Why I use Cloudways for WordPress hosting
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Prefer to manage your own hosting?
You may want to choose your own hosting setup, manage access yourself and deal directly with the provider. Perhaps you enjoy the technical side, want to keep costs under your own control, or prefer to make the decisions about where your website runs and its data is stored. If you want the platform rather than Cornerstone’s hosting and website-care service, Cloudways is what I recommend.
I have been using Cloudways since July 2017 as part of my website hosting and maintenance work. I value being able to test changes, take backups and investigate problems in the same hosting environment.
Having your own account lets you manage the hosting relationship directly. That is a choice about how you work, not a requirement for owning your website or its data.
My recommendation is based on Cloudways Flexible, the server-based platform I use. It is still managed cloud hosting: Cloudways manages the platform, while you control your account and take responsibility for the website. Its separate Autonomous offering is outside this review.
Choose your server, with room to grow
A major reason I recommend Cloudways Flexible is that you can choose both the cloud provider and the server specification. You select from the available configurations for processing power, memory and storage, then manage the server and its websites through Cloudways.
My recommendation is DigitalOcean servers through Cloudways. You choose the DigitalOcean configuration that fits your website, while keeping Cloudways’ management tools and support around it.
You are not tied to the capacity you started with. As your business grows and the website needs more resources, you can upgrade to a larger server specification through Cloudways. That lets you start with a sensible setup for today and add capacity when it is needed, rather than paying from the outset for resources you may not use. Plan upgrades for a quiet period, as the server may be temporarily unavailable while the change is made.
Most routine tasks are available in the control panel. When I need to look more closely, I can use SSH to access the hosting environment and WP-CLI to work with WordPress from the command line. I appreciate having both routes available.
A place to test before going live
I use staging copies to review content, develop pages and check functional changes before they reach the live website.
A staging copy gives you room to try a different layout or test an update without experimenting on the website visitors are using. I use it to check forms, mobile layouts and changes that might affect more than one page.
It is particularly helpful when you are learning. You can work through a change and check the result before deciding it belongs on the live site.
Backups and finding the cause of a problem
Before a significant change, I want a backup I can return to. Cloudways gives me backup and recovery tools within the platform, so they are close at hand when I am preparing the work.
Its monitoring and diagnostic information also helps me investigate when a website slows down or behaves unexpectedly. I can look at what the server is doing and narrow down the cause instead of changing settings on a hunch.
If you are looking after your own site, get familiar with the recovery process before you need it. That is time well spent.
Support I rate highly
I have found Cloudways support excellent. When you manage your own hosting, it matters that there are people you can turn to, and the support is one of the reasons I am comfortable recommending the platform.
Live chat and ticket support are available around the clock. There are different support plans, so check the scope when choosing yours, particularly if you need help beyond the hosting itself.
Cloudflare Enterprise is an add-on I use
I use the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on through Cloudways as part of my hosting setup. It brings together content delivery, caching and additional protection in front of the website.
The content delivery network and edge caching can reduce how often suitable content has to be generated or served by the hosting server. The firewall and DDoS protection help filter harmful traffic before it reaches the site.
I like having these controls available through Cloudways. Caching needs particular care around logins and personalised pages, but for suitable public content it can reduce the work the hosting server has to do.
The add-on includes the Cloudflare features supplied through Cloudways, rather than every option in a direct Cloudflare Enterprise contract.
Email that serves the right purpose
Email is worth getting right from the start. Cloudways offers Elastic Email for outgoing website messages, such as form notifications, password resets and order confirmations. Rackspace serves a different purpose: business mailboxes for everyday correspondence.
Keeping those jobs separate makes sense to me. Choose what you need for website messages and everyday email, configure the domain’s email records, then test that messages arrive.
Malware Protection adds another layer
Cloudways’ Malware Protection add-on provides real-time scanning and automated handling of detected malware, including removal or quarantine. There are scan reports to review, and supported WordPress database infections can also be cleaned.
It adds protection alongside regular updates, backups and sensible access controls. If an infection occurs, finding and fixing the cause is still part of the job.
Connecting AI tools through the MCP server
Cloudways also provides an MCP server. In plain English, it is a connection that lets a compatible AI assistant work with the hosting account using the permissions you give it.
For someone who works with AI as much as I do, the appeal is being able to ask questions about the actual hosting environment. A compatible assistant can review server health, help investigate performance and carry out permitted hosting operations.
My recommendation is to start with read-only access and require explicit approval for changes. That gives you a useful way to investigate without handing an assistant unchecked control of a live website.
Choosing what is useful
Cloudways also offers automated WordPress updates, DNS management and extended support. You can choose the services that help with the work you want to do yourself, without duplicating tools you already have.
My recommendation
If you want your own hosting account, practical access to the environment and a support team behind the platform, I recommend taking a look at Cloudways Flexible. It suits the way I work, with everyday management in the dashboard and more direct access when I need it.
You will be responsible for looking after WordPress and deciding which additional services you need. If that is the level of involvement you want, the platform gives you plenty to work with.
Explore the platform and its available services to see whether they fit the website you want to run.