Cloudways vs KnownHost: Which Hosting Provider is Right for You?

Cloudways vs. KnownHost provides powerful hosting alternatives that cater to various user demands, but each has distinct strengths and limits.

KnownHost (Overall grade: 8.6) excels at uptime and customer service, making it excellent for those who require dependability and competent technical support. KnownHost offers a wide selection of hosting options, including shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting, catering to high-traffic and multimedia websites that require better scalability.

Their use of LiteSpeed and NVMe storage results in quick load times, while their free migration service and automated daily backups enhance ease.

Notably, KnownHost includes built-in email hosting, which is beneficial for those seeking an integrated service. However, some users have observed slower server speeds and a less intuitive interface than competitors.

Cloudways (Overall grade: 8.5) offers exceptional speed, including SSD-based hosting, intelligent caching, and vertical scalability options, making it ideal for agencies and e-commerce websites.

The platform’s user-friendly interface supports smooth team collaboration by providing staging URLs and 1-click actions for simple maintenance. Cloudways stands out for its website speed, using Cloudflare Enterprise and auto-healing servers to ensure minimal downtime.

However, Cloudways does not provide domain registration or email hosting, forcing users to source these services individually, which can be inconvenient for some. Despite these minor flaws, Cloudways is widely regarded for its flexibility, streamlined performance, and great support choices.

	Overall grade:8.5	Overall grade:8.6
Uptime and Availability	9.5	9.6
Hosting Performance	8.8	8.4
Hosting Security	8.0	9.0
Price	8.6	9.0
Hosting Features	6.9	7.8
Ease Of Setup	9.0	9.2
User Management	8.2	7.0
Customer Support	9.2	9.0
User feedback	4.7/5	4/5

Hosting types offered

Both of the platforms offer several hosting options, each customized to the unique needs of customers.

Shared hosting	x	_
Cloud hosting	_	_
WordPress hosting	_	_
Shared Hosting	_	x
VPS hosting	x	_
Dedicated hosting	x	_

Although both provide a choice of hosting options related to certain purposes, in certain cases, one platform may be more appropriate.

Category	Winner	Reason
WordPress	Tie	Both Cloudways and KnownHost offer WordPress-optimized hosting with excellent support.
Ecommerce	Cloudways	Cloudways provides superior support, reliability, and advanced features, ideal for businesses focused on growth and stability.
Agencies	Cloudways	Cloudways offers team collaboration features and staging URLs, perfect for agencies managing multiple projects.
High-Traffic Websites	KnownHost	KnownHost provides VPS and dedicated hosting options, which offer better scalability and performance for high-traffic sites.
Multimedia Websites	KnownHost	KnownHost offers robust video and media hosting options with superior performance and management tools.

Detailed comparison

Uptime and availability

Section 1:

🏆 Winner: KnownHost is the top competitor due to its high uptime and excellent customer service.

Section 2:

Cloudways provides an amazing 99.99% uptime guarantee, which is substantiated by consistent performance measurements. Their average server response time is 229 milliseconds, and they offer exceptional performance improvement options. However, they do not supply domain registration or email hosting, so you may need to rely on third-party services.

Section 3:

KnownHost stands out with a 99.996% historical uptime and current efforts to ensure low downtime. Their performance measurements are supported by services like automated backups, free SSL certificates, and plans with DDoS protection. This focus on dependability and customer satisfaction provides KnownHost a modest advantage over Cloudways.

Which one has better hosting performance?

🏆 Cloudways, the winner, offers outstanding performance, superior caching, and scalability.

When it comes to overall performance, Cloudways stands out for its SSD hosting, which is far faster than HDDs. It integrates powerful caches such as Varnish, Nginx, and Redis directly into its platform to improve page load times, and it also provides Cloudflare Enterprise for enhanced CDN and security capabilities.

To manage high traffic efficiently, Cloudways uses an optimized stack of NGINX, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP-FPM. KnownHost, on the other hand, uses AMD EPYC technology with NVMe storage for exceptional speed, as well as LiteSpeed with LSCache for faster request processing and page loading.

