Cloudways Review (2025): The "Cloud VPS" Platform That Changes EVERYTHING?
Cloudways isn't a typical hosting company. They offer a powerful platform that lets you deploy servers from top cloud providers like Vultr and DigitalOcean, but with expert management. Is this the future of hosting?
Overall Rating
Cloudways: The Unfiltered Pros & Cons
The Game-Changing Features
- Freedom of Choice: Choose from 5 top cloud providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, etc.).
- Elite Performance Stack: Optimized servers with Varnish, Redis, and Nginx out of the box.
- Powerful Custom Panel: An incredible control panel for managing servers and applications.
- Pay-As-You-Go Pricing: Flexible monthly or hourly billing with no long-term contracts.
- Advanced Developer Tools: Staging, server cloning, and team collaboration features.
The Catches
- No Email Hosting: You'll need a separate service like Google Workspace for email.
- No cPanel: Their custom panel is amazing, but there's no cPanel option.
- Support Can Cost Extra: Advanced support and server customization come at a premium.
- Slight Learning Curve: More complex than traditional shared hosting.
Performance Test: A League of Its Own?
We tested a 2GB Vultr High-Frequency server through Cloudways. The results were breathtaking. With their "ThunderStack" (Nginx, Varnish, Redis, Memcached) and their Breeze caching plugin, our WordPress site achieved a TTFB under 150ms. It handled extreme load testing without any issues. This isn't just fast—it's enterprise-grade performance made accessible to everyone.
Dashboard & Control Panel
The Cloudways Platform is a masterclass in design. It separates server management from application management, making it incredibly intuitive. You can launch servers, clone apps, create staging sites, and monitor resources all from one clean, powerful interface. It's a significant upgrade from the complexity of cPanel or a raw command line.
Pricing (Example: Vultr High Frequency)
| Plan | RAM | CPU Cores | NVMe Storage | Price/Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 Core | 32 GB | $13.00 |
| 2 GB (Best Value) | 2 GB | 1 Core | 64 GB | $26.00 |
| 4 GB | 4 GB | 2 Cores | 128 GB | $50.00 |
| 8 GB | 8 GB | 4 Cores | 256 GB | $100.00 |
Cloudways vs. The Competition
| Feature | Cloudways | KnownHost (Managed) | Vultr (Unmanaged) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management Level | Fully Managed Platform | Fully Managed Server | Unmanaged |
| Choice of Provider | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ (Is the provider) |
| Control Panel | Custom Platform | cPanel | None |
| Pay-As-You-Go | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Target Audience | Agencies/Developers | Businesses | Developers |
Final Verdict: Does Cloudways Change Everything?
Yes, it absolutely does. Choose Cloudways if...
You are a serious user, agency, or developer who wants the raw power of cloud hosting without the complexity of managing it yourself. If you value flexibility, scalability, and top-tier performance above all else, Cloudways provides a revolutionary platform that represents the future of web hosting. It's the ultimate combination of power and simplicity.
