Cloudways vs Kinsta – Head to Head Comparison 2023

In this article we’re going to be comparing Cloudways vs Kinsta, to see which one of these managed WordPress hosting companies comes out on top.

Choosing the right web hosting provider for your website is important. If you are a WordPress user looking for managed hosting, you will want to know that the provider you choose provides everything you need before committing to a lengthy plan.

Of course, you can always switch to another host at a later date if you made the wrong choice, but who has time for that when running a business?

Time is money, after all. So it’s better to get it right the first time.

If you’ve been looking for the best managed WordPress hosting, then no doubt you will have come across Cloudways and Kinsta. These two companies are both well known for their reliable, fast hosting, but when it comes to choosing between the two, what’s the difference?

Well, there are actually quite a few differences between the two, which means one may be a better choice for you than the other.

This article will give you all the information you need to make the right decision for your business. We are going to review the services offered by both Cloudways and Kinsta, to see which one is better overall. As well as looking at the main features they offer, we will also be looking at customer support, usability, reviews, and of course their pricing and value for money.

What to Look for in a Hosting Provider

If you are looking at hosting providers for your business for the first time it can get confusing. So here are a few things to look out for when you are choosing managed WordPress hosting.

1. Speed – Page loading speed can have a huge impact on your conversion rates. The ideal page loading speed is 0-2 seconds.
2. Uptime – Check their average uptime for the past 12 months. Do they offer an uptime guarantee?
3. Customer support – Look at response times, and how easy it is to get in touch when you have an issue.
4. Ease of Use – How easy is it to navigate their user interface?
5. Security & Backups – Are backups automatic or manual? What security measures do they have in place?
6. Scalability – What are their maximum data and traffic allowances?
7. Pricing – Do they provide good value for money?

Cloudways Vs Kinsta – Everything You Need to Know

Before we start the main review, we’re going to take a look at the background of both of these companies to find out a little more about who they are.

About Cloudways

Cloudways is a popular managed cloud hosting platform that promises to take all of the hassle out of hosting your site. With Cloudways, you can have your website set up and running in minutes, and with their 24/7/365 support, managing your website will be easy, giving you more time to focus on other areas of your business.

The company has been around since 2011, and since their launch, they have provided hosting for over 600,000+ sites. They offer dedicated managed WordPress and WooCommerce hosting, which means you can avoid any cloud-related issues, giving you a seamless hosting experience.

The Main Features of Cloudways

These are the main features Cloudways offers:

• 5 Cloud Providers
• Unlimited Applications
• All PHP Apps Supported
• Innovative Control Panel
• 24/7/365 Customer Support
• Automated Backups
• Managed Security
• Free SSL
• 24/7 Monitoring
• Phone Support (premium add-on)
• High-Speed Performance
• Pay-as-you-go Payment Model
• Multiple Integrations and Add-ons

Now let’s take a look at Kinsta, to see find out a little more about them.

About Kinsta

Kinsta is a managed WordPress hosting service that takes care of all your needs when it comes to managing your hosting. They are suitable for businesses of all sizes, and whether you are a large business or a small start-up, Kinsta will provide you with high-speed, high-performance hosting for your WordPress website.

The company was founded in 2013, and sing then it has grown into a global company with 25 data centers around the world, and a remote team offering support in seven different languages.

The Main Features of Kinsta

These are the main services Kinsta offers:

• Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting
• High-Security Network
• High Speed
• Powered by Google Cloud
• Free Site Migrations
• Expert Support
• 24/7 Monitoring
• One Unified management Dashboard
• Optional Add-ons for Any Plan
• Free SSL
• Multiple Plans to Suit Businesses of All Sizes

Now that we’ve found out a little more about these two companies, let’s see how they measure up in the other areas.

Cloudways vs Kinsta – Which is Better Overall?

In this section, we are going to be taking a closer look at how Cloudways and Kinsta measure up when it comes to actually provide their service. We will be comparing how they each perform for uptime, performance & speed, security and backups, customer support, reviews, control panel, and more. Se read on to find out which of these hosting companies is best overall!

