Namecheap vs Cloudways -Which Web Host Reigns Supreme?

This Namecheap vs. Cloudways comparison comes from someone with firsthand experience with both web hosts. 

I started using Namecheap in 2015, then on a shared hosting server. In 2020, during COVID-19, I migrated to EasyWP, Namecheap’s cloud-managed WordPress hosting. 

After three years with EasyWP, I migrated to the Cloudways DigitalOcean server in April 2023.

Why did I move to Cloudways? And leave EasyWP? 

You’ll find all the answers in this comparison review of Namecheap versus Cloudways. 

What you will learn in this guide

Here are a few takeaways from this post.

Cloudways and Namecheap – Overview

Co-founded in 2012 by Pere Hospital and Aaqib Gadit, Cloudways is a renowned cloud hosting provider that has redefined how businesses and individuals build an online presence through high-quality hosting services. 

Through five carefully selected cloud service providers (more on that later), Cloudways provides a user-friendly platform geared towards simplicity. It delivers optimal server performance, scalable hosting plans, and competitive hosting prices.

Cloudways targets agencies, small businesses, companies, web developers, and individuals seeking hosting solutions that adapt to their unique needs and offer flexible scalability, so you can focus on business growth without worrying about server-side management.  

While it focuses on WooCommerce and WordPress hosting, Cloudways lets you deploy other web applications like Magento, PHP, and Laravel. All hosting types run in a managed hosting environment, so you can focus more on growing your business. 

Namecheap is known for being an accredited ICANN domain name registrar first and web hosting second. The company is the second-largest domain name registrar worldwide, with over 16 million domains and counting.  

Only GoDaddy, with over 76 million registered domains, has more active registered customers’ domain names than Namecheap. 

Namecheap was founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall with one mission: to make high-quality web hosting services affordable for individuals and small business owners. True to its mission, most Namecheap hosting packages are inexpensive yet offer high-quality features and services.  

Through the years, Namecheap has developed several cost-effective, innovative hosting and marketing solutions that help businesses and individuals start, grow, and manage their businesses without breaking the bank.

Like Cloudways, Namecheap allows businesses, individuals, and developers to install web applications in cPanel.

As part of the company’s hosting affordability mission, Namecheap launched EasyWP in May 2017 to provide affordable managed WordPress hosting solutions. 

Now that you have a brief overview of both companies, let’s dive in. 

Ease of Use

User experience plays a significant role in quickly deploying web applications, locating essential hosting features and tools, navigating the interface, and completing important tasks. 

Both Cloudways and Namecheap have simple, intuitive user interfaces that help you avoid getting lost the first time. 

In July 2023, Cloudways launched a redesigned user dashboard that is more intuitive and smoother, delivering a better user experience. The new dashboard lets users find and manage hosting features more effectively, showcase necessary account settings, and simplify navigation. 

Here is the new Cloudways user dashboard

Hover your mouse anywhere on the side menu to reveal a slide-out panel. This slideout panel contains additional hosting features, account and project settings, and management. 

Here, you can access features like Cloudways add-ons, team management, project management, and affiliate programs, add funds to your account, and access servers and applications. 

If you have been following the image, you will notice that the Cloudways new user dashboard is as clean and decluttered as possible. 

The main screen area has no unnecessary elements or features. Most features are only revealed through the slide-out panel when needed.

Still, you can access your server and application settings from the main screen area without sliding out the panel. 

Namecheap’s EasyWP uses a simpler approach to its user dashboard. 

Simplicity is at its best. The user dashboard or control panel is customized to make server and website management as painless as possible. 

After completing the sign-up process, you will be greeted with a dashboard like this. 

To manage hosting features like SFTP and database access, CPU and RAM usage reports, initiate backups, and access add-ons, click the “Manage” button. Use the other button/link, “WP Admin,” to log in to your WordPress admin backend. 

Clicking the manage button/link opens the control panel for more options. 

Via its navigation menu, you can access other important hosting features. On the overview page, you can access account settings, upgrade your hosting account, and view the next repayment date. 

The overview page also shows your application’s WordPress version, CPU and RAM usage, and lets you change the domain name connected to your hosting account. 

EasyWP assigns a temporary domain name when you open an account. You should later change this to your custom domain name before making your blog go live.  

This process is more straightforward if your domain name is registered with Namecheap. However, if your domain name is registered with a third party, you must follow your domain name registrar’s instructions for connecting to a hosting account. 

