As a website owner, choosing the right managed hosting provider is crucial for enabling a high-performing, reliable, and secure user experience for your visitors. In this comprehensive guide, we compare leading cloud-based WordPress hosting companies Cloudways and Kinsta across key criteria to help you pick the best solution tailored to your needs.
Overview of Cloudways and Kinsta
To kick off this head-to-head comparison, let‘s look at a quick rundown of each provider:
Cloudways – Founded in 2012, Cloudways provides cloud hosting and management services for apps like WordPress leveraging infrastructure from DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, Google Cloud, and AWS. Their focus is empowering developers and small businesses with flexible, scalable hosting solutions.
Kinsta – Launched in 2013, Kinsta offers a streamlined managed WordPress hosting experience exclusively using Google Cloud Platform servers. They target customers wanting optimized WordPress performance without needing to get hands-on technical.
Both platforms offer enterprise-grade managed hosting for WordPress sites and can provide excellent experiences. The right choice comes down to aligning specific use cases to the strengths of each.
Now let‘s dig deeper across some of the most important evaluation criteria:
Pricing Model Comparison
One major point of differentiation is the pricing model and structure utilized by Cloudways and Kinsta.
| Cloudways | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Choice of DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, Google Cloud, AWS starting at $10/mo | Google Cloud Platform exclusively; baseline cost higher starting at $30/mo |
| Billing model | Pay as you go based on server resources | Monthly prepayment with annual discounts |
| Traffic limits | Bandwidth pools per server with overage fees | Number of visits per month |
| Resources control | Add/remove server resources independently | Choice of plan determines resources |
| Scalability | Scale server resources up or down easily | Scaling limited to preconfigured larger plans |
| Money-back guarantee | 3-day free trial only | 30-day money back guarantee |
True cost comparison
To demonstrate the cost differences, let‘s compare what you would pay monthly for a sample use case:
- 10,000 visits
- 50GB bandwidth
- Basic caching needs
| Cloudways (DigitalOcean) | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $20 | $65 |
| Annual cost | $240 | $780 |
The bottom line – Kinsta simplifies billing but offers less choice. Cloudways can enable big cost savings but requires more independent capacity planning.
Performance Benchmarks
Another key decision factor is the hosting performance and reliability delivered:
These real-world tests of WordPress sites on both platforms show Kinsta delivers better performance in terms of speed and consistency of response times.
Cloudways still provides strong performance, but clients report Kinsta handles traffic spikes more smoothly while Cloudways can involve more troubleshooting.
For sites where performance is critical, Kinsta appears the superior option. But for more basic blogs, Cloudways gives you faster deployment.
Security: Safeguards Provided
Protecting your site and data is imperative when choosing any host:
| Cloudways | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Backups | Daily automated backups with cron job scheduling | Daily backups retained for 7 days |
| Firewall | Infrastructure firewalls + Cloudways Web Application Firewall | Infrastructure firewalls + integration with Cloudflare application firewall |
| SSL encryption | Free SSL certificates | Free SSL certificates |
| Brute force security | Leverages infrastructure DDoS plus server monitoring | Uses Cloudflare DDoS mitigation |
| 2FA | Available | Available |
Both Cloudways and Kinsta employ security best practices expected from managed hosting providers. Choose either platform confidently.
Support Options
Finding the right balance of self-service resources and access to human experts can maximize customer experience.
| Cloudways | Kinsta | |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | 24/7 chat, email, phone (premium plans) | Chat and support tickets |
| Response times | Under 5 minutes average | Under 5 minutes promised |
| Scope | Separate technical, advanced, and premium support plans | All users enjoy expert-level comprehensive support |
| Self-help options | Extensive docs, community forum, how-to guides | Documentation, video tutorials |
| Customization | Can modify configurations, servers | Limited ability to customize stack |
For those wanting maximum control, Cloudways is preferable. But Kinsta reduces headaches via fully managed WordPress hosting.
Recommended Hosting Solution by Use Case
With the comparisons above in mind, here is guidance on which provider is recommended based on your needs:
| Use case | Preferred platform | Key reasons |
|---|---|---|
| Price-sensitive buyers wanting to minimize costs | Cloudways | Leverage cheaper infrastructure providers; independent resource management |
| Businesses needing guaranteed uptime + performance | Kinsta | Delivers speed, reliability, and support required for revenue-critical sites |
| Beginners seeking simplified WordPress management | Kinsta | Handling updates, scaling, security, and optimization through fully managed solution |
| Developers wanting IaaS capabilities + environment customization | Cloudways | Provides greatest oversight and control for optimizing servers; caters to more advanced technical users |
The biggest deciding variable between Cloudways vs Kinsta is level of technical comfort vs desire for fully managed WordPress hosting. Align priorities around ease-of-use, performance, features, and budget to the recommendations above to choose your best fit.
No matter which premium platform you select, you can have confidence in receiving enterprise-grade managed cloud hosting tailored precisely to publishing exceptional WordPress experiences. Reach out for a personalized assessment of which solution is right for your organization‘s goals.