Cloudways vs Kinsta Uptime – ( Cloudways Wins )

Both Cloudways and Kinsta do well when it comes to uptime, both coming in at over 99.9%.

Kinsta offers an SLA-backed uptime guarantee of 99.9%. This means that if your site is down for longer than 60 minutes at a time, you will receive credit equal to 5% of your monthly plan in your next invoice. If your experience downtime for more than two hours, you will receive credit equal to 10% of your plan.

Kinsta performs uptime checks every two minutes, which allows them to react quickly if any issues do arise.

Cloudways, on the other hand, offers a 99.999% uptime guarantee to their customers. In the same way, customers are compensated with a credit on their account for each hour the service falls below what’s stated in their SLA. You can also add CloudwaysCDN with just a few clicks.

Overall, Cloudways is the winner when it comes to uptime. They have a better uptime guarantee of 99.999%, promising near-perfect uptime to their customers.

Performance and Speed – ( It’s a Draw )

Every second counts when it comes to page loading speed. Slow page loading speeds will have a detrimental effect on your business, losing you visitors and sales. Research from Portent shows that conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time (between 0-5 seconds).

That’s money down the drain.

This is why it’s so important to choose the right hosting for your website. Luckily both Cloudways and Kinsta perform well when it comes to page loading speeds.

Kinsta uses Nginx, PHP 8.0, LXD software containers, MariaDB, and compute-optimized VMs to ensure that your page loading speeds are as fast as possible. It’s powered by Google Cloud platform and has a total of 25 data centers globally.

Cloudways has over 65+ data centers around the world and gives you the option to choose from a variety of leading Cloud service providers, including Google, Amazon, DigitalOcean, Linode and Vultr. It offers SSD-based hosting which performs up to 3 times faster than standard hosting.

They also provide an optimized stack that includes ready-to-use caches such as Varnish, Nginx, Memcached, and Redis to deliver the fastest responses, and their servers are all PHP 7.3 ready.

Both Cloudways and Kinsta can be counted on to provide excellent performance, so for this round, it’s a draw.

Security and Backups – ( Its a Draw )

Knowing your site is in safe hands will give you one less thing to worry about when it comes to running your business. You will be pleased to know that both Cloudways and Kinsta provide state-of-the-art security to their customers.

Cloudways servers are all protected by OS-level firewalls. This keeps intruders at bay and ensures any malicious activity traffic is filtered out before it gets a chance to do any damage. Let’s Encrypt SSL is built-in and is included for free with all plans, and they also use two-factor authentication to keep your account extra safe.

When it comes to backups, Cloudways provides two options. You can either choose automatic backups or use a 1-click backup and restore. Backups are created and stored at another location, so you will always have access to a backup should you need it.

Kinsta takes security very seriously too, providing 24/7 monitoring and a wide range of security features. They use a secure firewall powered by Cloudflare to protect their servers, as well as a range of other measures to block malware and stop malicious attacks in their tracks. They also include free DDoS protection and mitigation, SSL support, software-based restrictions, and hardware firewalls.

Kinsta will automatically backup your site once a day. If you require more regular backups, they can be provided as frequently as every hour for an additional fee.

When it comes to security for your website, you can be sure that you are in safe hands with either hosting provider. Both companies provide excellent security around the clock, as well as providing you with free SSL certificates and automatic backups.

Customer Support – (Cloudways Wins)

Good customer support is one of the most important features when it comes to choosing a good hosting provider. You will want to know that you can get help quickly should any problems arise.

The good news is, both Cloudways and Kinsta provide a range of ways to get in touch with their support teams.

Cloudways’ primary method of support is by live chat, which they offer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is the quickest way to solve your problem, and you can expect an answer in minutes. You can also track more complex issues using their online ticketing system.