Both companies have global data centers, but Cloudways’ auto-healing servers add an extra degree of reliability.

Website Speed

• Cloudways excels at website speed due to its integrated advanced caches and entirely SSD-based hosting. The incorporation of Cloudflare Enterprise accelerates content delivery while protecting against harmful traffic.
• The auto-healing servers reduce downtime to a minimum, providing peak performance at all times. KnownHost’s use of LiteSpeed and NVMe storage further ensures quick page loading and fast processing, giving it a competitive advantage in providing consistent speed.
• Cloudways, on the other hand, has more built-in solutions for improved web performance, making it the best option for speed-oriented hosting.

Scalability

• Scalability is easy and affordable with Cloudways because of its vertical scaling options, which allow users to expand resources such as RAM, CPU, and storage without requiring costly plan modifications.
• This elasticity assures maximum availability and performance while minimizing expenses. KnownHost also offers scalable options, although specifics on automatic scaling and dedicated server pricing are not provided.
• Cloudways provides one-click scalability modifications, simplifying the procedure for users who need to handle traffic surges easily.

Which one has better security features?

🏆 Winner: KnownHost offers better security and functionality.

Cloudways and KnownHost take quite different approaches to technical and operational security, as well as regulatory compliance.

Technical Security Measures:

• Cloudways and KnownHost both provide a variety of technical security features. Cloudways offers free one-click SSL certificates, dedicated server-level firewalls, Fail2ban to prevent suspicious activity and two-factor authentication.
• With each hosting account, KnownHost provides free SSL certificates, Imunify360 for automated real-time website protection, and firewall configuration for common services. KnownHost additionally contains LiteSpeed and LSCache to improve performance and security, which Cloudways does not explicitly provide.
• Both providers support several PHP versions, with Cloudways supporting significantly older versions beginning with PHP 5.6 and KnownHost starting with PHP 7.2.

Operational Security Measures:

• Cloudways offers itself automated bot protection, regular security patches and server OS updates, and auto-healing servers to ensure seamless operations.
• KnownHost’s operational security includes completely automated backups saved off-server to ensure data integrity and speedy recovery.
• Cloudways’ reliance on automated security measures like as Fail2ban and bot protection is offset by KnownHost’s strong DDoS protection of up to 500 Gbps at no additional cost, which stops 99.9% of all attacks.
• Cloudways additionally offers server and platform-level firewalls, and KnownHost supports reverse DNS setup to improve overall security.

Compliance and Certifications:

Cloudways uses PCI-DSS-compliant hardware from its cloud infrastructure suppliers but is not compliant itself. GDPR compliance is not specifically stated but is implied by its emphasis on data protection.

KnownHost secures websites with SSL certificates to meet PCI regulations, however it does not state its position on GDPR compliance. HIPAA compliance information is not provided for either hosting provider.

SSL certificate	GDPR Compliance	Free SSL Certificates
Additional security features	Auto-Healing Servers	Imunify360, LiteSpeed, LSCache
PHP versions	5.6 to 8.2	7.2 to 8.2
GDPR Compliance	Not specified	Not specified
HIPAA compliance	Not specified	Not specified
PCI compliance	Not PCI-DSS compliant	Meets PCI requirements

Hosting features

🏆 Winner: KnownHost, offering reliable hosting support and high-quality performance.

Both Cloudways and KnownHost provide strong hosting options that appeal to a wide range of user needs. Cloudways shines in terms of flexibility and use, offering seamless vertical scaling, a wide range of cache options, and a full stack designed for PHP applications. It also offers a dynamic team collaboration environment, including SSH and SFTP access, making it suitable for development teams.

