Cloudways Vs WPEngine – Which Managed WordPress Hosting Is Right For You?

Are you struggling to choose the best managed cloud hosting? Cloudways Vs WP Engine – Which hosting service is good for your business website?

To answer this question, I will compare both hosting providers based on their performance, speed, customer support, and other factors. I can compare their features better because we use both Cloudways and WP Engine!

So you will get a clear idea about both hosting providers and choose the right one for yourself.

However, before I go ahead and continue with the Cloudways Vs WPEngine comparison, you should know that whatever I am going to share is my personal views and experiences. It might not match what is already available on the internet and what other people are saying.

If you don’t want to read the in-depth content and look for a quick comparison, here you go!

Now, we head to the topic in detail

Cloudways Or WP Engine – Which Is the Best Hosting For WordPress?

Both the managed hosting biggies offer exceptional service, so it would be the most challenging task for the site owners to pick between them.

I’m sharing my experiences with both hosting giants to clarify things. Get into the war!

1. Speed

Loading speed is a significant factor in choosing a hosting service. As it enhances the user experience, Google uses loading speed as one of its ranking factors. So, when serious about SEO, you have to invest in super-fast web hosting.

Cloudways

When it comes to speed, Cloudways offers you high performance. The company has implemented some industry-leading technologies backed by reliable yet robust servers. All this enables you to enjoy high speed.

Also, here is a quick look at what technologies you get with this managed cloud hosting:

• SSD-Based Hosting: It comes with SSD-based, 3x faster hosting. Also, it helps in reducing the page load times for your business site.
• Built-In Advanced Caches: It has built-in advanced caches like Memcached, Varnish, Nginx, and Redis. So it can deliver a faster response rate. It is easy to clear the cache.
• PHP 7: It only has PHP 7-related servers. Plus, as you probably know that PHP8 is fast when compared to all the older versions.
• HTTP/2 Enabled: The servers are HTTP/2 enabled, which reduces the communication time between the web servers and clients.
• Cloudflare Partnership: Cloudways offers CDN services through a partnership with Cloudflare. It recently introduced an Edge page Cache for faster website loading.

Check the speed performance of my blog, which is hosted on the Cloudways HF Vultr server!

WP Engine

WP Engine also offers you great speed. Thanks to their WordPress digital experience platform, enjoy the pleasant, reliable architecture that delivers excellent speed, scalability, and security for your online assets.

The servers of this managed cloud hosting provider are PHP 7.4 ready and come with a global CDN. Because of this, your business site will load faster from anywhere across the world. It also boasts SSD hosting, which is faster than HDD hosting and is backed by powerful servers.

Here is how the hosting service performed in our test:

Winner – Cloudways

Reason

Their servers are optimized for high-speed performance. They care more about site loading speed and offer the features mentioned above to their users. I’m delighted about the speed achievements of Cloudways.

2. Performance (Uptime)

If hosting is not offering you excellent uptime, your website will lose visitors. It will directly hurt your business. So the question is, which hosting company offers you the best uptime? Let me share my experience!

Cloudways

The best part of Cloudways is that a reliable cloud-based system supports them. And to deliver this, they have partnered with the leading cloud providers in the industry.

Moreover, they use a cluster of nodes powered by the Google Cloud Platform to offer you ultimate uptime. If there is an issue, another cluster mode will get activated, so the website will not face any downtime.

My blog’s uptime score is 100% at all times! Look at the unfailing performance!

WP Engine

WP Engine guarantees to offer you an uptime rate of 99.95%. My niche blog hosted on this cloud provider was down for a few minutes. However, WP Engine says you could apply for credit towards your monthly fee when you do not get the promised uptime.

Along with that, WP Engine regularly looks for downtimes. They monitor the front end and the back end of your blog or business site for downtime. And if there is an issue, the company quickly takes action to fix it.

Last month, we faced a downtime issue. Look at the report!

Winner – Cloudways

Reason

You can see the steadfast uptime score of this cloud provider; I’m glad about it! They are executing marvelous tasks for site availability; you don’t need to worry about your site performance.

3. WordPress Optimized Features

WordPress is not a CMS for blogging, but it powers 33% of websites. Thanks to its functionalities and easy-to-use nature. Digital entrepreneurs, online marketers, and bloggers use WordPress to build websites. Let’s go ahead and see which server has excellent features for WordPress users.

