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I have been building websites for 20 years. Over that time frame I’ve found that an essential part for every single website I have built is my hosting partner. Having a great host means that my websites are up and reliable. Good hosting is essential for delivering a website for any business.

When it comes to hosting WordPress that hosting partner needs to be even more specific. Getting a WordPress specific hosting can be more costly, but you need to get a good fit to get the best results for your WordPress Agency and your client websites.

Is Cloudways that killer partner for your WordPress agency? In this article I’ll go over some of the reasons why you should consider Cloudways for your WordPress Agency.

1. Unlimited Sites, No Location Restrictions

One of the coolest things about Cloudways is that you can host unlimited sites on servers located anywhere. Unlike other hosting companies that limit the number of websites or impose hidden restrictions, Cloudways breaks free from those chains. Whether it’s hard disk space, processing power, or server location, Cloudways has got you covered. You can literally have unlimited websites and scale your servers in any direction and place them wherever you need. How awesome is that?

Perfect for Micro Agencies and Small Enterprises

If you’re running a micro agency or a small enterprise, Cloudways is a game-changer. Imagine setting up a host where you can manage tons of small WordPress sites. With Cloudways, you can set up multiple WordPress installations with the right caching and configurations for magazine-style websites that won’t crash. You get one mega server that can handle many, many websites without any scaling limitations. It’s perfect for delivering cookie-cutter or templated websites to small to medium businesses.

Tailored Solutions for Resource-Heavy Sites

Now, what if you’ve got a resource-draining website? No worries! Cloudways lets you set up a specific server tailored just for that site. This is super handy for large WooCommerce sites or membership sites that rely on dynamic data. You’ll need powerful processing and a robust database, but maybe not a ton of disk space. With Cloudways, you can pick the perfect server setup to meet your site’s unique needs. They even have auto scaling options.

So, whether you’re managing a bunch of small sites or one big resource-hungry site, Cloudways offers the flexibility and power you need. Cloudways has made my hosting life a whole lot easier! Make sure you review it for your agency needs.

2. Automatically update WordPress websites without errors.

For a small fee, Cloudways takes the hassle out of updates by running automatic updates for you. But hold up—it’s not just a simple click-and-update process. Nope, it’s way cooler than that.

What Makes Safe Updates So Awesome?

Cloudways actually creates an entire testing process for each of your WordPress websites. It runs these updates in an isolated container, away from your live site. This is super handy because it ensures your WordPress websites stay error-free while still benefiting from automatic updates.

Why I Love Safe Updates from Cloudways

We use this feature on all our Cloudways-hosted sites, and here’s why: it drastically cuts down the time we spend on updates. Instead of manually updating and testing, we can focus our care plan time on real-world improvements for our clients’ websites. Whether it’s SEO tweaks, content updates, or other enhancements, we have more time to make meaningful changes for our clients.

To top it off we also have less downtime and lower chances of errors. Safe Updates is actually better than a human in testing our updates. This tool saves me time and is reliable.

The Bottom Line

With the Safe Update tool, we don’t have to worry about spending hours running updates and testing. Cloudways handles it all, making our lives a lot easier and our websites a lot more reliable. If you’re looking to save time and keep your WordPress sites running smoothly, the Safe Update feature is definitely worth checking out!

3. The vulnerability scanner at scale

It’s super important to keep your websites secure. This is especially true for those running on open source software. We all know there’s a risk of vulnerabilities creeping into your WordPress websites, whether from an update or just old, outdated software. So, how can you stay on top of vulnerability management? You need the right tools.

The Challenge

Imagine you’ve got hundreds of websites. How do you know which ones need updates or have vulnerabilities? Without a scanner, you’re pretty much in the dark. And manually checking each site? That’s a nightmare!

Running a scanner makes sense but a lot of existing tools are costly and require special configuration. Wouldn’t it be better if your host could look after this for you automatically?

Enter Cloudways Vulnerability Scanner

This is where Cloudways comes to the rescue with their free vulnerability scanner. It’s a game-changer. The scanner gives you a clear picture of what’s going on with every single website, highlighting which plugins have security concerns and what specifically needs updating. This saves me a ton of time, especially if there are errors within those updates.