• KnownHost, on the other hand, prioritizes user ease and security, offering LiteSpeed and LSCache for improved performance, NVMe storage, and comprehensive security features such as DDoS protection.
• It includes cPanel for easy control and regular daily backups to ensure data security. KnownHost offers a thorough relocation solution with minimal disruption, which could be a crucial factor for those looking to switch hosts smoothly.
• When it comes to full customization, Cloudways offers a more developer-centric environment, with capabilities like Git integration and application isolation, which can be critical for more complex projects.
• Cloudways also features a staging environment and one-click website/server cloning, which make testing and deployment simpler. Users of KnownHost benefit from a cPanel interface and Softaculous, which allow for quick one-click installations of over 400 software, easing setup for newbies.
• KnownHost also provides several backup snapshots, ensuring dependable data restoration and providing free domain privacy for life, which is an appealing selling factor.

Both suppliers provide free SSL certificates, but understanding Cloudways’ pay-as-you-go strategy and upward scalability is important for individuals who are unclear about their future resource needs.

Email Hosting	Free Domain	Yes
Free SSL	Yes	Yes
Website Builder	Rackspace, Elastic Email Add-on	Yes
Website builder	No	No
Staging environment	Yes	No
FTP & SFTP accounts	Yes	Yes
Git and SSH access	Yes	Yes
Free backup	Yes	Yes
Money-back guarantee	No	Yes

In particular situations, hosting providers offer distinct features based on different variables such as location. As a result, in rare circumstances, the characteristics listed below may differ from those found on respective websites.

Email Services:

Cloudways provides email hosting add-on services through Rackspace and Elastic Email, both of which provide transactional email solutions but require additional setup. KnownHost’s hosting options feature built-in email hosting and offer direct email marketing assistance.

In addition, KnownHost provides reselling alternatives for services such as Google Workspace and Outlook, providing consumers with a variety of options for easily managing their business communications.

Price

🏆 Winner: KnownHost provides excellent hosting options with affordable prices and extensive features.

Because of the differences in pricing and renewal procedures between hosting companies, comparing plan prices can be difficult. Furthermore, some programs need annual commitments, which complicates comparisons.

• The given pricing is based on monthly commitments; plans that need annual commitments are highlighted. Furthermore, while some providers provide the same plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have made separate tables for each to improve clarity.
• When comparing Cloudways and KnownHost, it’s clear that Cloudways has a diverse selection of hosting options, including WordPress, Ecommerce, AWS, GCE, Vultr, and Linode hosting, all with different specifications and pricing tiers.
• KnownHost, on the other hand, offers fully managed WordPress hosting, shared web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and semi-dedicated hosting plans that prioritize simplicity of management, plenty of storage, and strong support.
• KnownHost’s entry-level plans are significantly less expensive than Cloudways’ equivalent offers, providing significant value for budget-conscious users looking for managed solutions.

WordPress Hosting Plan:

DO1GB ($11)1 website, 25 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 GB RAM, 1 core processor, support options not specified.Value for price:8.5	Entry WordPress ($5.98)1 website, 50 GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, support for 100k visits/month, unlimited email, LiteSpeed/LSCache, free migrations, backups, staging tools.Value for price:9.0
DO2GB ($24)1 website, 50 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:8.0	Business WordPress ($9.98)1 website, 100 GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, support for 200k visits/month, unlimited email, LiteSpeed/LSCache, free migrations, backups, staging tools.Value for price:9.2
DO4GB ($46)1 website, 80 GB storage, 4 TB bandwidth, 4 GB RAM, 2 cores processor.Value for price:8.2	Corporate WordPress ($19.98)5 websites, 150 GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, support for 500k visits/month, unlimited email, LiteSpeed/LSCache, free migrations, backups, staging tools.Value for price:9.3
AWS Small ($38.56)1 website, 20 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM, 2 cores processor.Value for price:7.5	N/A
AWS Medium ($91.84)1 website, 20 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, 4 GB RAM, 2 cores processor.Value for price:7.4	N/A

Shared Hosting Plan:

