Are you running or planning to run a WordPress website? Chances are you’ve heard of Cloudways and ServerPilot while looking for a reliable host. Both are what are called managed cloud hosting providers. This means even if you’re a non-developer, you’ll be able to manage cloud servers on your own. Simply put, Cloudways and ServerPilot take care of the technical stuff so you can focus on the business side of managing a website. But which solution is better? To answer this, we compare the two services based on their features and performance.
Contents
Cloudways vs ServerPilot Comparison Chart
| Name | Cloudways | ServerPilot |
 |  | |
| Price | Check Price at Cloudways | Check Price at ServerPilot |
| Type | Managed cloud hosting | Managed cloud hosting |
| SSL Certificate | Free | Free |
| Server Stats | Yes | Yes |
| Server-Level Caching | Yes | Yes |
| 1-Click WordPress | Yes | Yes |
| Free Migration | Yes | No |
| Staging Environment | Yes | No |
| Dedicated Firewalls | Yes | Yes |
| Email Hosting | Yes, additional fees | No |
| Customer Support | 24/7 live chat and ticketing | |
| Security Updates | Automatic | Automatic |
| Free Trial | 3 days; possible discounts upon registration | 14 days |
Key Difference and Features
Cloudways is an all-in-one cloud hosting solution while ServerPilot is a hosting control panel.
Unlike traditional hosting companies, Cloudways and ServerPilot don’t own their servers. Instead, they act like a middleman who offers hosting services from third party suppliers. Google, Amazon, DigitalOcean, and Vultr are just some of these providers. Cloudways, however, bundles these cloud servers together and offer them as packages. Users can choose from these packages and deploy and manage servers from within the Cloudways dashboard itself. ServerPilot, on the other hand, is a hosting control panel used to manage a third-party cloud solution that’s purchased separately.
Because of these differences, Cloudways can offer more features compared to ServerPilot. For instance, Cloudways comes with email hosting and backups. The platform also supports WordPress backups and site cloning, which is convenient if you’re migrating your site. Cloudways itself offers website migration services for free. Since you can also choose a server from the Cloudways interface itself, setting up your site is faster. With ServerPilot, you’ll have to buy your own cloud server first before connecting it with the panel.
Nonetheless, you’ll find that ServerPilot shares many of the standard features Cloudways also offers. Like Cloudways, ServerPilot also offers real-time server stats, although this feature is exclusive to higher-priced plans. ServerPilot also boasts of one-click WordPress installation and features an application stack so you can optimize your website’s performance. Customer support, however, is limited to ticketing compared to Cloudway’s 24/7 live chat. Its main advantage over Cloudways is simple: your choice of cloud server isn’t limited to those offered in the packages.
Speed
As cloud hosting solutions, Cloudways and ServerPilot deliver consistent and fast speeds.
When it comes to managing a website, speed is of utmost importance. Who wants to spend time on a site that takes a while to load anyway? This is one area where cloud hosting tends to have an advantage over traditional hosting. Since your site is stored across multiple servers, uptime is largely improved because any one of the servers can take over the others in case of incidents. It can also make use of a server nearest to your customer’s location, allowing for faster page loading.
Cloudways understands the value of speed and has spent a great deal investing in built-in features to assure your site performs well. The platform promises a 99.99% uptime guarantee and boasts of its own proprietary CDN called CloudwaysCDN. It also makes use of SSD disks, which are 3x faster than traditional mechanical drivers. Plus, the integrated advanced cache settings allow users to optimize their website’s performance easily.
ServerPilot, however, is no pushover. The platform also supports advanced setups including Nginx and Apache. It also makes use of the latest versions of PHP and Brotli for compressing, leading to faster page load times. ServerPilot also automatically configures your server to Cloudflare, one of the fastest CDNs in the market today. Based on tests and reviews, the average loading time for websites is about 4 seconds.
Security
Both Cloudways and ServerPilot put a premium on security features.
Powering over 30% of the world’s websites, WordPress is arguably the leading website builder and CMS platform today. This makes it a popular target among hackers. To protect its users against threats, both Cloudways and ServerPilot have implemented several security features.
Cloudways, for instance, performs regular security patches on your server. It also employs two-factor authentication, one of the fastest and easiest ways to boost your site’s security. ServerPilot, on the other hand, runs an advanced security architecture designed by a team of security researchers and exports. The platform also boasts of routine security patches and makes use of secure SFTP on your servers.
Both Cloudways and ServerPilot employ dedicated firewalls to block malicious traffic to your site. Users who subscribe with either of the two platforms also get free SSL certificates, courtesy of Let’s Encrypt SSL. But since Cloudways limits its providers to a select few, you’re also ensured that the cloud provider you’re working with has also taken measures to safeguard their networks. This gives it a slight advantage over ServerPilot when it comes to security.
Pricing
Cloudways has more plans and flexible payment terms compared to ServerPilot.
One of the advantages of subscribing to Cloudways is its flexible payment options. The cloud solution currently partners with five cloud hosting providers. Each of these providers has separate hosting plans with a variety of pricing options both for monthly or hourly billing.
If you choose DigitalOcean, for instance, plans range between $10 to $1,035 a month. Meanwhile, a plan on Google Cloud can be anywhere between $33 to $1,290 a month. Cloudways also makes use of a pay-as-you-go system, so you only get charged for the resources you use. Features like email hosting and backups, however, are also available but for an additional fee.
ServerPilot, on the other, has more straightforward pricing. You simply pay per server and per application. The platform currently has three plans to choose from:
- Economy ($5/server + $0.50/app per month)
- Business ($10/server + $1/app per month)
- First Class ($20/server + $2/app per month)
While these numbers are modest, keep in mind that you have to purchase your cloud hosting separately. Access to monitoring tools is also exclusive only to the Business and First Class plans. ServerPilot also offers hourly billing for partial months and requires no monthly minimum to use.
Verdict
Cloudways is to set up and use, great for non-developer. ServerPilot requires technical experience but offers more freedom in managing your servers.
If you want to focus on your site and have the technical aspects of hosting managed by someone else, cloud hosting is the way. As an all-in-one solution, Cloudways has made this service accessible and easy-to-use even among non-developers. Set up and security are all taken care of. Now, the selection of servers is limited compared to ServerPilot but you can at least run unlimited websites at no extra cost.
ServerPilot gives users more freedom with their choice of server. Its pricing scheme is more straightforward, too. But unless you’re comfortable using command line functions to carry out certain tasks or configure your site, the platform might be too cumbersome to use. However, if you’re a professional who knows your way around the server, then ServerPilot’s features and overall value might appeal to you.
FAQs
Cloudways is an all-in-one managed cloud hosting solution that includes support for email hosting, unlimited websites, as well as a range of managed WordPress hosting features. Meanwhile, ServerPilot is a hosting control panel primarily for developers.
Yes, ServerPilot offers priority support but only for Business and First Class plans.
Cloudways offers promo codes, typically during sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, for discounted registrations. However, these coupon or discount codes are only applicable to new customers.
ServerPilot’s head office is in Bellingham, Washington state.
