Introduction
Cloudways vs Siteground Review
Cloudways and SiteGround are the two web hosts we recommend for our clients and both have their inherent pros and cons as we shall soon see.
This comparison has been broken up into six key areas which you can navigate to below and using the table of contents sidebar to the right.
Our conclusion to this Cloudways vs Siteground comparison will solve any niggling questions you may have before signing up to one of these companies.
Cloudways Overview
If you are looking for the best servers for WordPress performance then you have only one choice – Cloudways. Not only will your website be fast for your clients but also for you when editing and managing your website in the dashboard. This is one of those things that doesn’t get enough air time when comparing website hosting on WordPress.
Every one talks about how fast your website loads for visitors which is necessary and good BUT you are the person who will be using your website the most. The place you will be doing this is in the WordPress dashboard and virtually all hosts are notoriously slow in handling this area. It is not uncommon to wait up to a minute just to switch between pages and posts especially if you have a lot of plugins or an older “bloated” website.
And those database optimization plugins are not the answer! You need a fast server.
Specifically a fast server with Redis object caching which is basically caching for your WP dashboard. So with Cloudways they have a server option called “Vultr High Frequency” and when combined with the free Redis object cache add-on which is activated with one click in Cloudways you will be blown away by how much faster you can manage your website.
This in our opinion is the biggest reason to go with Cloudways.
And the fact that you can get a Vultr High Frequency server for as little as $13 per month makes it an absolute no-brainer recommendation and it’s what we use ourselves (the $26 p/m option with more RAM and space) for all our websites.
But there is still one reason to consider going with SiteGround which we will discuss next.
SiteGround Overview
If you are just starting out with WordPress we would steer you towards SiteGround first over Cloudways. For one simple reason SiteGround are going to support you more.
Cloudways as excellent as they are, don’t provide the same level of support as SiteGround – in fact nowhere near. They expect their clients to be a full stack developer for some reason every time they answer. This is not the experience you want with your first website I can assure you.
That being said both companies have a live chat option and answer questions professionally and speedily but Cloudways always will give you a more technical answer expecting you to manage your own WordPress install. So if for example, you install a plugin and it causes a fatal conflict, they will tell you what happened but then expect you to fix it yourself.
To be fair to Cloudways you will sometimes get a support agent who goes the extra mile.
But with SiteGound there is no second guessing needed. If you break something they are more likely to fix it for you and it’s for this reason ONLY that we still recommend SiteGround for new website owners.
It’s a more hassle free experience and they often have fantastic deals for up to a three year period (often for around $4 per month). But after that three year period the price goes up significantly to more than the $13 price tag of Cloudways.
Pros and Cons
Cloudways Pros
SiteGround Pros
Cloudways Cons
SiteGround Cons
App Scores
01.
Ease of Use
80%
02.
Features
100%
03.
Pricing
100%
04.
Support
70%
Cloudways Score Notes
Cloudways is only marked down on “Ease of use” and “Support” compared to SiteGround who offer a beginner friendly service and are often willing to fix issues you caused on your own website.
Cloudways is also marked down on “Ease of use” for not including email hosting and domain name which are extra steps for the user to complete.
01.
Ease of Use
100%
02.
Features
85%
03.
Pricing
80%
04.
Support
100%
SiteGround Score Notes:
SiteGround is only marked down on “Features” as compared to Cloudways and for “Pricing” because after the promotional period that you choose (either 1, 2 or 3 years) the price goes up considerably and is actually more expensive than the starter Cloudways server.
Conclusion
Cloudways vs Siteground Conclusion
When choosing between these two hosting companies you are going to get a few things.
- Great pricing for quality servers
- Responsive support team
- A fast and enjoyable website experience for your website visitors
- Proprietary caching plugins designed to get the most out of each server
However, if you are looking for the best support and need more support for your website then SiteGround is the clear winner.
If however you want the best of the best and are willing to get your hands a little dirty and/or have a developer on staff then there is no doubt that Cloudways is the best WordPress hosting on the planet right now. It beats considerably more expensive options like Kinsta and WP Engine in every metric right now.
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