DO1GB ($11)1 website, 25 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 GB RAM, 1 core processor, support options not specified.Value for price:8.5	Basic Web Hosting ($3.47)1 domain, 5 GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, 512 MB memory, LiteSpeed, cPanel, free SSL.Value for price:8.8
DO2GB ($24)1 website, 50 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:8.0	Standard Web Hosting ($6.47)5 domains, 20 GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, 1 GB memory, LiteSpeed, cPanel, free SSL.Value for price:9.0
DO4GB ($46)1 website, 80 GB storage, 4 TB bandwidth, 4 GB RAM, 2 cores processor.Value for price:8.2	Professional Web Hosting ($9.97)Unlimited domains, unlimited NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, 2 GB memory, LiteSpeed, cPanel, free SSL.Value for price:9.3
N/A	Premium Web Hosting ($19.97)Unlimited domains, unlimited NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, 4 GB memory, LiteSpeed, cPanel, free SSL.Value for price:9.4

Cloud hosting plan

AWS CO Large ($164.50)1 website, 20 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, 4 GB RAM, 2 cores processor.Value for price:7.2	N/A
GCE Small ($37.45)1 website, 20 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, 1.75 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:7.7	N/A
GCE Medium ($84.12)1 website, 20 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, 3.75 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:7.5	N/A
Vultr1GB ($14)1 website, 25 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:8.0	N/A
Lin1GB ($14)1 website, 25 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:8.0	N/A
Lin2GB ($28)1 website, 50 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM, 1 core processor.Value for price:7.8	N/A

In certain cases, companies charge different pricing depending on numerous factors such as location. As a result, in rare situations, the prices mentioned here may differ from those shown on respective websites.

• For More Information About Cloudways Read our Complete guide: Cloudways Review 2024: Managed Hosting For WordPress Users.

Enterprise plans

For businesses, KnownHost’s managed VPS Hosting provides substantial resources at cheap costs, such as the Premium VPS Server for $103.25/month, which includes 8 cores, 12 GB RAM, and 6 TB bandwidth.

Cloudways offers high-end choices, such as the AWS CO 24XL, which costs $3,189.82 per month and has 192 GB RAM and 96 cores, making it ideal for much larger infrastructures. KnownHost’s managed services, migrations, and backups bring substantial value to organizations looking for easier management.

Cloudways vs Knownhost: Easy of Setup

🏆 Winner: KnownHost provides excellent customer service and quick response times.

Cloudways makes use of a customized, user-friendly control interface that simplifies server and application maintenance. This user-friendly interface, which includes 1-click activities and pre-installed Git, is suitable for both technical and non-technical users.

Staging URLs and vertical scaling options improve flexibility and usability. KnownHost makes use of the industry-standard cPanel, which is well-known for its simple and user-friendly interface. When combined with Softaculous, it allows customers to install many apps with a single click, even if they lack technical knowledge.

Both platforms provide simple and efficient control panels, but KnownHost’s use of the familiar cPanel makes it more accessible to a wider audience.

Cloudways, on the other hand, provides a customized, user-friendly control panel that simplifies server and application maintenance. This user-friendly interface, which includes 1-click activities and pre-installed Git, is suitable for both technical and non-technical users.

To increase versatility and ease of use, the platform features staging URLs as well as vertical scaling options.

Both Cloudways and KnownHost provide free migrating services for their initial websites from any web host. Cloudways makes the process even easier by offering 1-click server and website cloning, as well as SSH and SFTP access for secure file transfers.

KnownHost, on the other hand, offers a manual migration, which is often completed without downtime and is managed expertly by their support personnel. Both technologies excel at migration, but KnownHost’s claim of zero downtime is a huge advantage.

The platforms offer extensive knowledge bases with guides, how-to articles, and instructional information. Cloudways provides a diverse set of resources as well as 24/7 expert help, with the option to upgrade to premium service.

KnownHost also has an extensive Knowledge Base and 24/7/365 assistance, which is known for its quick response times and effectiveness in providing comprehensive user support.