How it works in the real world

With the scanner, I quickly identify which sites need attention. Then, I copy those sites to staging with the cloudways build in tools, run the update and test them out. Once I have finished that up I roll out to production with the cloudways tools. It’s a streamlined process that not only saves me a lot of time but also keeps my websites secure.

So, if you’re managing multiple sites and want to keep them safe and up-to-date, definitely give Cloudways’ vulnerability scanner a try. When you pair it with the auto update tool, you will be running your clients websites with super powers.

4. Object Cache with Redis for Fast Loading Data-Heavy WordPress Sites

When it comes to hosting, one of the big challenges is caching. And let’s face it, caching can get pretty complex. There are different types of caches for different needs. Object cache is one of the best tools for your WordPress sites to speed up the response times on the server.

Why Object Cache?

Every WordPress website is frequently chatting with the database. Every page load comes from your database. And guess what? Those database calls? They can be heavy and time-consuming. The more complex your WordPress website is, the more data it has to fetch from the database. That takes a toll on your load times. This is even more dramatic for Membership sites and E-Commerce.

Enter Redis

This is where Redis comes in to save the day. Redis is an exceptionally fast caching database that can handle a whopping 50,000 reads per second.

How does this help? Imagine having a web page with 70 different queries running. These queries are for navigation, content, ads, and various listings. With Redis, all those queries can go through the object cache instead of hitting your MySQL database. The result? Lightning-fast load times! Instead of those lookups taking one or two seconds, they happen in the blink of an eye.

This is especially handy if you’re using page builders like Divi, Elementor, or Beaver Builder, which often lean heavily on the database. By integrating Redis, you’ll make your website noticeably faster.

I have seen reductions of 1 or 2 seconds on Divi websites by simply migrating the website to Cloudways and taking advantage of the free Redis and object cache addon. Note: You will need a 2GB or bigger server to get these tools enabled.

Object Cache Pro

Redis on Cloudways includes an amazing plugin called Object Cache Pro. This is integrated with the Breeze caching plugin for your WordPress websites. This takes all the difficult configuration out and means you can easily get the performance you need without getting stuck.

So, if you want to speed up your data-heavy WordPress site, spin up a 2GB server with cloudways and give Redis a shot. Your load times will drop and your clients will thank you!

5. Elasticsearch Included for Great WooCommerce Search at No Extra Cost

When it comes to WooCommerce’s search functionality, things can get pretty limited. Hosting a WordPress site means that searching and filtering through all your info can be a real headache. You might try different plugins, but often the search speeds are still painfully slow. Sure, our old friend object cache can help a bit, but for advanced search capabilities, you need something more powerful.

This is where Elasticsearch steps in. Designed specifically for filtering WooCommerce Products and other e-commerce databases, Elasticsearch is a game-changer. It excels at managing various attributes associated with data collections, making search and filtering a breeze.

The best part? Cloudways includes Elasticsearch with its hosting plans. If you’ve got a WooCommerce site, just select the right server, pop Elasticsearch in there, and voila—you get an awesome search experience.

Backed by the Best

Elasticsearch is also supported by 10up and other top-notch partners in the WordPress world, ensuring a solid and reliable search tool. This means a great user experience for your visitors, which ultimately translates to more sales. A good search function helps people find exactly what they need without the hassle, making them more likely to complete a purchase.

Do you need WooCommerce search that is fast and user-friendly, give Elasticsearch a try. Your customers will thank you!

To help get ready for all those sales you will want to consider the next big feature, Auto Scaling.

6. Excellent Uptime with Auto Scale Options: No Surprise Downtimes

If you get large amounts of traffic, you may end up in a situation where you need to do scaling. Now, scaling is never easy and is often quite expensive. The wonderful thing about cloudways is they have a specific product geared towards the scaling conundrum. Cloudways Autonomous is very affordable and allows your WordPress website to scale automatically.

Why Cloudways Autonomous Rocks

Imagine you’ve got a large WooCommerce site, and you’re gearing up for a massive holiday promotion. The last thing you want is for all that traffic to slow your site down. With Cloudways’ auto-scaling, you don’t have to worry. It automatically scales your server behind the scenes as traffic ramps up, preventing slowdowns and downtime.

