Cloudways vs DigitalOcean are they really different? Well before understanding which is better for your hosting needs, It is important to tell you that Digital Ocean manages both of these hostings because Digital Ocean acquired Cloudways in 2022.
But it does not mean that both function exactly the same as hostings like Bluehost or Verpex Hosting. They have different approaches to managing their services at DigitalOcean and Cloudways.
What is Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting stores data and resources on a network of computers instead of a single server used in traditional hosting plans.
Scalability and Reliability are the two main benefits of cloud hosting. Scalability means when you get traffic spikes on your website or app, they will perform better as resources are being fetched from a network of machines and not from a single machine.
Reliability means if one server goes down your website will work as usual because resources spread over a network of computers or cloud.
These are the reasons website owners shift towards Cloud Hosting. I am sharing my experience with 2 cloud-hosting providers Digital Ocean and Cloudways.
DigitalOcean Vs Cloudways
As we know both are managed by the same company and there is one more thing common for users and that is cloud hosting. Both offer cloud hosting but with different approaches to managing cloud servers.
DigitalOcean
If you think you can manage and configure servers you can choose DigitalOcean. It is made for developers who want direct access to the server infrastructure and want more control over their environment.
In short, DigitalOcean offers raw cloud infrastructure that needs configuration. It provides virtual private servers known as Droplets and other cloud computing services.
User have to manage and configure their servers themselves. For this, you should note down some commands to manage the server. I can’t remember those commands and if you are not a developer you can’t also do that. So here I am adding a video to let you know how to create Droplets for a website and configure it.
Cloudways
Cloudways offers the same DigitalOcean cloud servers along with other cloud providers like Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud. It is a managed cloud hosting solution for non-developers.
If you don’t have technical expertise in managing servers you can choose Cloudways which is very similar to other shared hosting providers like EasyWP, Scala, or Hostinger.
With Cloudways you have the facility to choose from different cloud servers and easy management of cloud servers with an intuitive dashboard.
DigitalOcean Vs Cloudways Comparison Table
| Features | DigitalOcean | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Service Type | Droplets, Kubernetes, Databases, Storage | Managed Cloud Hosting |
| Storage | 10 GB to 4690 GB | 25 GB to 1280 GB |
| Bandwidth | 500 GB to 12 TB | 1 TB to 12 TB |
| Data Centers | North America, Europe, Asia | 65+ locations depending upon cloud service |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | Depending upon the chosen Cloud provider’s SLA |
| Free Automated Backups | No | Yes |
| Free Site Migration | No | Yes |
| CDN | No | Yes |
Comparing DigitalOcean Vs Cloudways
Before choosing between DigitalOcean and Cloudways you can also consider these important factors including pricing, ease of use, and support.
Pricing
However DigitalOcean pricing plans differ based on Basic, CPU-Optimized, General Purpose, etc. But if we compare it with Cloudways with almost the same configuration, it costs half as compared to Cloudways with Digital Ocean.
With Cloudways you are not limited to choosing only DigitalOcean, you have the option to select different cloud servers like Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.
Cloudways with DigitalOcean have two options i.e. Standard and Premium. Pricing for Premium is somewhat similar to Vultr and Linode Servers but almost one-third of AWS and Google Cloud.
Cloudways with DigitalOcean is the cheapest option to start. DigitalOcean alone can save you a lot of money in the long run but it will cost you time.
But if you are not a technical expert, you may have to hire a server expert, which can be very expensive.
Here going with cloudways is the best option to save time and money as you don’t have to manage technical tasks and you can focus on other important things.
Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial offer in which you learn how to set up your website or app.
It also gives you the option to pay-as-you-go which is the best option as you are not tied to 1-2 or 3-year contract.
Performance
Digital Ocean provides 99.99% uptime SLA (Product Service Level Agreement) per month.
In Cloudways you will get the same if you choose DigitalOcean Cloud but Cloudways refers you to check SLA by DigitalOcean.
The same is true for other cloud servers like Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud on Cloudways.
If you have a good understanding of the settings and configurations of cloud servers you can optimize it for the best performance.
In short, if you have good technical knowledge and expertise you achieve excellent results but if you lack technical knowledge and expertise you may face bad performance and technical issues.
With Cloudways you don’t need to configure anything and you get the best practices along with modern tools and technologies.
Digital Ocean data centers are spread across the United States, Netherlands, Singapore, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India, and Australia.
With Cloudways you get the option to choose data centers according to cloud service you choose.
You can also find servers at 65+ locations if you can go for AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, or Linode with DigitalOcean.
Security
Cloudways offers DDoS protection, IP whitelisting, Bot protection, a dedicated firewall, regular backups and SSL protection by Let’s Encrypt.
Digital Ocean also provides the same protection as offered by Cloudways but you have to manage things by yourself.
Cloudways offer free backups but you have to pay extra for backup on DigitalOcean.
Implementing bot protection, and SSL protection on Cloudways is as simple as toggling a button while it may be very difficult on DigitalOcean for a non-technical person.
Support
Support from DigitalOcean and Cloudways is good. But DigitalOcean is only concerned about Droplet is running or not while Cloudways team go beyond that and solve every problem related to your website.
Moreover I found very less articles and videos about DigitalOcean on internet while you will get a lot of resources about Cloudways. So when you fall in trouble with Cloudways their team is always there else you can find the solution on the internet easily.
DigitalOcean knowledge base is very vast but again you have to be an expert to understand those technical terms.
DigitalOcean offers 24/7 email ticket support. For the live chat option, you have to go for their premium support.
FAQs
DigitalOcean is a self-managed cloud infrastructure, good for technical people who know how to manage a server.
In Contrast, Cloudways provides managed cloud servers with extra benefits like automated backups, website migration, and scaling.
No, Cloudways does not offer Cpanel. But it has its own user interface which is very user-friendly for any newbie.
DigitalOcean is the cheapest cloud hosting service provider if we compare it with Vlutr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud. If we compare it with Cloudways it seems cheaper but Cloudways offers lot of other feature that will costs a lot on DigitalOcean.
Conclusion
I think everything is crystal clear if you have expertise in managing Cloud infrastructure you can go with DigitalOcean.
But if you don’t want to manage the cloud and looking for some cool features like free migration, free automated backups, and awesome support you should go for Cloudways.
Cloudways offering 3 days trial to test things. Digital Ocean does not have any trial feature to test but the pricing model for both is quite similar i.e. you pay as you go model.
Thanks for sharing was so helpful.
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