You can also follow these instructions to connect your domain name to the EasyWP hosting account. The links also work if you use Cloudflare CDN or if your domain name is registered with Cloudflare.

Domain Management 

Pointing your hosting account to a custom domain name on both platforms can be confusing, especially if you’re new to this. 

Since Cloudways does not offer domain name registration services, and EasyWP is more of a standalone product from Namecheap, you will need to configure your domain name to point to your server’s IP addresses in both web hosts. 

When you create a hosting account in Cloudways and EasyWP, your site automatically deploys under a subdomain. Something like this: 

https://wordpress-987683-3472022.cloudwaysapps.com (in Cloudways)

https://yourdomainname-139cd0.ingress-bonde.ewp.live (in EasyWP)

You must change this to your custom-registered domain name. 

In Cloudways, click the application whose web address you want to change and select “Domain Management” from the list. Click “Add Domain,” enter your domain name, and make it the primary. 

Note that you must configure the DNS records in your domain name registrar to point to the Cloudways server IP for it to work. How you do this depends on where your domain is registered, though most processes follow the same steps. 

Configuring domain names in EasyWP is similar to Cloudways.

Click the change button next to the default EasyWP subdomain name on the control panel overview page. 

On the next page, select the option that best suits your situation.

If you’re using a third-party provider, select the option and follow the instructions to configure DNS and create new ALIAS records. 

The processes are very similar, and everything is straightforward. However, Cloudways and Namecheap offer real-time responsive support if you get stuck and need assistance.

I will discuss the quality of their customer service in detail later in this post. 

When I compare how easy it is to complete the process on both platforms, I think it is a tie, and nothing out of the ordinary.  

Performance and Server Speed

This is where things get a bit complex and need a thorough analysis. 

Remember, I told you earlier in this post that I moved to Cloudways for a reason, but I didn’t explain why. 

This section explains why I migrated to Cloudways and discusses the issues I experienced while hosting with EasyWP. 

To be precise, I completed the migration to EasyWP on April 20, 2020, and speed and performance improved as expected. I got value for my money until traffic gradually increased, and I started experiencing connection timeouts and frequent 429 error warnings. 

Although performance was great when tested with page speed tools like GTmetrix, Pingdom, and the rest, connection timeouts became more frequent and worrisome as traffic gradually increased. 

The regular connection timeouts or downtime do not relate to extreme server resource usage or anything like that. Given the traffic volume I get at the time, I hardly use 50% of the server’s allocated resources. 

This was one of the GTmetrix tests done at the time for the blog homepage. (Note the date in the test result)

Since EasyWP has its built-in three-layer cache mechanism, I don’t have to worry about optimization much. The built-in cache mechanism works great.

But as my blog traffic increased, I realized I needed to move to a higher plan. So, I upgraded to the EasyWP Turbo plan, which offers 1.5X more CPU and RAM. It also includes 50 GB of storage and 200k monthly visits.

After moving to the Turbo plan, downtime dropped significantly, and performance improved. However, one particular issue remains unresolved: Google Core Web Vitals, especially Time to First Byte and the Largest Contentful Paint.

While hundreds of other factors may affect Core Web Vitals, a poor hosting environment will not help, regardless of how optimized the other factors are.  

Another issue I had with EasyWP is the built-in cache. Since it is built into the core software, I can’t customize its settings. 

Moreover, WP Rocket is on EasyWP’s list of restricted plugins. At the time, WP Rocket was one of the plugins I wanted to test to improve speed and performance. So, this is a no-brainer. 

After trying many options to improve speed, performance, and CWV, I migrated to Cloudways in April 2023. 

After migrating to the Cloudways DigitalOcean server, I noticed improved server response time and CWV. 

This was unsurprising, considering the Turbo plan and the Cloudways DigitalOcean CPU and RAM size. You will always get what you pay for.

Resource Type	EasyWP Turbo	Cloudways DigitalOcean
CPU	0.75 Core	1 Core
RAM	768 MB	1GB

The slight difference in CPU and RAM sizes makes a big difference in website speed and page performance. 

Another significant advantage of Cloudways is the option to remove its Breeze cache plugin. Unlike EasyWP, Cloudways makes it easy to use cache plugins.

You’re not forced to use the recommended plugin, Breeze. 

