CPU limits especially if it’s on SiteGround.

 

7. Monthly Pricing, Scaling Gets Expensive

Cloudways is monthly pricing (no renewals).

However, it gets expensive as you scale which is probably the biggest complaint. You’re paying about 2x the price on the Vultr HF website for everything else built-in to Cloudways. That’s why many higher traffic websites use RunCloud or CyberPanel instead which are a little more hands-on (launching servers on Cloudways can be done in a few clicks instead of provisioning servers).

Cloudways makes it easy to add CPU/RAM, but shared hosts usually trap you into 1-3 year contracts with a fixed amount of server resources. This can be an issue if your traffic grows or you add plugins/features that need more resources (which is why so many people get screwed).

 

8. Sign Up

You get 30% off 3 months when you sign up though the page they created for me, and yes, I’ll get an affiliate commission. I appreciate it if you do, otherwise no worries. Gotta be transparent.

 

9. Launch A Server

The next step is to launch a server. Select an application (WordPress or WooCommerce) and name your app/server. Select a cloud host (I recommend Vultr HF), and the server size. 1GB is fine for small sites, 2GB+ for larger/WooCommerce sites. Select the data center closest to your visitors. Cloudways has 19 data centers for Vultr HF while most shared hosts only use around 4-6, so assuming you’re able to use a closer data center, this should already help improve TTFB.

Then click Launch Now.

Vultr HF is the most popular with faster NVMe storage, higher CPU clock speeds, and 3GHz+ CPUs. You also have DigitalOcean (and DigitalOcean Premium), Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.

I don’t recommend Google Cloud since Cloudways uses the lower tier N1 machine family. SiteGround originally used N1 when they moved to Google Cloud but now uses N2. Both are for balanced workloads instead of optimized workloads. If you’re doing Google Cloud, you want C2.

 

10. Connect Your Domain

After your server is done launching, you’ll connect your domain. Cloudways doesn’t offer domain names so if you don’t have one, I recommend using Google Domains or NameCheap.

Step 1: Add your domain name under Applications → Domain Management. Add the www version as an additional domain if you want to redirect all www links to the non-www version.

Step 2: Update DNS records. In NameCheap, go to Dashboard → Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS → Add New Record.  The A Record value is the Public IP found in Access Details in Cloudways. The CNAME is your domain name. Use the same formatting as below. Here are GoDaddy’s instructions (or Google instructions for the domain registrar you’re using).

Step 3: Add free Let’s Encrypt SSL (Applications → SSL Certificate) and enable auto renewal.

Cloudways also has a video on this.

 

11. Request A Free Migration

Request a free migration (9 squares → Add-ons → Application Migration). The first migration is free then it’s $25/site which is cheaper than most hosts. I had them move my site with no issues.

Or DIY with the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin.

 

12. Cloudflare Enterprise

Cloudways has a Cloudflare Enterprise add-on for $5/mo, so here are my thoughts.

They copied Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise which is why Cloudways didn’t have full page caching (they do now) and annoying challenge pages. Several hosts have been doing “partial integrations” of Cloudflare Enterprise but leave out key features. It boils down to this… Ben Gabler (Rocket.net CEO) was the first to add this and his previous experience as StackPath’s Chief Product Officer makes me trust Rocket.net more than other hosts integrating their CDN.

Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise is free, setup automatically, and has always had full page caching (without annoying challenge pages). But out of other “mainstream hosts” I would say Cloudways has the 2nd fastest CDN above SiteGround, WPX, Kinsta, WP Engine, and the others.

	Cloudflare Free	Cloudways Cloudflare Enterprise	Rocket.net Cloudflare Enterprise
APO	$5/mo	✓	✓
Argo Smart Routing	Paid feature	✓	✓
Priority routing	x	✓	✓
Load balancing	Paid feature	✓	✓
Mirage/Polish	Requires CF Pro	✓	✓
Enterprise DDoS protection	x	✓	✓
Bandwidth	Unlimited	100GB	Determined by hosting plan
Challenge pages	Not often	Too often	Not often
Price	Free	$5/mo	Free w/ hosting

Key differences between third-party Cloudflare Enterprise services (and Cloudflare free)

