Cloudways and NameHero are the main 2 hosts I recommend on my site, so I thought it would be fun to compare them.
Cloudways is who I host my blog with. You start by launching a server on a cloud host like DigitalOcean or Vultr High Frequency (what I use), then connect your domain name. Beginners can be intimidated because they use a custom dashboard which gives you more control of your server settings, but you usually don’t need to touch most of these (it’s not hard, just different than traditional hosting/cPanels). Cloudways is monthly pricing, has 39 data centers, and is popular in Facebook Groups with a reputation for being fast. I’ve always had great speeds on Cloudways. A few cons are no file manager, cost of WP Rocket, and CloudwaysCDN isn’t great.
NameHero is more like “traditional” hosting with cPanel and 1-3 year contracts. A key benefit is they use LiteSpeed which is faster than Apache (what Cloudways uses). This means you will use the LiteSpeed Cache plugin with QUIC.cloud CDN which are free and one of the fastest setups for cache plugins/CDNs – especially since it uses HTTP/3 and server-level caching. NameHero’s support is US-based and so are most of their data centers (with one in the Netherlands), so it’s mainly for websites in the US or Netherlands. They offer both shared hosting (I recommend the Turbo Cloud plan) and managed cloud hosting which you should ideally use for WooCommerce.
1. Pros + Cons On Cloudways vs. NameHero
Cloudways Pros
- Speed (my TTFB is consistently under 200ms).
- Releases new servers (DO Premium + Vultr HF).
- Multiple caching levels (Redis, memcached, Varnish).
- Monthly pricing (no yearly contracts or high renewals).
- They have a Cloudways Users Facebook Group to ask questions.
- Choice of 5 cloud providers: DO, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud, Linode.
- Lots of data centers to choose from between all their cloud providers.
- Their community manager can answer your questions when signing up.
Cloudways Cons
- Apache servers.
- No file manager.
- No domain names (use GoDaddy/NameCheap).
- WP Rocket is better than Breeze plugin (extra cost).
- BunnyCDN is better than CloudwaysCDN (extra cost)
- No email hosting (Cloudways offers Rackspace for $1/email per month).
- Sometimes, new customers must show ID to get their account approved.
- Offsite backup storage is $0.033/GB per server (use UpDraftPlus instead).
- Support used to not be great, but has definitely improved the last couple years.
NameHero Pros
- Beginner-friendly dashboard + cPanel.
- LiteSpeed Cache + QUIC.cloud CDN are free/fast.
- Basic features like backups/email hosting are free.
- Excellent support with options for phone/chat/ticket.
- Cheap pricing with no extra costs for cache plugin/CDN.
- Green-friendly
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This article was written by Tom Dupuis and originally published on Tom Dupuis.