So, if Breeze isn’t sufficient for your needs, you can safely uninstall it and use something more powerful like WP Rocket, Perfmatters, or any combination of cache and file/code optimization plugins you deem fit for your website.  

Based on my experience, Cloudways outperforms EasyWP in website performance, speed, and server response time. 

Cloudways’ partnership with Cloudflare Enterprise adds another layer of speed and performance to its core server infrastructure. With its global CDN, it pushes hosting performance beyond good and makes faster website pages available to users regardless of location. 

EasyWP also offers a free CDN with its Turbo and SuperSonic hosting plans, but it doesn’t provide the same features, speed, or performance as Cloudflare Enterprise. 

Hosting Features

EasyWP offers basic or essential hosting features compared to today’s cloud hosting features. There are no out-of-the-ordinary or fantastic, jaw-dropping hosting features. 

Here is what you get for hosting with EasyWP:

While these hosting features look impressive, they fall short of what Cloudways offers. 

Cloudways offers hosting features that make running an online presence fun and painless, allowing you to put more energy, resources, and time into growing your business. 

Hosting with Cloudways gives you access to the following features: 

Now, let’s look at what separates these two hosting features.

First, EasyWP doesn’t offer staging at the time of this writing. You cannot clone your website into a staging environment. 

In comparison, staging is an essential hosting feature in Cloudways, and it’s available to all users, regardless of the hosting package or plan.

EasyWP does not offer automatic website backups. You can create a full site backup at any time, but it isn’t handled automatically. You have to initiate the backup process manually.  

In contrast, Cloudways keeps regular daily automatic backups of your entire site in case of a sudden or unexpected website crash. 

The screenshot above shows my site’s daily automatic backup in my Cloudways account. The best part is that restoring any backup is just one click away. 

With this feature, you don’t have to worry about accidentally making unexpected changes to your website; you can restore it to an earlier state with one click. 

You cannot set up cron jobs in EasyWP to automate tasks. You can do this only in Namecheap’s shared hosting. 

Also, because EasyWP is created this way, you cannot choose a PHP version for your site or configure limits to suit your unique needs. 

While both platforms offer analytics features, the information you access with Cloudways is far more comprehensive than what EasyWP provides. 

EasyWP shows only CPU and RAM usage data. 

Cloudways offers comprehensive insights into server performance, error logs, disk usage, MySQL databases, running cron jobs and more. It provides deep insight into traffic statistics, allowing you to view real-time traffic by IP address, bot traffic, requested URLs, and URL status codes. 

These data can help you improve user experience and SEO. 

Another significant advantage of Cloudways hosting is its bot protection, which automatically stops hackers and bad bots from reaching your site. 

With this feature, you can be confident your site is protected from hackers, cybercriminals, and bad bots. Cloudways preinstalls the bot protection plugin, so you don’t need to install it yourself.

Cloudways also offers application settings that give you more control over site security and website performance. 

For example, you can enable/disable access to your application in one click. You can also block access to your PHP files to prevent hackers from uploading files through backdoors. 

You can also disable WordPress XML-RPC to prevent possible brute-force or DDoS attacks. Enable HTTPS 301 redirection for all mapped domains to your application. This can improve SEO and enhance crawling and indexing. 

As you might have guessed, covering all the Cloudways features in this Namecheap vs Cloudways comparison will be exhausting. 

One thing to note: Cloudways offers superior hosting features to Namecheap EasyWP. There is no contest here; Cloudways wins. 

Pricing and Plans

EasyWP’s pricing and plans are more straightforward than Cloudways’, so it’s worth comparing Namecheap’s EasyWP and Cloudways’ pricing models. 

You can choose from three standard plans in EasyWP: Starter, Turbo, and Supersonic. Each plan gives you access to a set limit of resources and features. 

The Starter plan costs $6.88/month. It includes 10GB SSD-based storage, a 50k monthly traffic limit, and a free SSL certificate. 

The Turbo plan allows up to 200k monthly visits, 50GB SSD storage, a free SSL certificate, and CDN. It also provides more CPU and RAM and costs $12.88 monthly. 

Its Supersonic plan includes 100GB of storage, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, 200k monthly visits, a free CDN and SSL certificate, and the highest RAM and CPU power. 

Here’s what you get in EasyWP for RAM and CPU. 

Resource Type	Starter	Turbo	SuperSonic
RAM	0.5 Core	0.75 Core	1.125 Core
CPU	512 MB	768 MB	1152 MB

Get a 30-day free trial of EasyWP if you need to test it before committing to a paid plan. 