• For Information about KnownHost Read our complete guide: KnownHost Review 2024: Details, Pros & Cons, Pricing & Features.

User management

🏆 Cloudways Winner for its user-friendly and flexible user management capabilities.

Cloudways and KnownHost both have user management features, although they serve different needs. Cloudways allows you to manage user roles directly from the WordPress Admin Panel, providing a detailed and highly configurable method.

Users can be assigned different roles, such as Super Admin, Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber, each with different permissions.

KnownHost, on the other hand, incorporates user management within its My KnownHost Panel and offers tutorials for managing users and accounts. While both platforms are effective, Cloudways offers greater flexibility and clarity when establishing and maintaining user roles.

Cloudways offers a simple interface that can be accessed via the WordPress Admin Panel, whereas KnownHost manages users using the My KnownHost Panel. Cloudways provides straightforward instructions for adding, editing, and deleting users, as well as updating user roles.

KnownHost’s interface is more centralized, with a focus on domain management and organizational settings, although it mainly relies on guidelines for detailed user management tasks.

Cloudways’ access control systems are basic, with clear user responsibilities that facilitate efficient delegation and collaboration.

KnownHost offers reliable support and managed services to ensure uptime and stability. However, with its broad role definitions and user-friendly interface, Cloudways appears to be better suited to managing an increasing number of users.

Cloudways’ ability to collaborate with teams and give roles provides scalability and effective user management.

Cloudways user roles table:

Role	Description	Access highlights
Super Admin	Full access to all site and network features.	Manage the entire website, all settings, and users.
Administrator	Access to all administrative privileges.	Full control over site settings and content.
Editor	Create and manage their posts.	Can publish other users’ posts.
Author	Create and edit your posts without publishing.	Limited to own posts only.
Contributor	Create and edit your posts without publishing.	Cannot publish posts; limited to submission.
Subscriber	Manage personal profile.	Limited to viewing and updating their profile.

Customer support

🏆 Winner Cloudways: Premium users can receive help by email, live chat, and phone, as well as proactive monitoring and customization.

Phone support	_	_
Live chat support	_	_
Chatbot	x	x
Email/ticket support	_	_
Enterprise support (dedicated agent, priority support)	_	x

• Cloudways and KnownHost both provide 24/7 technical support through different contact channels, but Cloudways has a minor advantage with premium support options such as phone help and a private Slack channel. This provides additional flexibility for consumers who require immediate support.
• Furthermore, Cloudways offers proactive monitoring, ensuring that possible problems are addressed quickly without users having to file a complaint.

• KnownHost receives praise for its high uptime guarantee and comprehensive managed hosting services, which include free SSL certificates and automatic upgrades.
• Customer feedback highlights their quick response times and friendly support crew, which is ideal for individuals who value customer service.
• However, Cloudways’ additional capabilities, such as dedicated account managers and advanced support customization, differentiate it as the winner.

Cloudways vs Knownhost: User feedback

Cloudways is frequently overall simple to use, has robust performance, and exceptional customer service. Many reviewers praise the platform’s user-friendly UI, effective server administration features, and ability to choose from top-tier cloud providers such as AWS and DigitalOcean.

Users value the expandable hosting options and dependable customer service, which frequently provides prompt responses and useful advice. However, some customers point out areas for improvement, such as the lack of email hosting, restrictions on server vendor options, and pricing inconsistencies.

Overall, Cloudways is regarded as a reliable hosting provider, particularly for its managed hosting services and performance-enhancing capabilities.

KnownHost’s users provide mixed feedback. Many customers like its responsive and knowledgeable customer service, high uptime, and great technological infrastructure, especially for managed WordPress and VPS hosting.

However, there have been several complaints regarding sluggish server speeds, inadequate assistance, and confusing user interfaces. Furthermore, some consumers believe the service is costly based on the performance concerns they have experienced.

Overall, while KnownHost has committed clients who value its offers, future users should be aware of the variety of experiences and choose whether they match their requirements.

Cloudways VS KnownHost FAQs: