Cloud-based web hosting services are now common, but Cloudways does several interesting things with its cloud hosting that makes it stand call in a growing field. It allows you to select from one among five platforms, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, offers wallet-friendly pay-as-you-go plans, and even allows you to check-in for an attempt run without whipping out a MasterCard. The shine is dulled a touch by its lack of amenities, like domain registration and included email. Still, this excellent cloud hosting service is well worth considering.
Getting Started
Unlike most other web hosting services, Cloudways allows you to build a site without spending a dime. you’ll check-in for a three-day trial account by creating a username and password, or logging in using either Github, Google, or LinkedIn credentials, which may be a nice touch. After you’ve logged in, you’re tasked with selecting a content management system (CMS) from several popular and revered sources, including Drupal, Joomla, Koken, Magento, Media Wiki, PHP Stack, Prestashop, and, of course, WordPress. there is a lot of flexibility on display here.
This flexibility extends to the server selection, too, as you’ll build a site atop one among several infrastructure-as-a-service solutions, including Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud Platform, Linode, Stackpath, and Vultr. you furthermore may pick one among several server locations scattered around the country.
Cloud Hosting Plans
Cloudways leverages the resources of several clustered servers to balance your website load; it doesn’t dabble within the least in the traditional shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans. Instead, the corporate offers several pay-as-you-go, hourly cloud hosting packages that only charge you for the quantity of your time you’ve used. for instance, if you cancel an idea while 10 days into a month, you will only be charged for 10 days’ worth of hosting. Hosts just like the Editors’ Choice award-winning DreamHost and HostGator bill you for the whole month, albeit you cancel just every week into the cycle. Cloudways offers traditional monthly billing, too.
The monthly web hosting plans start at $10 (for 25GB of storage, 1TB of monthly data transfers, 1GB of RAM, and a single-core processor) and scale upward to $1,035 (for 3840GB of storage, 12TB of month data transfers, 192GB of RAM, and a 32-core processor.) The high-end offering outclasses many web hosts’ most powerful dedicated server plans. In fact, Cloudways’ top-level specs have more in common with the SMB-friendly Liquid Web, which allows you to outfit a server with a wild 512GB of RAM. If you favor hourly billing, the aforementioned plans start at just over $0.01 and proportion to slightly quite $1.43.
E-Commerce and Security
Cloudways’ app library has many e-commerce tools, including the favored Magento and Prestashop platforms. I used Magento to make a beautiful store in only a couple of minutes by dragging and dropping website elements.
In terms of security, as a managed cloud hosting platform, Cloudways engineers safeguard your installation from attacks by releasing regular OS and firmware upgrades. additionally, Cloudways offers free Secure Socket Layer ( SSL) certificates, which should be considered essential data protection if you propose to sell the product. additionally, the recommended Rackspace email comes with Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication technology for added security.
Building an internet site
Cloudways might not possess a number of the standard web hosting elements, but building a site may be a fairly straightforward affair. WordPress was my CMS of choice in testing, and therefore the service created a server in only seven minutes. I logged in with my Cloudways credentials, selected a topic, tweaked how pages and posts appeared, and added images. it had been an easy experience.
This particular WordPress flavor is of the managed variety, so your installation receives the white-glove treatment by auto-updating the CMS, performing automatic daily backups, and providing real-time site monitoring and WordPress-specific security. Cloudways also has useful one-click cloning (so you’ll quickly create duplicates of your apps and servers) and staging areas (so you’ll test website elements without placing them to survive your site).
Cloudways lets customers separately monitor the applications hosted on a server. This application-level monitoring has two sections: Analytics and Logs. Analytics displays traffic information, PHP requests, MySQL requests, and Disk Usage. Logs, on the opposite hand, show your website’s access log and error log.
Excellent Uptime
Website uptime is one of the foremost important aspects of a hosting service. While your site is down, clients or customers are unable to seek out you or access your products or services and they could not come. That’s why I’m happy to report that Cloudways offers excellent uptime.
For this testing, I used a website monitoring tool to trace my Cloudways-hosted test site’s uptime. Every quarter-hour, the tool pings my website and sends me an email if it’s unable to contact the location for an extended than one minute. I check out the info for the foremost recent 30 days for every site’s review. In my latest tests, Cloudways proved very stable. In fact, it didn’t go down once.
Customer Service
Cloudways offers 24/7 customer service, so you will be ready to reach someone round the clock. there is a catch, though, if you would like to speak to a person’s being. you want to fill out a form to request a phone or Skype call.
You also have the choice to talk with a customer service representative via webchat. That way, you’ll immediately get answers. I never waited quite a couple of seconds before a Cloudways rep fielded one among my chat questions. The team is sort of knowledgeable, too. The members fed me accurate information about the differences between cloud hosting and traditional hosting and therefore the company’s payment structure. I also received an infrastructure-as-a-service primer.
Cloudways refund policy is not the typical 30-, 60-, or 90-day refund guarantee that you simply find with most other web hosts. In fact, the structure is so detailed that Cloudways’ customer service team simply referred me to the present link. it is a lot to digest.
An Excellent, Focused Web Host
There’s a lot to love about Cloudways. The service has flexible cloud hosting plans, fast setup times, top-notch web-based customer support, and excellent uptime. it is a company you’ll calculate to stay your site up and running to services that provide those items. Additionally, some people won’t just like the odd way of getting a customer service rep on the phone. If those caveats aren’t dealbreakers, however, give Cloudways an opportunity. you’ll find it offers just what you would like to urge and keep your website online.
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