They also offer a Premium support add-on which gives you access to phone support, priority ticketing, a dedicated account manager, and even a private Slack channel giving you direct access to their senior support engineers. Premium support includes plugin and theme troubleshooting, as well as proactive monitoring. There is also an extensive knowledge base and a resource center where you can find webinars, ebooks, and case studies to help you grow your business.

Kinsta provides award-winning support to its customers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They provide support in 7 different languages, so no matter where you are in the world you can be sure that you will be able to get the help you need.

Support is offered by live chat, so you can get help in real-time. Their average response time is 1 minute and 27 seconds, so wherever you are in the world, you will be able to resolve your problem quickly.

They also have an extensive resource center and knowledge base where you can find video tutorials, free webinars, cheat sheets, Podcasts, and other tools and resources to help you grow your business.

When it comes to customer support, both companies offer a great service. Overall, Cloudways is the winner due to the fact that it offers a phone support add-on, which some companies may prefer.

That being said, both companies provide quick access to experts to solve any problems that may arise, so you will be in safe hands with either Cloudways or Kinsta.

Cloudways vs Kinsta Customer Reviews – ( Its a Draw )

If you want to get a well-rounded review of a company, it’s important to look at customer reviews.

We’re using Trustpilot and Trustradius to see what people are saying about Cloudways and Kinsta.

Cloudways is performing very well when it comes to customer reviews, with an outstanding 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. They also receive a very respectable 9.3 out of 10 on Trustradius too, which shows that overall, their customers are very happy with the service they provide.

Kinsta isn’t doing too badly either, with 4.7 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, and 9.6 out of 10 on Trustradius. It’s clear that their customers past and present are happy with the service they provide.

Overall they are pretty even when it comes to customer satisfaction rates, so we’re going to call it a draw for this round.

Control Panel – ( It’s a Draw)

Neither Cloudways nor Kinsta offers the usual C-Panel, however, they each offer their own easy-to-use dashboards where you can navigate and manage your site as you need to.

Kinsta’s dashboard is called ‘MyKinsta’, which is an all-in-one place where you can manage your hosting accounts, team members, and website. It’s designed with beginners in mind, so even if you’re brand new to running websites, you will be able to confidently manage your site using the MyKinsta Dashboard.

Cloudways also uses its own control panel, which includes everything from the standard cPanel, and more. It’s super easy to use, and very powerful, giving you complete flexibility and control over your website.

Once again, it’s a draw. Both Cloudways and Kinsta have their own custom control panels that are powerful and easy to use.

Cloudways vs Kinsta – Functionality ( It’s a Draw )

When it comes to user-friendliness, both Cloudways and Kinsta are very easy to use. Navigation of their dashboards is easy, and whether you are a complete beginner or seasoned pro, you won’t be confused by the interface of either one.

And again, it’s a draw. Both Cloudways and Kinsta are equally good when it comes to user-friendliness.

Cloudways vs Kinsta – The Pros and Cons

There are a lot of hosting companies to choose from, and each one will have its own pros and cons. It’s important to look at these carefully, to see if there are any red flags that might mean one of these hosting providers would suit you better than the other.

Pros and Cons of Cloudways

Pros:

• Pay as you go plans offer complete flexibility
• Free migration for your first site
• Almost 100% uptime
• Choice of 6 Cloud Providers
• Free 3-day trial
• Innovative Control Panel
• 24/7/365 Customer Support
• Automated Backups
• Free SSL
• 24/7 Monitoring
• Phone Support (premium add-on)
• High-Speed Performance
• Multiple Integrations and Add-ons

Cons:

• Too much choice when it comes to choosing Cloud service providers, many people would prefer this choice taken out of their hands

Pros and Cons of Kinsta

Pros:

• Support in seven languages
• Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting
• High-Security Network
• Easy to use
• High Speed
• Powered by Google Cloud
• Free Site Migrations
• Expert Support
• 24/7 Monitoring
• One Unified management Dashboard
• Optional Add-ons for Any Plan
• Free SSL
• Multiple Plans to Suit Businesses of All Sizes

Cons:

• No phone support option
• Only provides hosting for WordPress sites

Cloudways vs Kinsta: Pricing and Plans

Now it’s time to look at the pricing and plans offered by Cloudways and Kinsta, to see which company offers better value for money.

Cloudways Pricing

Cloudways offers a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing solution that allows you to pay at the end of the month for the resources you have used. This has the added benefit that you are not locked into a lengthy contract, and free to change hosting providers any time you choose.

You can choose from any of their hosting plans, and scale up or down as you need to, depending on what’s going on with your business at the time.

There are five different cloud infrastructures to choose from, including:

• DigitalOcean
• Linode
• VULTR
• AWS
• Google Cloud

Each cloud infrastructure has a range of plans to choose from, depending on the size of your business.

Their most affordable plan is with DigitalOcean, which starts at $10/month for the entry-level plan, and goes up from there depending on how much RAM, storage, and bandwidth you need.

All plans include:

• 24/7/365 Support
• Free SSL
• CDN Add-on
• Free Migration
• Unlimited Application Installation
• Team Management
• Dedicated Firewalls
• 24/7 Real-time Monitoring
• Automated Backups
• Staging Environment
• Optimized With Advanced Caches
• Auto Healing
• Regular Security Patching
• HTTP/2 Enabled Servers
• SSH and SFTP Access

Kinsta Pricing

Kinsta has a total of 10 different pricing plans available to suit businesses of all different sizes. There’s only one option when it comes to your cloud server, which is Google Cloud services.

The most starter plan on Kinsta costs $30 per month, and from there plans go up to $1,500/month depending on your storage and bandwidth needs.

All plans include:

• Free CDN (content delivery network)
• ​Free premium migrations
• Self-healing technology
• Automatic daily backups
• Hack fix and malware removal
• PHP 8.0 support
• Site cloning
• SSH access
• White-labeled cache plugin

Unlike Cloudways’ pay-as-you-go pricing, Kinsta requires payment in advance at the beginning of each month, or at the beginning of the year if you are going for a yearly plan. They do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee though, so if you’re not happy with the service and decide to leave, you won’t lose any money.

When it comes to plans and pricing, both companies offer great value for money, but Cloudways has a far more versatile (if confusing) pricing structure, which offers a range of cheaper options that might be more suitable for small businesses and bloggers.

Cloudways Vs Kinsta – Which is the Better Hosting Provider?

Both Cloudways and Kinsta offer managed web hosting solutions that will take most, if not all, of the stress out of managing the hosting of your website.

The main difference between these two hosting companies is the flexibility they offer. Cloudways is by far the most flexible option, offering a variety of different cloud hosting plans for different CMSs, including WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, Laravel, and more.

Their plans and pricing are completely flexible too. They have a range of prices to suit different types of businesses and different website needs. Pay-as-you-go pricing means you only pay for the services you have used, and you can move up and down through plans as you need to.

Kinsta is an excellent choice if you are looking for user-friendly managed WordPress hosting. It only offers hosting plans for WordPress and WooCommerce, so if you run your website or e-commerce site on another CMS, then this isn’t an option for you.

They also aren’t as flexible when it comes to pricing. Their cheapest plan starts at $30/month, which might be more than smaller businesses want to pay for their hosting. That being said, if you are a WordPress user, and are happy to pay the price, Kinsta is an excellent option. It offers server-side caching, a CDN, and a great range of security features to keep your website running smoothly.

Overall though, we have to say the winner is Cloudways. Due to its easy-to-use interface and flexible pricing, it’s the perfect managed hosting solution for all businesses, small and large.

Want to give Cloudways a try? Head over to their website to check out their plans and start a 3-day free trial

If you are a WordPress user, head over to Kinsta and try a free demo.

If you’re still undecided, you may want to take a look at Siteground.

Siteground offers a range of shared and managed hosting plans at affordable prices, and they are officially recommended by WordPress.

WP Engine is another great option for WordPress users that you might want to check out. Read our WP Engine review to find out more about what they have to offer.