Cloudways Autonomous – Is It A High Availability WordPress Hosting?

If your WordPress website experiences traffic spikes, heavy WooCommerce activity, or rapid growth, traditional hosting often struggles to keep up. Slow loading pages, server crashes, and downtime are common problems when a site outgrows its infrastructure.

That’s where Cloudways Autonomous comes in!

I have personally been using Cloudways hosting since 2017 for several WordPress projects. When it introduced Autonomous hosting, I was curious about its autoscaling infrastructure, so I decided to test it with one of my high-traffic WordPress sites.

In this Cloudways Autonomous review, I’ll share my experience, explain how the platform works, analyze its features and performance, and help you decide whether it’s the right autoscaling WordPress hosting solution for your website.

Disclosure: We get a commission when you buy a product via our affiliate link at no additional cost.

What Is Cloudways Autonomous?

Cloudways Autonomous is Cloudways’ recently launched hosting solution that operates on the Kubernetes cluster for automatic autoscale deployment. Its pricing plans support autoscaling to ensure the availability for growing business websites and apps.

This solves the issue of the website going down due to numerous simultaneous requests. All other Cloudways or other hosting providers set a limit on data transfer. If your website gets huge traffic due to a viral article or marketing campaign, it may go down because of the limit.

If this has happened to you or you think it can happen because your business is evolving, switching to this autoscale hosting is the best option. It’s the best eCommerce hosting, as normal hosting plans can’t ensure the accessibility of your store during peak periods.

This WordPress high-availability hosting promises 24/7 uptime! Along with the uptime, you’ll get

• Optimal Security From Cloudflare Enterprise
• Cutting Edge Kubernetes Infrastructure For Autoscaling
• High-Speed WordPress Admin Through Object Cache Pro
• 1-Click Staging And Automated Backups
• 24 x 7 Professional Technical Support
• Free Website Migration (Self Migration Plugin Is Also Available)
• Advanced Load Balancing

So, if you own an e-commerce store, LMS site, or high-traffic WordPress site that drives visitors from News media or Reddit, you don’t have to worry about traffic going down or being high because Autonomous hosting solves this with auto-scaling plans.

So, how does it differ from other hosting services? Let me tell you!

Cloudways Autonomous Vs Other Managed WordPress Hosting

Cloudways Autonomous shines in managed WordPress hosting. Unlike other hosting services, it ensures that high-traffic sites run smoothly by providing autoscaling and high availability. These features strengthen reliability and scalability, setting industry performance standards.

When your website has traffic spikes, you need auto-scaling and high disk storage to avoid site downtime. The Autonomous hosting plan of Cloudways offers WordPress high availability setup, which is unseen in other managed hosting services. Let’s see the differences!

How does Cloudways Autonomous Work? (Architecture Explained)

Cloudways Autonomous uses container orchestration and horizontal scaling to maintain performance during traffic spikes. From my testing experience, the infrastructure works like this.

1. Containerized WordPress Environment

Each WordPress site runs inside its own container. It provides better security, improved stability, and resource isolation. It is different from traditional shared hosting where multiple websites compete for the same server resources.

2. Kubernetes Cluster Management

The platform uses Kubernetes to manage containers automatically. When traffic increases, additional containers are created to handle the load.

3. Load Balancing

Incoming traffic is distributed across multiple containers through a load balancer. During my tests, this architecture helped maintain consistent performance even when the site experienced increased traffic.

4. Autoscaling Infrastructure

The autoscaling process works like this:

Traffic spike > Additional containers launch automatically > Load balancer distributes requests > Website remains stable

What Are The Excellent Features of Cloudways Autonomous Hosting?

Here are the best features of Cloudways Autonomous hosting plans. By reading these features of this high availability WordPress Kubernetes hosting, you’ll find whether it’s a good solution for your online business!

1. Unlimited PHP Workers

PHP workers are an important part of hosting, yet they’re often overlooked. These workers help to manage or execute the code in the background when we go on a website. All of this happens in the backend.

If your hosting provider has only allocated a limited number of PHP workers to your site and the server becomes overwhelmed with requests, these few PHP workers may struggle to cope with the workload. This can lead to slower page loading times, timeouts, or server errors.

With Cloudways Autonomous, you’ll benefit from unlimited PHP workers. These PHP workers ensure smooth operation without any slowdowns, even if your site experiences a sudden surge in traffic, which is extremely beneficial for WooCommerce stores, membership websites, and LMS platforms.

2. Website Availability

Thanks to the auto-scale hosting features! Yes, the availability and accessibility of the business website or app have become easy. You don’t have to worry about what might happen during traffic spikes.

The hosting server of Cloudways Autonomous will automatically upgrade the hosting plan according to your website’s traffic requirements. Once the traffic goes back to normal, your plan returns to its usual state, just as you’ve chosen.

3. Sleek User Interface

The user interface is simple, with minimal options. No confused settings! Look at the image attached below. It is easy to create and manage your WordPress or eCommerce applications. The disk usage details, visits, and bandwidth are displayed for your understanding.

4. Fast Page Loading

The loading speed of your business website depends on the hosting server. Cloudways Autonomous has a solution for slow-loading pages. It is powered by Cloudflare CDN and is also integrated with Object Cache Pro to ensure quick content delivery for your visitors.

