One of the most important tasks of a site owner is choosing a hosting provider that can give them the kind of service and support they need. It’s not exactly an easy decision though because there are a bunch of big names floating around in the market. To start, you can consider Cloudways and Kinsta, both of which are leaders in the industry and trusted by many. They do things quite differently though so it’s important to know exactly what they offer. To help you out, here’s an in-depth comparison of Cloudways and Kinsta, taking their performance, security, additional features, and pricing into account.
Cloudways vs Kinsta Comparison Chart
| Model | Cloudways | Kinsta |
| Â |  |  |
| Price | Check Price at Cloudways | Check Price at Kinsta |
| Cloud Providers | DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and GCP | GCP only |
| CDN | CloudwaysCDN | KeyCDN |
| SSD Storage | Yes | Yes |
| PHP-Ready Servers | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime Guarantee | Depends on chosen cloud provider | 99.9% |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic Daily Backups | Yes | Yes |
| Free Site Migration | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Control Panel | Yes | Yes |
| CMS Compatibility | WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, and Laravel | WordPress only |
Performance
Both Cloudways and Kinsta are impressive performers thanks to their top-notch hardware and strategically distributed data centers.
When it comes to performance, both Cloudways and Kinsta are out to impress. After all, these two managed hosting providers make use of top-tier infrastructure that’s considered the best in the world. To complement the solid hardware, they use a speed-optimized server stack that’s already preconfigured, something you don’t get if you were to go directly to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This stack includes the NGINX web server, the most recent PHP versions, and MariaDB databases. Both providers also make use of a CDN to further cut page loading times. Cloudways has their own proprietary network called CloudwaysCDN which you can easily access via the dashboard while Kinsta makes use of a third-party provider called KeyCDN.
As for data centers, both providers spoil you for choice. Kinsta has 24 locations to be exact while it’s safe to say that Cloudways has more than that given the number of cloud platforms they work with. These data centers are strategically placed in different parts of the globe, making it extra fast and easy to reach your audience no matter where they are. As for uptime, Kinsta boasts of a 99.9% guarantee which is probably accurate since GCP is known to be up and running around the clock. As for Cloudways, it varies per cloud platform but because they’re all top-tier hosts, you can expect great uptime as well. DigitalOcean, for example, has a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Security
Both Cloudways and Kinsta have strict security measures in place such as firewalls, backups, and SSL certificates.
Kinsta borrows quite a lot of security features from GCP in order to protect your site from possible threats. This includes Google’s firewall to keep malware out as well as LXD technology which separates your sites so that any breaches in security can be easily contained. To further beef up security, Kinsta also backs your site up with their Hack Fix Guarantee. This means that if ever your site is compromised, although highly unlikely, Kinsta will provide you with a team of experts that will fix things up right away for free.
As for Cloudways, they have their own dedicated firewalls that keep your site safe and sound. To boot, each cloud platform that Cloudways works with will give you an additional set of security features. In the event of a hacking, however, Cloudways won’t be extending their services for free. All is not lost though because they do have a bunch of guides you can follow so that you can clean your site yourself.
In addition to these security measures, both Cloudways and Kinsta provide a free SSL certificate so that the connection between server and visitor is always encrypted. Not only does this increase your site’s trustworthiness but it also helps you rank better in search engine results. These two providers also perform automatic daily backups so that they can easily restore your site in the event of a calamity.
Additional Features
Kinsta’s features are better suited to exclusive WordPress users while Cloudways offers more versatility.
If you’re using WordPress exclusively, you’ll find Kinsta’s features very helpful. For one, you don’t have to worry about WordPress updates anymore because they’ll take care of that for you. Also, Kinsta ditches the traditional cPanel for a proprietary control panel which makes it a whole lot easier to manage multiple WordPress sites. If, however, you’re using other platforms aside from WordPress, Cloudways is definitely the way to go. Thanks to their versatility, you can run several other frameworks on Cloudways such as Joomla and Drupal without having to use more virtual machines.
While Kinsta and Cloudways are different in that sense, they do have something in common–free site migration. Both providers let you transfer one site for free on all of their plans with the option to pay more for additional transfers. This is great news for those who already have an existing site and would like to move their data to another hosting platform. Another thing they have in common, although it’s not exactly positive, is the lack of email hosting and domain registration. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to buy these things from another provider.
Pricing
Cloudways makes it easier to save with their pay-as-you-go billing scheme.
While Cloudways and Kinsta offer great value for money, the former is able to edge out their competitor by providing more flexibility. Because Cloudways utilizes a pay-as-you-go billing scheme, you’re only charged for the resources you used up the previous month and no more than that. This gives you more room to save. Also, Cloudways lets you choose from several different cloud providers so you can always go for the cheaper alternatives. With DigitalOcean, for example, you only need to pay $10 per month.
As for Kinsta, they stick to the traditional payment scheme. Aside from having fixed prices, they also don’t offer any other cloud platforms aside from GCP which you might find quite restrictive. It’s a good thing though that they a wide selection of plans for you to choose from so you’re bound to find one that suits your budget as well as your site’s needs. Their Starter package (able to support 25,000 visits) is at $30 per month while their biggest Enterprise package (able to accommodate 3,000,000 visits) costs $1,500 per month. That’s a pretty wide price range that has several more options in between.
Verdict
Pick Kinsta if you’re an exclusive WordPress user but choose Cloudways if you want more flexibility in terms of support and pricing.
As top names in the industry, Cloudways and Kinsta are alike in a lot of ways especially when it comes to performance and security. They have top-notch servers and storage, they take advantage of a CDN, they boast of great uptime, and they have several security measures in place. So how do you choose? It all really boils down to their additional features and pricing. Since Kinsta only supports WordPress and their features seem to be made specifically for the platform, they’re the obvious choice for those who use WordPress exclusively. As for Cloudways, they’re the better pick for those who want more flexibility in terms of CMS support and rates.
FAQs
Yes, Kinsta would be the better pick if you’re an exclusive WordPress user. You don’t have to worry about WordPress updates anymore because they’ll take care of that for you. Also, Kinsta ditches the traditional cPanel for a proprietary control panel which makes it a whole lot easier to manage multiple WordPress sites.
Yes. Thanks to Cloudways‘ pay-as-you-go billing scheme, there’s more room for savings. And because they have several cloud platforms for you to choose from, you can always go with the ones that have more affordable rates.
Both Cloudways and Kinsta have strict security measures in place such as firewalls, backups, and SSL certificates.
Kinsta is the obvious choice if you use WordPress exclusively. If, however, you want a hosting provider that supports other platforms and offers more flexibility in terms of pricing, Cloudways is the way to go.
