If you are looking to manage websites and web applications, plenty of hosting platforms are available. Most options, however, can be restrictive in terms of features, flexibility and choice of infrastructure.
Cloudways aims to provide the versatility and advanced functionality lacking in other solutions. This article covers 10 compelling reasons why Cloudways stands out as a managed hosting provider.
1. Choice of Leading Cloud Infrastructure Providers
A major advantage Cloudways offers is the ability to select from top infrastructure providers, including:
- AWS
- Google Cloud
- DigitalOcean
- Linode
- Vultr
This range of options is unique in managed hosting platforms. It means you can match your hosting infrastructure to your specific needs.
For instance, if budget is a primary concern, affordable platforms like DigitalOcean, Linode and Vultr are great choices. Those needing high performance support massive scale can leverage Google Cloud or AWS.
Beyond cost savings, the ability to easily switch between providers is invaluable. You can seamlessly migrate infrastructures until settling on an ideal long-term solution. This flexibility simply isn‘t available through most other managed providers.
2. Intuitive Interface with Advanced Controls
Ease of use is expected from managed hosting solutions. Cloudways delivers through its intuitive control panel interface. It allows even non-technical users to handle routine hosting tasks with minimal learning curve.
At the same time, the interface provides deep access to advanced infrastructure controls. Technical users have the granular functionality they need without compromising usability.
Some examples of what is manageable directly through the Cloudways interface:
- Server scaling, optimization and analytics
- Application installation, configuration and monitoring
- User and permission controls
- Backups, clones and migrations
- DNS and SSL certificate management
Being able to handle these complex tasks through a simple dashboard is a major perk.
3. High Performance Out of the Box
A key value proposition of managed hosting is optimized performance straight out of the box. Cloudways configures and fine tunes its stack to deliver fast, reliable infrastructure for any application.
For example, Cloudways offers up to 200% faster PHP response times compared to unoptimized LEMP stacks. Caching and content delivery network integration further boost speed for sites running on Cloudways.
While performance is highly optimized by default, Cloudways still provides the ability to customize based on your needs. You can implement additional caching layers, enable HTTP/2, tweak database variables and more for incremental improvements.
4. Robust Collaboration Tools
Managing any infrastructure inevitably involves teams and collaboration. Cloudways includes a full suite of features facilitating cooperation across users and projects.
It enables creating users with customized roles and permissions. So you can add team members to help manage your infrastructure without worrying about accidental disruption.
User groups and permission presets make organizing teams simple even for large accounts or agencies with many clients. Granular access controls are available for both server-level and account-billing permissions.
Finally, creating projects allows grouping multiple servers or sites together. You can assign users and permissions at the project level for easy centralized management.
5. Support for a Wide Range of PHP Applications
Cloudways is built to host PHP-based web applications beyond just WordPress. The platform supports hosting popular PHP software including:
- Magento
- Laravel
- Drupal
- Moodle
- Tpyo3
- Kontent
Installing these applications is streamlined through one-click installers and optimization guides.
Of course, hosting custom PHP apps developed in-house orthird-party is also fully supported. The backend stack and optimizations provided out-of-the-box make Cloudways an ideal host for LAMP/LEMP-based solutions.
6. Server Cloning and Staging Functionality
To facilitate scaling infrastructure, Cloudways enables full server cloning with one click. You can duplicate existing servers, including all data and configurations, to create new nodes ready for production.
This helps tremendously when migrating across regions or cloud providers offered through the platform. You don‘t waste time recreating infra – just clone and redirect traffic.
Cloning also enables seamlessly creating staging environments. Make an exact copy of your production stack to test updates or modifications safely, without customer-impacting downtime.
7. Comprehensive Backup and Restore Capabilities
Data protection is non-negotiable for production infrastructure. Cloudways provides reliable backup and restore tools for disaster recovery.
Backups run daily by default, with a one week retention policy before being overwritten. You can configure these settings as needed – increasing frequency or retention as desired. The backup process is optimized to minimize server resource impact.
Restoring data from either the default backup stream or manually-created recovery points takes only a few clicks. For additional protection, backups can be downloaded locally or integrated with third-party storage services.
8. Hassle-Free Migration Services
Migrating websites or applications into Cloudways is made seamless courtesy of included migration services.
Every new customer receives one free full migration performed by Cloudways technical staff. The process copies over all files, databases and configurations to minimize transition difficulties.
If moving multiple sites, additional migrations can be purchased individually. Cloudways also provides custom plugins to facilitate self-service transfers of WordPress sites.
Between the free migration allowance and tools provided, getting up and running on Cloudways is frictionless.
9. Exceptional 24/7 Support
Even with extensive automation and optimization, managed hosting solutions live and die by their support capabilities.
Cloudways provides 24/7 customer support with very impressive response times. Standard requests usually receive replies within minutes, along with proactive resolution.
For more advanced or urgent issues, premium support options are available. These add services like technical troubleshooting, priority issue escalation and dedicated Cloudways representatives.
The quality and responsiveness across support tiers is a major plus compared to competing platforms.
10. Extensive Documentation and Resources
Finally, Cloudways offers simply exceptional learning resources covering platform capabilities, best practices, and technical guidance.
The searchable knowledge base and community forum quickly provide answers for most questions without opening a support ticket. Walkthroughs of editing server settings, optimizing caching, configuring backups and more are available.
For new users, the documentation also covers core concepts to learn the platform. Experienced DevOps engineers have references for adapting infrastructure to custom stack requirements.
The transparent, readily accessible resources minimize friction adopting Cloudways and empower customers to unlock its full potential.
As covered across the 10 reasons outlined, Cloudways delivers an uniquely feature-packed managed hosting solution. It brings together ease of use, flexibility, high performance and choice lacking in alternatives.
Both technical and non-technical users are empowered to manageinfrastructure housing web apps including WordPress, Magento and custom PHP solutions. Seamless migration services and stellar 24/7 support facilitate getting started.
For the versatility to match infrastructure decisions to needs instead of the other way around, Cloudways is an exceptional option worth strong consideration.