Cloudways

• Free WordPress Cache Plugin: You will get Breeze, a free WordPress cache plugin to improve your WordPress website’s performance.
• Auto-Healing Managed Cloud Servers: It has auto-healing servers. So if the server faces any issues, it will get automatically healed, and the site will not crash.
• Launch 10+ Apps Through 1-Click: This feature is useful for an agency. Through this remarkable feature, you can deploy several WordPress sites on a single server with just one click.
• WP Migrator Plugin: You also get access to the WP Migrator Plugin. So, when you decide to migrate from another hosting server, this plugin can be used to migrate your blog or site with no hassle.

WP Engine

• Evercache Technology: A Cache system for faster loading times. You don’t need to install any other third-party plugin for speed optimization.
• StudioPress Themes: With WP Engine, 35+ StudioPress premium themes are available. Design your website with a great look.
• Global CDN: With the free Global CDN from Cloudflare Enterprise, your site will load faster.

Champion – WP Engine

Verdict 

WP Engine hosting is meant to help WordPress users grow their business. So, you will receive a premium managed experience without needing to worry about the backend infrastructure.

4. CDN

CDN creates a copy of your website and stores it on its server. So whenever a visitor comes to your website, it delivers the copied page from its nearest server. So the visitor will get quick-loading pages.

Cloudways

CloudwaysCDN is a powerful yet straightforward server that offers you excellent performance. It is simple to get started and implement with just a few clicks.

WP Engine

The excellent part of WP Engine is that it does not charge you anything, making it easier to load your website fast. For all the plans, CDN is included by default for all environments. And for premium & enterprise plans, the first 1000 GB/mo is free.

Note: Apart from these two CDN programs, you can try other CDN networks like Cloudflare, Google Cloud CDN, etc.

Winner – Cloudways

Verdict

You might wonder why I’m picking this cloud provider as the winner, as it charges for CDN. Because its pricing plans are cheap, you must pay for CDN usage. Moreover, the integration is simple and can be done by yourself. WP Engine has expensive plans, so they offer the CDN for free.

5. Backup & Security

When it comes to data protection and restoring the files during a malicious attack or intrusion, which hosting will save your website?

Cloudways

Backup

With this cloud hosting provider, automated or on-demand backups will be provided. The backups are created offshore; you may restore them anytime with just one click. Also, it is possible to take automated hourly and timely backups free of cost. However, you must pay $0.50 per GB to keep your backup offshore.

Security

In Cloudways, you get a managed cloud server. Also, they regularly do security patching and have implemented an OS-level firewall. So it can prevent malicious traffic. Also, you get other features like two-factor authentication, 1-click free SSL, IP whitelisting, and so on.

WP Engine

Backup

WP Engine also performs daily backups on your digital experience; stay relaxed if your site faces any issues. Also, the backups are available free of cost.

Security

To offer you ultimate security, WP Engine also takes strong security measures. It will allow you to develop and operate your websites in a secure environment. It also offers features like disk write protection and limitation, proprietary firewall, user enumeration, etc.

Winner – WP Engine

Verdict

WP Engine is doing great regarding data protection and file storage. Since they know the importance of saving files safely from intruders, they boast tight security features and flexible backup options. However, Cloudways charges you for offering the backup.

6. User Interface (How Easy The Settings Are)

Cloudways

Cloudways provides an advanced control panel and does not have a traditional dashboard. So you will easily be able to manage your web hosting and website. All the features are available under a single dashboard and are easy to use.

WP Engine

WP Engine also has an advanced dashboard filled with features. Over here, your SFTP login details can be viewed and accessed in your database, creating new sites and environments. As well as you will discover and manage other information and settings.

Champion – Both

Verdict

The dashboard preferences of the two giants are precise and self-explanatory. Even a newbie can play settings like a Pro. Both interfaces give you great comfort in setting up things.

7. Free Trial

Cloudways

Cloudways offers you a free trial without a credit card. However, the only drawback is that the trial is available only for three days. I would say that this managed cloud hosting is worth trying!

WP Engine

WP Engine does not offer you any trial. But it provides you with a 60-day money-back guarantee. So if you don’t like their service, ask for a refund.

Winner – Cloudways

Reason

Free trial allows you to start using the service through the user interface, and you can evaluate the comfort of using the settings preferences. You may upgrade the service when fulfilled with ease of use and features.

8. Customer Support

Whenever you have trouble, technical support will help you fix the problems. So, before you purchase any web hosting plan from any company, check their tech support.

Cloudways

Cloudways support is exceptional! Their service is available 24/7, and they respond to your support tickets as quickly as possible. There are three types of support available: standard help, advanced support, and premium support.