Features

• Enterprise CDN – prioritized routing with CDN cache and unique IPs up to 100GBs.
• Managed WAF – includes PCI compliance with advanced bot management & mitigation.
• DDos Protection – prioritized for layers 3, 4, 7 with prioritized IP ranges and 100% SLA.
• Image Optimization – Mirage + Polish compress images, resizes them for mobile, serves them in WebP, strips EXIF data, etc. I definitely prefer this over image optimization plugins.
• Full Page Caching – Cloudways finally supports this which should significantly improve your TTFB in multiple worldwide locations when testing your site in tools like SpeedVitals.
• Argo + Tiered Cache – routes your traffic through the fastest Cloudflare network paths.
• Global load balancing – creates a failover so traffic is re-routed from unhealthy origin servers to healthier origins. This can reduce things like latency, TLS, and general errors.
• HTTP/3 access – you still get HTTP/3 when using the CF Enterprise add-on on Cloudways.

Setup Instructions

Cloudways has a guide on this.

 

13. Redis Object Cache Pro

Redis Object Cache Pro is especially good for speeding up WooCommerce/dynamic websites (Redis is more powerful than Memcached especially with Redis Pro’s relay integration). This is free on Cloudways and can be enabled under Servers → Settings & Packages → Packages → Install Redis. Cloudways will install Redis as a drop-in plugin in your WordPress plugins menu.

This table is found on objectcache.pro.

	W3 Total Cache	LiteSpeed Cache	WP Redis	Redis Object Cache	Object Cache Pro
Performance
Batch Prefetching	x	x	x	x	✓
Data compression	x	x	x	x	✓
Cache priming	x	x	x	x	✓
Asynchronous flushing	x	x	x	✓	✓
Features
Cache Analytics	x	x	x	✓	✓
Secure connections	x	x	x	✓	✓
Highly customizable	x	x	x	x	✓
Logging support	x	x	x	x	✓
Cluster support	x	x	x	✓	✓
Replication support	x	x	x	✓	✓
Reliability
Mitigates race conditions	x	x	x	x	✓
Extensively unit tested	x	x	x	x	✓
Integrations
WooCommerce optimized	x	x	x	x	✓
Query Monitor integration	x	x	x	Basic	Advanced
WP CLI integration	Basic	x	Basic	Basic	Advanced
Site Health checks	x	x	x	x	✓
Batcache compatible	x	x	x	✓	✓
Relay integration	x	x	x	x	✓

 
 

14. Use FlyingPress, Not Breeze

Cloudways made improvements to Breeze, but I still recommend FlyingPress.

It just does a better job addressing core web vitals. Compared to WP Rocket, FlyingPress has more features and it also optimizes for real-world browsing better. For example, Perfmatters agrees that when removing unused CSS, loading the used CSS in a separate file is faster for real visitors while inline is better for “scores.” Things that may seem small can make a big difference.

	Breeze	WP Rocket	FlyingPress
Remove unused CSS	x	Inline	Separate file
Critical CSS	x	✓	✓
Bloat removal	x	x	✓
Host fonts locally	x	x	✓
Preload images	x	x	✓
Lazy load background images	x	Inline HTML	lazy-bg class
Exclude images from lazy load	x	By number	By number
YouTube iframe preview image	x	✓	✓
Self-host YouTube placeholder	x	x	✓
Add missing image dimensions	x	✓	✓
Lazy render HTML elements	x	x	✓
Scheduled database cleanups	x	✓	✓
Frequent new features	x	x	✓
Documentation	Needs more detail	Detailed	Needs more detail
Price	Free	$59/year	$60/year
Renewal price	Free	$59/year	$42/year
Facebook group	Cloudways Users	WP Rocket Users	FlyingPress

 
 

15. More Cloudways Optimizations

Here are a few other optimizations you can make on Cloudways. These can depend on whether your site is WooCommerce or low/high traffic. Cloudways also has quite a bit of documentation.