Check the load testing performance of the top competitors. I have taken this reference from the Cloudways blog post. I’ll do the speed performance tests and tell you the results soon!

Image Credit – Cloudways

5. CDN Network Support

Another noticeable feature of this Kubernetes WordPress hosting is the support for CDN (Content Delivery Network). Geographically, servers are everywhere in the world; the place where the data centers are located is called PoP (Point of Presence).

The benefit of having the support of CDN is if a user in Australia accesses your website, instead of fetching data from the main server, the CDN delivers content from a server (PoP) closer to the user’s location. This reduces latency and improves loading times.

6. Security & Backups

Cloudways Autonomous offers high security for your online business. This hosting has a WAF (Web Application Firewall) that blocks malicious traffic worldwide and provides DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection.

Moreover, the data on your business website will be backed up automatically by the hosting provider. On-demand backups are also available for the website owner, making it a secure solution for a growing online business.

7. Customer Support

Cloudways’ overall security features are top-notch in all hosting plans, and the same goes for Cloudways Autonomous. Irrespective of your problem, customer service will always be with you throughout the journey to fix things without hassle. 

Cloudways Autonomous offers 24/7 expert support to solve technical errors or if you cannot use the features with the hosting panel. You get all the customer support options as in the other hosting plans, like Support Tickets, Monitoring, etc. 

What are the pricing plans Available?

Although Autonomous is a managed WordPress hosting with Autoscaling, the pricing varies. There are seven distinct plans to choose from, catering to various business needs. The first plan starts at $100 per month and the custom plan is also available for the Enterprise sites.

It’s important to consider the scale of your business while selecting a hosting plan. The first three packages offer ample resources for small to medium-scale enterprises. On the other hand, the custom plan is designed for larger applications and websites.

Is This High Availability WordPress Hosting Worth It?

Cloudways Autonomous Hosting is unquestionably worth the investment. Recently, my client opted for it for their event booking website. He had encountered significant issues with their previous hosting provider, as he used to get traffic increases during the festival seasons.

Upon my recommendation, they deployed high-availability WordPress hosting, and the results were remarkable. The website operated smoothly without downtime, even during high-traffic periods. The only issue was that the price was a bit high, but it was worth it.

Performance tests

Speed Test Results

In my tests, the site delivered fast server response times, which is crucial for SEO and user experience. You can see the speed scores in the screenshot below. Autoscaling infrastructure ensures that performance remains consistent even during traffic spikes. Since the platform runs on Kubernetes, resources can be scaled dynamically.

Load Testing

Load testing simulates multiple users visiting a site simultaneously. For high-traffic websites, this test is important. During my testing, autoscaling containers handled multiple concurrent users without noticeable slowdowns. This makes it suitable for high traffic WordPress websites and WooCommerce stores.

Uptime Monitoring

Reliable uptime is critical for websites generating revenue. Because Cloudways Autonomous uses distributed infrastructure, downtime risk is significantly reduced. My blog’s uptime is 100%.

Pros and Cons

After testing Cloudways Autonomous, here’s my honest assessment!

Pros

• True autoscaling WordPress hosting
• Excellent for high-traffic websites
• Unlimited PHP workers
• High availability architecture
• Managed cloud hosting environment

Cons

• Higher pricing than shared hosting
• unnecessary for small blogs
• still evolving as a newer product

How To Subscribe To Cloudways Autonomous Plan?

Subscribing to a Cloudways Autonomous pricing plan is a breeze. Visit the official website and choose the hosting plan that best fits your business needs. Make sure to carefully review the bandwidth, disk limit, and other specifications before making your selection.

Proceed to the payment page once you’ve settled on a hosting plan. You’ll notice that prices are listed for additional bandwidth, 1000 visitors, and similar features. These charges apply if your website experiences high traffic.

Click on “Confirm Plan” and complete the subscription payment. Your plan includes a 3-day free trial, during which you won’t be charged for the services. You may also opt for a live demo if you’re still unsure about Cloudways Autonomous.

Visit the Demo page and choose a date for a meeting. Schedule a session with the product manager from Cloudways Autonomous, who will walk you through the hosting features and explain how they can benefit your business.

Who Should Avoid Cloudways Autonomous?

This platform may not be ideal for:

• beginners starting their first blog
• small personal websites
• low-traffic blogs

In these cases, cheaper VPS hosting is sufficient.

What Is My Conclusion About Cloudways Autonomous Plan?

Cloudways Autonomous outshines its other hosting plans due to its exceptional scalability. This is the best WordPress hosting for high traffic, seamlessly adjusting to meet site traffic demands, ensuring that your website remains online and error-free even during high traffic.

Instead of experiencing downtime, the hosting server prioritizes delivering content quickly to every user, making it the ideal choice for online businesses. While the pricing plans may be slightly higher, considering the features, it’s undoubtedly worth it.

This autoscale hosting offers flexibility when selecting a hosting plan based on your site’s requirements. So, if you are looking for the best WordPress hosting with high availability, I hope my Cloudways autonomous review will help you make the right decision.