And among them, standard support is free to use and accessible through live chat and ticket systems. However, the other two come with a price tag, and the premium plan only supports a 24/7/365 Private Slack channel & phone support.

WP Engine

WP Engine also offers you 24/7/365 customer support. And they are upheld by an award-winning support team. You may reach them via phone support and the ticket system. However, phone support is only available for specific hosting plans. And the basic version only includes 24/7 chat support.

Champion – Both

Verdict

When we faced a difficult situation, tech support assisted us well. They never let us down and made us wait long to fix the issues. Both customer support teams are responsive and knowledgeable as well.

9. Pricing

Cloudways Vs WP Engine – How much does this hosting cost? Let me talk about both hosting prices in detail:

Cloudways

This best cloud provider charges you based on a monthly and yearly rate. And they have four different plans. And all the plans include the same features. It’s just that you are paying for the RAM, Processor, storage, and bandwidth limit.

WP Engine

WP Engine has four plans: startup, growth, scale, and custom. The first three plans have pretty much the same features. However, through the expensive plans, access to some extra features will be provided.

Also, the custom plan is for those with millions of monthly visitors. And to get that plan, you have to talk to a sales specialist.

Winner – Cloudways

Reason

Cloudways has inexpensive plans when compared to WP Engine. Even the startup business can afford the basic plan ($11/mo); however, it would not be easy to pay $25 every month.

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Cloudways Vs WP Engine – Which Hosting Should You Buy?

Managed cloud hosting is the recent trend! I appreciate your interest in buying your WordPress business site’s best managed cloud hosting service.

Both hosting companies have pros and cons and are the top names in the hosting industry. Both companies have quite similar features.

But when we dig deeper, you will find Cloudways, the clear winner. It has more features and is highly affordable.

I hope this Cloudways Vs WP Engine comparison is clear and helpful for you in picking the right one for your blog or site. Tell me which managed WordPress hosting service you prefer to buy. Cloudways or WP Engine?

Now, let me consolidate the things to understand better!

Why Cloudways?

Cloudways is performing better than its competitors!

Apart from Uptime Performance, Free Trial & CDN features, check the other valid reasons to buy this managed server service.

1. Fast Servers

It has the fastest servers in the industry. They have powerful servers provided by leading third-party cloud hosting providers. Because of this, they can focus more on their service. Also, their outsourced servers offer you high performance pretty fast.

2. Easy To Use

The company offers an easy-to-use user interface. Due to this feature, deploying or managing a server is pretty easy. Even if you don’t have any web development experience, you can still get started with Cloudways. And there is no need to follow any complicated steps.

3. Pay As You Go

It has pay-as-you-go affordable plans that bill you based on server hours, which is quite different from hourly billing. Instead, websites with more resources cost more per hour than low-traffic websites. Finally, you don’t need to choose a specific plan based on your traffic. Cloudways will do it for you.

4. Easy Auto-Updates

Managed hosting allows you to schedule automatic updates of your WordPress software so that you will always be able to keep your business website up to date and threat-free. You should know about SafeUpdates.

5. Unlimited Applications On Any Plan

The best part of Cloudways is the possibility of running limitless applications on any plan. You may also install some other apps alongside your WordPress websites. So if you run a website with a wide range of features and use extra resources, then this managed cloud hosting is for you.

6. Other Essential Features

Cloudways subdomain is easy to create. Also, you may use the Staging feature to test and make site changes. Besides, updating the PHP version is not rocket science here.

7. Advanced Developer Control

Unlike WP Engine, which has restricted access to server configuration, Cloudways provides custom configurations and full root access. Besides, there is no issue in using third-party apps for performance improvements.

I would say that Cloudways is the best WP Engine Alternative to host your business site and take it to the next level.

Why WP Engine?

You may go with WPEngine since it has exceptional features like,

1. WordPress Optimization

WPEngine’s servers have powerful hardware designed to power many heavy WordPress plugins and themes. Also, they have options for both shared and VPS plans. As a result, you get to enjoy a better WordPress optimization experience.

2. StudioPress Themes

With this managed hosting, access to StudioPress premium themes is granted. StudioPress themes are responsive to mobile devices and rich in quality. Also, using these themes would give your website an easy-to-apply, functional, and great look. Plus, it eliminates the need to invest in a premium theme.

3. High Security

WP Engine has great security features. You don’t need to care about the WordPress core updates and security patches. Here, most of the safety qualities are automatic.

4. Global Presence

WP Engine has a global presence. Their servers are in regions like the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. As a result, you will get impressive speeds and server accessibility no matter which region you belong to.