This means your WordPress site becomes virtually uncrashable. Plus, the beauty of auto-scaling is that it doesn’t just stay big. Once the traffic surge is over, it scales back down, saving you money. Unlike the traditional route where you’d need a massive server all the time (and pay for it even when you don’t need it), auto-scaling adjusts based on your traffic needs.

Perfect for Seasonal Sales

This is a game-changer for seasonal sales or WooCommerce sites with periodic promotions. Whether it’s a holiday sale or a social media marketing campaign with product drops, auto-scaling ensures your site stays fast and reliable.

If you want to keep your client website’s running smoothly during traffic spikes without breaking the bank, Cloudways Autonomous needs to be on your agency shopping list.

7. Cloudflare Enterprise That Won’t Break the Bank

You might already know that Cloudflare boosts website security and performance. It’s a leading CDN and security solution making waves across all sorts of websites. What’s even better is Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise setup. It gives you an enterprise solution for a very low price.

With Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise, you get highly cached Cloudflare content, meaning your site loads lightning-fast and puts less strain on your server. Plus, it protects your site from brute force attacks and other threats that can slow down a traditional WordPress site.

Most importantly you get polish, an image optimisation tool with images loaded from cloudflare CDN that are automatically optimized.

The trade offs

Now, a heads-up: Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise isn’t the same thing as Cloudflare Enterprise. You can’t log into the Cloudflare admin panel—everything is controlled by Cloudways. This might be a bit of a bummer if you like fine-tuning settings. But on the flip side, you get excellent image optimization, pre-configured rules, static caching, and page speed enhancements—all without touching the Cloudflare security panel. It is also integrated into the Breeze cache plugin and gives you amazing results in a simple setup.

Is It Right for You?

If this setup works for you, it’s a fantastic solution that saves you money. It’s especially great for magazine-style or brochure-style WordPress websites without complex WooCommerce integrations. If that sounds like your site, Cloudflare Enterprise will work wonders, keeping your server load light and delivering super-fast websites for your clients.

8. 24-Hour Chat Support That Can Help You

You know, when it comes to any kind of Hosting partner, I found that getting quick responses on a 24-hour chart is really important.

The Importance of Quick Responses

When it comes to hosting partners, getting quick responses around the clock is absolutely crucial. Living in Australia, I need support that’s available even in the middle of the night, especially when dealing with American companies. Over the years, this has been a significant challenge for me. I need a hosting partner that is available on chat when I need them. I need someone to respond promptly and effectively.

I also don’t want an inexperienced operator. As a 20 year veteran the last thing I want to hear is “Did you clear your cache?”. I also don’t want to be training the operator. The only thing worse than that is a chatbot.

The Chatbot Frustration

Nobody likes dealing with a chatbot that’s just, well, a bot. It’s incredibly frustrating to start a chat and then wait 12 to 16 hours for a real response. I see this issue frequently with various hosting providers worldwide. But here’s the good news: Cloudways offers real, 24-hour chat support.

Why Cloudways shines in Chat support

For agencies, waiting hours for a response is simply not an option. Cloudways generally gets back to you within minutes, ensuring you’re never left hanging. Their 24-hour chat support is staffed with real people who can provide genuine help for your WordPress websites.

In my experience the operators are knowledgeable, and get to the point of solving the problem.

They also do not expect that every issue is user error, this saves me a ton of time because I can avoid the simple troubleshooting and get on with solving the issue at hand.

Note: If you ever find the cloudways control panel down, there is no way to contact support. It has happened once. I hope it does happen again. Its something to be aware of.

Other great Cloudways features

I have covered just 8 core features in this article. Cloudways has so many more excellent tools. The cron job manager, the excellent custom control panel and staging tools as well as built-in daily backups. These are all a pleasure to use. They are also great value which not only save time but they save money too.

Is it time to consider a new host?

So the question remains, will cloudways work for your agency? If you are hosting websites that need these 8 killer features then cloudways needs to be on your review list. If you are doing large numbers of websites on servers or you’re doing complex woocommerce websites, then you definitely want to make sure that you check on cloudways to utilize their unique product offering.

What does your Agency need in a WordPress hosting partner? Do you have questions on any of these killer features? Reach out to the team and let me know.

Articles | WordPress Website Care