If you’re considering making the switch to Cloud hosting, then it won’t take you long to discover that there are now several top providers to choose from. In the battle for the best cloud storage provider, you’ll come across top contenders like Cloudways, SiteGround, and DigitalOcean.
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Which host has better performance? What types of hosting solutions do they offer?
You’ve come to the right place to get answers to these questions and more. We’ll break down each of the three popular cloud hosting providers and fill you in on the information you need to choose the best one for you.
Key Differences Between Cloudways vs SiteGround vs DigitalOcean
At first glance, all three contenders may look pretty similar and the truth is that in some ways they are. But while each is a solid option for cloud hosting, there are several key differences between them.
Let’s start with a broad overview to help you get a feel for the setup of each hosting provider:
Cloudways | Siteground | DigitalOcean |
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that’s actually owned by DigitalOcean. Rather than being a hosting provider in itself, it connects users with their choice of one of several different providers, including DigitalOcean, AWS, and GCP. | Unlike DigitalOcean, SiteGround offers both shared and cloud hosting options. While SiteGround doesn’t specialize exclusively in cloud hosting, its cloud services stack up impressively well against providers that do. | DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider that offers storage solutions for businesses, web developers, and more. While one of the most comprehensive cloud solutions on the market, it isn’t the kind of thing you want to tackle with limited tech knowledge. |
Comparing the Features of Top Cloud Service Providers
As you can see, each of our three providers offers a different setup. But in order to help you get a sense of the best choice for you, let’s look a little closer at what each brings to the table.
Cloudways: Best for Intermediate Users
Cloudways offers to connect you with your choice of provider with highly customizable pricing plans starting at $14/month. While speed and uptime vary depending on which you choose, Cloudway's choice of exclusively top-notch providers offers speeds that stack up well against industry benchmarks.
As a managed cloud hosting solution, Cloudways is worth looking into if you’re newer to the whole cloud storage concept. In fact, Cloudways isn’t even necessarily a competitor to DigitalOcean, as many users choose to use the two together.
But why use both if you can just use DigitalOcean directly? Because while DigitalOcean is a great option for professional web developers, it’s no walk in the park to figure out for beginners.
Ease of Use
Cloudways can help make the process a bit more manageable with server backups, managed configuration, and a far more user-friendly dashboard than a cPanel interface. It also offers features like server management, free SSL certificate installation, backups, and easy scaling options.
But while Cloudways is designed to take care of more technical tasks than DigitalOcean alone, take its claims of beginner-friendliness with a grain of salt. While it can significantly simplify the process for users with intermediate or advanced technical knowledge, it’s far from a breeze for those with limited tech experience.
Flexibility and Scalability
If there’s one thing that makes Cloudways stand apart, it’s that it does offer a great deal of flexibility across the board. You can not only choose your own server provider, but the location of the data center you prefer.
Cloudways also uses a unique price model that allows you to only pay for the amount of storage you use. Rather than charging upfront, the platform will invoice you for the services you use each month as calculated by the hour. That way, if you decide to scale or cancel at any point during the month, you’ll only pay for the service you actually used.
Customer Service and Security
When it comes to security, Cloudways is on point with end-to-end encryption, firewalls, bot protection, and more. While the platform does offer 24/7 support 365 days a year, be sure to read the fine print.
Free round-the-clock customer service is limited to chat support, but if you’re looking for customized support, you’ll have to pay extra. Even the next level of “add-on” support costs $100/month.
SiteGround: Best for Beginners
As mentioned, SiteGround offers both managed cloud and shared hosting options. Businesses interested in cloud hosting will find options ranging from $100/month for 8GB Memory and 5TB Data Тransfer to $400/month for 16 CPU Cores and 5TB Data Тransfer.
But SiteGround also offers the handy option to build your own plan so that you can select your own amount of custom storage. If you’re an individual user or small business owner, it’s also worth checking out SiteGround’s dedicated web, WordPress, and WooCommerce hosting options, which are far cheaper and can increase your site’s speed by up to 500%.
Ease of Use
DigitalOcean’s interface makes SiteGround’s look like child’s play - which is actually a great thing if you’re looking for ease of use. SiteGround’s managed Cloud hosting options include an easy-to-navigate dashboard and a WordPress installation plug-ins that take the stress out of migration.
You can even opt for an optional $30 migration service, which is not a bad deal if you’d like to have the whole thing handled by professionals. The user-friendly dashboard comes with a set of customized site tools and even allows you to offer hosting services to your own clients.
Speed and Scalability
While Cloudways stands out in terms of flexibility, SiteGrounds also makes the scaling very simple. You can adjust your memory, SSD storage, or CPU at any time from your account dashboard or select the auto-scale option to ensure you’ll always have plenty of resources, even during unexpected spikes.
One of SiteGround’s key strengths is speed, as it offers free CDN for all users and an SG Optimizer plugin that can speed up your WordPress and WooCommerce sites significantly. With average speeds of up to 384 ms, SiteGround has you covered in terms of fast service and scalability.
Customer Service and Security
SiteGround also has solid rankings when it comes to customer support options. While their automated solutions will first attempt to help you resolve your issue, you can also choose from several free customer service options including chat, phone support, and help desk tickets.
You can also rest assured that ensuring your site’s security is one of SiteGround’s core missions. Check out the platform’s security section to view the complete list of extensive security features it utilizes.
DigitalOcean: Best for Experienced Users
If you’re no stranger to Cloud development, then DigitalOcean is likely the best choice for you. With average speeds of up to 288.92 ms, DigitalOcean offers plenty of choices when it comes to features and pricing customization.
Users can choose from their own unique blend of Droplets (servers), Kubernetes, Managed Databases, and more. But while the provider offers plenty for developers to love, it was not designed with the average user in mind.
Ease of Use
While DigitalOcean isn’t necessarily beginner friendly, this may be a perk for more advanced users who are in search of a high-performance cloud solution. The IaaS provider is particularly geared toward developers, who find plenty to love in its performance-packed tool kit.
From web, app, and game development to blockchain, virtual machines, and VPS hosting, it can’t be denied that DigitalOcean offers plenty of use cases. Assuming that you do indeed speak tech, then you may find DigitalOcean incredibly straightforward and easy to use.
Customer Service and Scalability
Given its affiliation with Cloudways, it may come as no surprise that DigitalOcean offers a similar customer service setup. While general email guidance is available within 24 hours, you’ll have to dish out anywhere from an extra $100 - $1000/month to get customized tech support.
DigitalOcean does seem on top of security and also recommends certain security practices that can help users keep their data safe. The platform also offers various scaling options, including autoscaling.
Cloudways vs SiteGround vs DigitalOcean
As you can see, which provider is best for you will highly depend on your level of tech knowledge and what type of service you’re looking for. If you’re a tech whiz that builds whole new blockchains during breakfast, then head over to DigitalOcean and knock yourself out.
If you’re looking for customizable cloud service solutions, then Cloudways is worth checking out, especially if you’re an intermediate user. But while SiteGround may not limit itself to cloud hosting, we found it an impressively attractive choice for users of all levels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do SiteGround, Cloudways and DigitalOcean come with free SSL?
Yes, all the sites reviewed here come with a free SSL certificate.
SiteGround vs Cloudways vs DigitalOcean: Which is Better for WordPress?
While all of the options listed above come with tools geared toward WordPress users, we found Siteground’s the easiest to use. When it says one-click migration, it actually means it - as opposed to options like DigitalOcean, which make things more complicated than they may appear for those with limited tech knowledge.
SiteGround vs Cloudways vs DigitalOcean: Which is Better for Wix?
The only provider on the list recommended by Wix itself is SiteGound. Though the website builder does suggest a number of other service providers as well.
SiteGround vs Cloudways vs DigitalOcean: Which is Better for Drupal?
Both Siteground and DigitalOcean are compatible with Drupal. Choosing the best one for you will largely come down to the features and storage requirements you’re looking for.
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