On its part, Cloudways offers cloud hosting services from three different cloud service providers (it used to be five, but Cloudways has dropped Vultr and Linode):

These providers offer different access levels and quality cloud hosting services through Cloudways partnerships. DigitalOcean, the cheapest option, offers an entry-level hosting plan for beginners and small business owners.

For hosting pricing flexibility, Cloudways gives you more control over what you pay for and how you pay for it. 

Unlike fixed hosting plans that cap resources, Cloudways offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model. You can pay for resources by the hour or by the month.

This means you receive invoices only for the resources you use during the month or on an hourly basis. You are never billed for what you did not use.  

The DigitalOcean starting price is $11 per month, with 25GB SSD-based storage and 1TB of bandwidth. 

This price is the starting point; it increases to $14 per month when you switch to Premium instead of the standard DigitalOcean server. 

Google Cloud’s starting price is $37.45 per month, and it includes 20GB storage and 2GB bandwidth. AWS also offers 2GB of bandwidth and 20GB of storage, and the starting plan costs $38.56 per month. 

Cloudways offers over 15 hosting packages for Google Cloud and AWS, and five for its DigitalOcean servers; you can check them on the pricing page. 

If you want to test Cloudways before investing, the 3-day free trial gives you access to a DigitalOcean server. Google Cloud and AWS servers aren’t available for the free trial offer. 

Customer Support Service

I would argue that both Cloudways and Namecheap offer excellent support services. 

I have engaged with the customer departments several times, and both web hosts have done excellently. 

First, there was no unusual delay in response time, and the on-site support reps were friendly and supportive and always resolved my queries. 

Namecheap offers 24/7/365 live chat and ticket support on-site. You will always receive a reply via your registered email. At the time of writing, they don’t offer phone support. 

While both platforms offer strong support quality, Cloudways takes it further by offering different support tiers to meet user needs. 

There are Standard, Advanced, and Premium support add-ons.

The standard support is sufficient for most Cloudways users. It offers 24/7/365 responsive support reps. 

You will get Cloudways infrastructure and platform support, access to open tickets, and on-site live chats. 

Advanced support provides additional services for users who need more than the standard support. 

In addition to everything in the Standard support, you can access application and customization support. You can also receive timely alerts for Proactive monitoring to investigate issues quickly. 

The Premium support add-on is for mission-critical sites that need closer collaboration and partnership with Cloidways. It includes everything in the Advanced package, plus 24/7/365 access to a private Slack channel and phone support. 

As you should expect, there is no free lunch. Providing the extra support costs money. Here are the extras you pay for with Advanced and Premium support. 

Standard Supports	Advanced Supports	Premium Supports
Free	$100 monthly	$500 monthly

Who Should Use Namecheap or Cloudways

If you’re starting with little to no digital marketing experience and want to handle hosting yourself, Namecheap is a great option. 

If you have a limited budget and need something more affordable without sacrificing performance, try Namecheap. You could choose its shared hosting or its managed WordPress product, EasyWP. 

Namecheap is more beginner-friendly, cheap, and suitable for low-traffic sites.

Conversely, Cloudways suits growing websites with moderate traffic and marketers with hosting management experience. 

Sure, most settings are hands-on, and you don’t need to get involved in server management if you don’t want to. However, Cloudways’ hosting features are still geared more toward intermediate and advanced users. 

Cloudways is the ideal option for agencies, web development companies, businesses, and individuals with growing hosting needs who want to focus on the business side rather than server management. 

It lets you customize your hosting experience to suit your unique needs and access other industry services and tools. 

Consider Cloudways if you need a hosting platform that guarantees no downtime during sudden traffic spikes or viral launches. Cloudways automatically allocates resources during high-traffic times and scales them back when the honeymoon ends.

Conclusion

As you can guess, I started with Namecheap as a beginner and then moved to Cloudways as I gained more experience and knowledge, so I know both platforms well. 

After carefully comparing Namecheap vs Cloudways, including features, infrastructure, pricing, and support, and sharing my experience, it’s clear that Cloudways is the winner. 

Though Namecheap offers some strong competing hosting features, it lacks the advanced features, mechanisms, and flexibility of Cloudways. 

Cloudways hosting is faster, provides more security features, and delivers higher-performance hosting than Namecheap.