Whether you’re just about to create a new website or planning to move from your current provider, it’s crucial that you find a reliable web hosting platform that will be able to keep your content safe and provide you with excellent customer service. Cloudways and SiteGround are both popular picks among website owners although they’re different in quite a number of ways so it’s important to choose wisely. If you want a closer look at these two web hosting providers, here’s an in-depth comparison, taking their security, ease of migration, customer support, and pricing into consideration.
Cloudways vs SiteGround Comparison Chart
| Model | Cloudways | SiteGround |
 |  | |
| Price | Check Price at Cloudways | Check Price at SiteGround |
| Free 1-Click SSL Installation | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic Backups | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated Firewalls | Yes | Yes |
| WordPress Migrator Plugin | Yes | Yes |
| Migration Experts | Yes | Yes |
| Customer Support | Live chat, ticketing system, and phone call | Live chat, ticketing system, and phone call |
| Pricing | Pay as you go | Fixed plans |
| Free Trial | Yes | No |
Security
Both Cloudways and SiteGround have several security measures in place to decrease vulnerabilities.
With Cloudways, you can be rest assured that your website and its contents will be safe at all times because all of their plans come with managed security. They have several security features in place such as routine security patching to decrease susceptibility, firewalls to keep malicious traffic at bay, two-factor authentication to block off intruders, and IP whitelisting to let you work with networks with SSH and SFTP. Cloudways also has free 1-click SSL installation as well as backups which you can automate or activate on-demand.
As for SiteGround, they take safety just as seriously, providing managed security as well as updates for their WordPress users. These updates can be scheduled and done automatically via SiteGround’s WordPress software. Similarly to Cloudways, SiteGround also has special firewalls to defend your website against harmful attacks and even performs health checks every 0.5 seconds to make sure everything is well with their servers. If any issues are detected, they will automatically be resolved before they can get to the hosted websites. SiteGround also has free 1-click SSL installation and automatic backups every day.
Migration
Both Cloudways and SiteGround make the migration process an easy and seamless one.
If you’re thinking about migrating your current WordPress site to Cloudways but you’re scared of the process, you don’t have to be because they make it easy. You can either take the task on yourself by installing the Cloudways WP Migrator Plugin for free or you can get the help of one of Cloudways’ experts. The latter option would be the best move if it’s your first time to migrate to a new web host and you’re not quite sure how to go about it. With the help of a professional, at least you can be sure that your live site won’t break during migration and that business can go on as usual.
Just as with Cloudways, SiteGround makes the migration process a hassle-free one, especially if you’re using their GoGeek or GoBig plans. Under these plans, you’ll be provided with your very own migration expert who will be in charge of doing all the work for you. If, however, you’ve purchased their more affordable plan, you can accomplish the migration task yourself by using their free WordPress migrator plugin. All it takes is a few clicks to complete the transfer sans any worries of messing up your configurations. All of SiteGround’s plans include one free migration but you can always pay an additional $30 if you have more sites you’d like to transfer.
Customer Support
Both Cloudways and SiteGround offer 24/7 live chat, ticketing, and phone calls.
If you run into any issues with your website, there’s no need to get flustered because it should be easy to get in touch with Cloudways’ customer support. One of the fastest ways to ask help from their experts is through live chat, a service that’s available to their users all around the clock at any given day of the year. As for more complicated requests and problems, you can make use of Cloudway’s ticketing system. Once you’ve submitted a ticket, your issue will be logged into their system and will be resolved by one of their experts. Cloudways also offers a premium add-on which allows you to consult with a senior support engineer whenever you need to.
SiteGround is pretty similar to Cloudways when it comes to customer support, accessible also through 24/7 live chat, ticketing, and phone calls. Known for their excellent customer support, SiteGround’s customer service team has gone through comprehensive training and mentorship. This means that they have actual hands-on experience and will be able to provide you with quality advice and solutions whatever issue it is you’re facing with your website.
Pricing
Cloudways has “pay as you go” billing while SiteGround provides fixed plans.
What’s convenient about Cloudways is that with their “pay as you go” billing scheme, you’re not tied down to a contract and can use their platform for however long you want to. You’ll be billed every first week of the month based on your usage for the previous month as well as which data center you’ve chosen. The most affordable date center option is DigitalOcean which starts at $10 a month while Google Cloud is the priciest one at $80 per month. Another perk of using Cloudways is that you can try it out for free without having to give out your credit card details. To boot, Cloudways’ largest plan will give you an impressive 160GB of storage.
As for SiteGround, you’re going to have to stick to a pricing plan. They have three for you to choose from, namely the StartUp ($6.99 / month), GrowBig ($9.99 / month), and GoGeek ($14.99 / month) plans. Aside from having to pay a fixed price per month, other downsides of using SiteGround are the limited 30GB storage for their largest plan and the fact that they don’t offer a free trial (although they do have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied). On the other hand, SiteGround lets you enjoy unlimited email accounts at no extra charge, something that Cloudways doesn’t offer.
Verdict
Cloudways is better suited to websites with higher traffic while SiteGround is a good match for small to medium businesses.
If your website, business, or blog falls under the small to medium category, SiteGround would be the better web hosting platform for you. You’ll get all the help you need thanks to their unmatched customer support, plus you get to have unlimited email accounts to go with your domain. The main drawback of SiteGround, however, is that you might outgrow their plans quickly if you’re planning to scale your business. That’s where Cloudways comes in. It’s the better pick for websites that have higher traffic because of their massive storage and affordable billing scheme.
FAQs
If you’re after good value for money, the GrowBig plan would be the best option. But if you have higher traffic or you’re doing e-commerce, it would be better to go with the GoGeek plan.
While both Cloudways and SiteGround offer 24/7 live chat, help desk ticketing, and phone calls, SiteGround is known in the business as having unparalleled customer support.
Cloudways is the more affordable option, thanks to their “pay as you go” billing scheme. Instead of paying a fixed price, you’ll be billed based on your usage.
Cloudways is better suited to websites with higher traffic while SiteGround is a good match for small to medium businesses.
