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Cloudways vs AWS (2021): Is Managed Cloud Hosting Like Cloudways Worth It?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is dominating the cloud computing industry, boasting around 1 million users and accounting for more than 40% of the cloud computing infrastructure. However, like most cloud hosting services, setting up your website on AWS requires a steeper learning curve. This is why PaaS (Platform as a Service) companies like Cloudways offer managed cloud hosting that lets you set-up your servers quickly. Cloudways offers AWS cloud hosting plans, as well as DigitalOcean, Vultr, Google Cloud, and Linode.

To help you identify how you should host your websites, we delve into the pricing, features, ease of use, and reliability of Cloudways and AWS.

Cloudways vs AWS Cloud Hosting Comparison Chart

ModelCloudwaysAWS
 aws logo
PriceCheck Price at CloudwaysCheck Price at aws.amazon.com
Payment OptionsPay-As-You-Go (Monthly/Hourly)Pay-As-You-Go
Save when you reserve
Storage volume-based pricing
Cloud Web Hosting ServicesDigitalOcean
Linode
Vultr
AWS
Google Cloud
Amazon S3: Simple static website hosting
Amazon EC2: Enterprise web hosting
Amazon Lightsail: Simple website hosting
Amazon Amplify: Sing-page web app hosting
CDNCloudwaysCDNAvailable
Free SSL CertificatesYesYes
PHP-Ready ServersYesYes
SSD StorageYesYes
Managed Security & BackupsYesNo
Free Site MigrationYes No
Collaborative ToolsYesYes
Free Trial3 days (but not available on AWS)One year
24/7 Chat and Ticket SupportYesNo

Pricing

Cloudways has a straightforward pricing structure while AWS’s is a lot more complex and confusing, albeit overall more affordable

Cloudways lets you choose whether to be billed hourly or monthly

It’s not easy comparing the pricing tiers of Cloudways and AWS as they have vastly different pricing and plans. Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting for top cloud hosting providers: AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr. Among Cloudways’ plans, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud are the most expensive.

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Since we’re comparing Cloudways and AWS in this article, we’re focusing on the different pricing AWS tiers available on Cloudways:

  • $36.51/month ($.0507/hour): includes 1.75GB RAM, 2GB bandwidth, 20GB storage, and 1 vCPU
  • $86.77/month ($.1205/hour): includes 3.75GB RAM, 2GB bandwidth, 20GB storage, and 1 vCPU
  • $176.26/month ($.2448/hour): includes 8GB RAM, 2GB bandwidth, 20GB storage, and 2 vCPU
  • $274.33/month ($.3810/hour): includes 16GB RAM, 2GB bandwidth, 20GB storage, and 4 vCPU

Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a wide range of hosting services. Its Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) is what’s available on Cloudways’ managed cloud hosting services. Amazon provides different payment options:

  • Free tier: 750 hours of Linux and Windows t2.micro instances
  • On-Demand: Pay-as-you-go without having to pay anything upfront
  • Spot instances: Can be 30% to 90% cheaper than on-demand prices
  • Reserved instances: Can be up to 72% cheaper than on-demand rates

AWS has way too many hourly rate variations to list in this article, but in a nutshell, the hourly rates depend on your vCPU, bandwidth, storage, and RAM requirements. The hourly prices for AWS EC2 can range from $0.0042/hour to up to $26.688/hour. AWS also offers Simple Storage Service (S3) for websites that require long-term cloud storage service.

Ease Of Use & Reliability

Cloudways lets you deploy your site more quickly and conveniently

Cloudways vs AWS ease of use
This is how Cloudways illustrates the difference between managing your own AWS hosting (top) and letting Cloudways manage everything for you (bottom)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a powerful cloud hosting platform, thus it’s the cloud hosting provider of choice for some of the biggest companies in the world. However, you’ll have to know your way around setting up and maintaining servers for your site to go live and continue to run smoothly. Setting up one WordPress website on AWS will take a lot longer than doing so on Cloudways or regular web hosting platforms.

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Cloudways makes it easy for users who need the speed and cost-effectiveness of cloud hosting, sans the complex set-up and maintenance process. If you find Cloudways with AWS too expensive for your business, you can always opt for more affordable cloud hosting options such as DigitalOcean, Linode, or Vultr. The process will still be easier and Cloudways will take care of backups and security for you. You also won’t have to worry about SSL certificates, built-in CDN, advanced-cache, and dedicated firewalls.

Hosting & Storage

AWS has a wealth of hosting and computing services that will suit different businesses’ varying needs

Cloudways vs AWS hosting and storage
Here’s a look at some of AWS’s computing services

The RAM for Cloudways’ managed AWS hosting tiers ranges from 1.75GB to 8GB, while their storage and bandwidth capacity are around 20GB and 2GB respectively. You can configure your settings as well to suit your requirements. If you set up directly on AWS, you’re given more options, starting from .5GB to a whopping 3,904GB of RAM. AWS provides different storage options as well, such as EBS (Elastic Block Store), SSD, and HDD.

Meanwhile, if you opt for Cloudways’ managed cloud hosting from other providers, here’s the range of storage and bandwidth available on Cloudways:

  • Digital Ocean: 1GB to 8GB RAM, 25GB to 160GB of storage, and 1TB to 5TB of bandwidth allocation
  • Linode: 1GB to 8GB RAM, 25GB to 160GB of storage, and 1TB to 5TB of bandwidth allocation
  • Vultr: 1GB to 8GB RAM, 25GB to 160GB of storage, and 1TB to 4TB of bandwidth allocation
  • Google Cloud: 1.7GB to 15GB RAM, 20GB of storage, and 2GB of bandwidth allocation
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Additional Features

Cloudways provides free migration and a wide range of collaborative tools

Managed cloud hosting takes care of the complex technical process that goes with maintaining your servers

If you’re moving your existing website to Cloudways, you can take advantage of their free migration service. Unlike hosting directly on AWS, you’ll get free SSL certificate, unlimited staging areas, one-click server cloning, dedicated firewalls, and one-click app installation, and one-click advanced server management if you opt for managed cloud hosting with Cloudways.

In addition, Cloudways makes it easy for you to add team members, generate individual SFTP credentials for your assigned users, and create projects. Customer support is also available 24/7 with Cloudways should you encounter any issues with your AWS cloud hosting.

Verdict

Cloudways is worth it if you’re not experienced or are too busy to learn how to set up your website with AWS cloud hosting

Cloudways

Best for busy developers who don’t want to maintain servers

AWS Cloud Hosting

Best for experienced developers who know their way around cloud hosting

aws logo

If you don’t have a team of web developers at your disposal, opting for Cloudways‘ managed AWS hosting is worth it. Setting up your website alone on Cloudways can save you hours compared to doing it directly on AWS, thanks to its one-click install features. Cloudways also takes care of SSL certificates, firewall, backups, updates, and it comes with built-in CDN, MySQL manager, and advanced-cache so you won’t have to worry about your site breaking or slowing down.

FAQs

📌 Is Cloudways managed AWS hosting worth it?

Yes, it’s worth paying for managed cloud hosting if you don’t want the hassle of setting up security, backups, and maintenance on your own.

📌 What cloud hosting providers are available on Cloudways?

AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, Linode, and DigitalOcean are also available on Cloudways.

📌 Can I choose my own data center with Cloudways?

Yes, you can choose from Cloudways’ 60+ data centers to optimize your websites’ performance.

📌 Can I install WordPress on Cloudways?

Yes, Cloudways offers a one-click WordPress install, saving you time setting up your WordPress site compared to doing it directly on AWS cloud hosting.

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Rhodaline Escala-Phelps