• Use PHP 8.0+.
• Use MariaDB 10.4.
• Use a 512MB memory limit or higher.
• Activate Redis add-on (see previous step).
• Use FlyingPress instead of Breeze (see previous step).
• Configure Varnish rules to exclude URLs/cookies if needed.
• Activate Varnish add-on (specifically good for eCommerce sites).
• Increase PHP-FPM memory limit from 32M (mine was set to 1024M).
• Schedule backups during non-peak hours if you’re using Cloudways for backups.
• Use Cloudflare’s DNS (see dnsperf.com). Not related to Cloudways, but important.
• Replace wp-cron with a real cron job (use code below or see Cloudways instructions).
• Use error logs to find bad bots, URL requests, status code errors, slow pages/queries.
• max_execution_time: 30-60s, max_input_time: 60s, max_input_vars: 1000 (what I used).

This is the code for adding a cron job (remember to disable wp-cron beforehand). This can specifically help reduce CPU usage by preventing wp-cron from loading on every pageview.

*/5 * * * * wget -q -O - 'https://wordpress-413270-1299955.cloudwaysapps.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron

 

16. Support Isn’t Great

Support is definitely what I see the most complaints about.

This can range from billing confusions to flat out poor support. I can honestly say Cloudways support has been fine for me, but it’s not like what you’d get with Rocket.net and ChemiCloud.

One thing I suggest (especially if you’re new) is to reach out to their community manager Muhammed Moeez if you have pre-sales questions. Before I moved, I reached out to them on Facebook so I could have peace of mind more than anything. They also have a Facebook group.

 

17. No Email Hosting

Keeping web/email hosting separate is a good thing (besides price) since emails take up inodes/files. You also want resources to only be dedicated to hosting your website and not email. Plus, if you decide to switch hosts, you don’t have to switch emails which can be a pain.

Cloudways only offers Rackspace for $1/email per month but I use Google Workspace (Cloudflare also started offering free email addresses). I’ve never used Rackspace so I can’t comment on whether it’s good vs. bad or setting it up. I’ve always preferred Google Workspace.

 

18. You’ll Want A Separate Backup Plugin

I also recommend a third-party backup plugins service like UpdraftPlus or ManageWP.

Cloudways also charges $.033/GB for local backups which can be downloaded via SSH/SFTP, but they only provide 1 copy of the latest backup. And while I’ve never had a problem, I have heard a few horror stories of backups getting deleted, etc. Regardless of your host, it’s always a good idea to have off-site backups by a third-party service so your eggs aren’t all in one basket.

 

19. File Manager Workaround

Cloudways doesn’t have a file manager, but they do have SFTP.

Also, thanks to Roger for pointing out a workaround in the comments for people coming from cPanel. Since Cloudways doesn’t have a file manager, you can download and upload Tiny File Manager via SFTP which gives you access to functions like Zip, Unzip, Create, Delete, Modify, View, Quick Preview, Download, Copy, and Move files (see more features on the GitHub page).

 

20. Navigating The Dashboard

Sign up for a Cloudways demo if you want to check out the dashboard.

The Server tab is where you can change settings for Redis, Varnish, PHP version, MariaDB, memory limit, backups, scale your server, configure SMTP, and monitor CPU/RAM/DISK usage.

The Application tab has your WordPress login details and lets you create staging sites, monitor traffic + errors logs, add domains, configure SSL, manage cron jobs, restore backups or take one on-demand, and tweak Application settings (Varnish, WebP, XML-RPC, PHP-FPM, Varnish, etc).

 

21. Pros & Cons

 

22. More Migration Results

Other people who moved to Cloudways and posted results:

 

23. Alternatives: Rocket.net, ChemiCloud, ServerAvatar

Rocket.net – beats Cloudways in performance, support, and ease of use (but can also cost more). Feel free to test my global TTFB in KeyCDN or SpeedVitals. The “correct” way is to run about 3 tests to ensure resources are cached and served from your CDN’s closest data center.

ChemiCloud – the best shared host out there IMO without the pesky CPU limits you get with SiteGround and other hosts. Great for small-medium sites, but they also have good VPS options.

ServerAvatar – similar to Cloudways where you use a control panel to connect and manage servers, but lacks several features you get with other hosts (Cloudflare Enterprise for example).

Do you think Cloudways is still worth it? Need help choosing a host? Lmk in the comments.

Cheers,
Tom