Let’s say that you started blogging using a hosting provider that you are not happy with.
Now you feel like using a cloud hosting provider and you are considering Cloudways to help you do that.
The only problem is that you are a beginner and you don’t know much about migrations, server creation, and server maintenance.
Can you migrate your site to Cloudways and let your site live happily ever after there?
Let’s find out
Table of Contents
Can a Beginner Use Cloudways?
There are many cloud panels that advanced users feel very comfortable with but the most friendly for people who don’t want to get that involved in hosting-related matters is Cloudways.
You need to create an account on Vultr, Linode, Digital Ocean, Amazon AWS or Google Cloud like these other require.
So I would say that using Cloudways tend to be sort easy, even for those who care more about publishing side of things.
What Server Should I choose?
The server you choose depends on your site needs, you can choose one of the five cloud hosting providers.
AWS and Google Cloud tend to be more expensive than the other options available.
I have been using Digital Ocean since I started on Cloudways and I haven’t considered the other available options since my sites get the benefits of using Cloudflare Free Tier.
The location of your server should be one that it is close to your website visitors.
The difference between standard and premium is a few dollar so choose one or the other without a problem.
How Many Pageviews can a Server Handle?
One of the major questions before migrating my sites to Cloudways was the number of page views that a server can handle.
I searched for answer to this question and the answer comes down to “it depends”
It depends on several factors and one of them is caching.
Let me give you a secret so this concern doesn’t prevent you from using Cloudways
Use a CDN so your server doesn’t do the heavy lifting.
I use CloudFlare Full Page Caching or CloudFlare APO.
CloudFlare APO is definitely better and it is only $5 a month and your content will be served from CloudFlare servers instead of your server.
If you don’t want to express an extra $5, you can implement CloudFlare Full Page Caching using Page Rules.
Also you can try Super Page Cache for Cloudflare to handle caching at the application level and the CDN level easily
This recommendation is the one that makes having several sites hosted on the cheapest Cloudways plan a possibility.
If you implement caching at the CDN level, you don’t have to think about page views, if you don’t, you probably have to move a higher plan
Concerns about the Pricing
Some user have concerns about the pricing model when they read about “pay as you go” and think that it is sort of impossible to know how much you will be charged at the end of the month.
That’s not what “pay as you go” means.
Increases or reductions in prices are linked to creating additional servers or scaling your server.
If you have one server and create an additional for testing purposes and delete it after two weeks, you will be charged what you always have been charged for your main server and you will be charged for the two weeks you keep the second one.
So you don’t get charged for the whole month if you only use a server for two days, two weeks.
I used to pay $11 and now that I got a better server and after a little price increase, I am paying $15
Cloudways Security
As long as you keep Wordpress, plugins and theme updated and follow some of these recommendations, your site or sites will be fine
If you take my advice and add your site to CloudFlare to get the benefits of CDN caching, you will be able to secure your site using Free Firewall Rules
Besides that Cloudways makes backups and you can make your own backups.
I use All-in-One WP Migration to make backups once a month or every time a site goes through a major update.
Cloudways Customer Service
I like Cloudways customer service, they will do their best to fix problems related to the Cloudways platform.
They can do small fixes for you or suggest the action you can take to fix your problem.
Keep one thing in mind, Cloudways support won’t solve problems you, your plugins, and your theme cause.
You can’t seriously expect to have a developer 24/7 ready to do work for you for $15 a month.
My recommendation is to make backups after running updates or making big changes to your site. If something breaks, you can reverse those changes back.
Final Thoughts
I moved from WordPress.com to Cloudways like three years ago and I haven’t considered hosting my sites elsewhere.
I use Cloudways, I recommend Cloudways, you can host several sites in one server if you follow some of the advice included here
If you can afford a managed WordPress hosting provider like Kinsta, WPEngine, Flywheel, or Pressable, try that instead, they will hold your hand so you can focus on whatever you are doing with your sites.
If you want to have more control over the server, the number of sites you install and take advantage of complementary services, you should try Cloudways.
