Cloudways vs RunCloud: One Clear Winner in 2021

At a glance, Cloudways and RunCloud offer similar services. They both have a proprietary dashboard that makes cloud hosting easier to manage, and both let you work with popular cloud infrastructures like GCP (Google Cloud Platform), AWS, and DigitalOcean. But there is one major difference.

RunCloud is essentially a control panel that you can use to connect to and easily configure your server. For a developer who knows their way around a VM (virtual machine), RunCloud can make it easier to deploy and monitor websites and apps. But it’s not for beginners, since you have to provision and connect the server to RunCloud yourself, and you need a decent grasp of server commands to get by.

Cloudways, on the other hand, is a managed cloud service that takes care of all server-related tasks for you. To start working on your website, all you have to do is create an account with Cloudways, choose your preferred cloud infrastructure, and one-click install your favorite CMS. This makes Cloudways a better option for newbies, small businesses, agencies, and freelancers.

Of course, there are other differences between the two. To accurately compare them, I’ve researched and tested both services extensively. I can tell you right now that Cloudways came out on top on almost all counts. Click here to see Cloudways’ best deals, or read on to find out more.

1. Plans and Pricing

RunCloud Looks Cheaper, but It Doesn’t Include the Cost of Your Cloud

Neither Cloudways nor RunCloud is a traditional web host. The two providers do not have their own cloud infrastructures but rather help you manage other clouds. At a glance, Cloudways appears to be about twice as expensive as RunCloud. But let’s take a closer look.

With RunCloud, you have two costs: a subscription to RunCloud and the cost of provisioning a server from a cloud provider. You also have to create accounts with both services and manually connect your server to RunCloud.

Cloudways is simpler to use and ends up being much cheaper. Cloudways’ plans include the cost of a server from one of its partner cloud providers: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, or GCP. In addition, you don’t have to set up or connect your server because Cloudways does this for you.

Cloudways includes all of its features on all plans, whereas with RunCloud, you have to buy the most expensive plan to get things like collaborative tools, a web application firewall, or unlimited access to Cloudflare DNS.

You should also keep in mind that RunCloud is not a managed service. It gives you the tools to make server management easier, but you still have to do everything yourself. Cloudways packs far more value from this point of view, because it takes care of website backups, security, and even performance for you.

RunCloud offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, which Cloudways doesn’t – but that’s because Cloudways works on a pay-as-you-go model, so you only pay for the resources you use. In addition, you get a 3-day free trial to test Cloudways’ platform before you commit to a plan.

2. Features

Both Are Great for Developers, but Only Cloudways Is Beginner-Friendly

There are two noteworthy differences between Cloudways and RunCloud in terms of features. First, Cloudways offers the same set of features for free on all plans, whereas RunCloud will ask you to upgrade to a more expensive plan to access some of its advanced tools.

Secondly, while RunCloud does offer several excellent features for developers, these are not as easy to use as with Cloudways. Take backups, for example. RunCloud allows you to schedule automated backups for your server, but you have to do it yourself. Cloudways, on the other hand, regularly creates server backups for you.

Both Cloudways and RunCloud have one-click installers for the most popular frameworks, including WordPress, Joomla, Laravel, and PHP. If you prefer to use WordPress, you also get a website staging environment where you can test changes before pushing them live.

Using either the Cloudways or RunCloud control panel, you can easily install and switch between several PHP versions. If needed, you can even run a different PHP version for each site.

In fact, both dashboards make it super easy to manage several websites at the same time. You get in-depth information about server resource usage for each site, and you can easily set up notifications to stay on top of projects that outgrow their resource limitations.

As for collaborative tools, both providers let you set up accounts for different members of your team, each with their own credentials and access levels. However, this option is free with Cloudways, whereas with RunCloud, you have to buy the Business plan. RunCloud’s Git auto-deployment (referred to as Atomic Git Deployment) is also locked behind its top-tier plan, while Cloudways includes a similar feature on all packages.

If you already have a website but you don’t want to transfer it yourself, you’ll be happy to know that both Cloudways and RunCloud can migrate it for you for free. The offer is only available for your first site, but Cloudways gives you a free migration plugin that you can use to easily perform any additional transfers yourself. Another win for Cloudways.

To help you quickly compare Cloudways and RunCloud, I’ve put their features head-to-head in the table below:

3. Performance

Cloudways Performs Slightly Better Than RunCloud

Since both Cloudways and RunCloud rely on other cloud infrastructures, your site’s performance depends on your provider of choice. For example, you can expect better website loading speeds with GCP, one of the fastest global networks in the industry, compared to DigitalOcean or Vultr.

That said, both Cloudways and RunCloud will help you configure your server with the right software to achieve optimal speed and stability.

RunCloud gives you several performance-enhancing tools, like the Nginx (or Nginx + Apache) web server, MariaDB databases, the Supervisor process manager, Redis, Memcached, and more. You can turn any of these features on or off with a few simple clicks.

Cloudways has all of the same tools neatly integrated into its dashboard, plus a few extras. CloudwaysCDN is one of the most noteworthy. Although you have to pay a modest fee to use it, the CDN can improve the performance of your website or app significantly, especially if you have visitors from around the world.

RunCloud provides a similar service in the form of Cloudflare DNS, which is free for a limited time if you’re on the Basic or Pro plans. To keep using the DNS after the trial expires, you have to buy it as an add-on or upgrade to the Business package.

Cloudways also has an in-house WordPress cache plugin dubbed Breeze, which is free on all plans. And if you’re building an online store with Magento, you’ll love Cloudways’ built-in Full Page Cache for faster loading speeds.

As for data centers, Cloudways gives you a choice of 65+ locations strategically distributed around the world. North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia are all covered, and you can always switch between data centers if needed.

Since RunCloud is essentially a control panel rather than a managed service, you can use it with almost any cloud provider. This also means that you have more options when it comes to data center locations, although you’ll have to check with each provider for a specific list.

Neither RunCloud nor Cloudways offer uptime guarantees of their own, so you have to check with each cloud provider for more information. That said, cloud infrastructures are inherently more stable than traditional shared hosting, so you can expect above-average uptime regardless of the cloud you choose.

4. Security

The Only Place RunCloud Has the Upper Hand

In addition to the security features of your cloud provider, Cloudways and RunCloud have several tools you can use out of the box. For example, both services come with free SSL certificates on all plans, which you can turn on with a couple of clicks, straight from your dashboard.

You also get an OS-level firewall with both Cloudways and RunCloud, and you can turn on two-factor authentication to improve security on your account. If you opt for RunCloud’s Business plan, you even get a web application firewall to keep your websites and apps safe.

The big advantage with RunCloud is its Hack Fix Guarantee. If your website or app is compromised, the tech support team will clean up any malware for free. Cloudways doesn’t have a similar offer, which is why RunCloud takes the lead in security.

5. Support

Cloudways Is There for You 24/7, While RunCloud Offers Limited Support

Since Cloudways is a managed cloud service and RunCloud isn’t, there are major differences in the type of customer support you get with each. To begin with, Cloudways offers 24/7 support through live chat on all plans, while RunCloud answers inquiries only through tickets.

Furthermore, Cloudways gives you the option to buy one of two support add-ons. With Advanced support, your requests are addressed faster, and you can get help with more specific issues, such as website troubleshooting and customization.

Premium support comes with even faster response times, a dedicated account manager, direct phone support, and a private Slack channel. The cost is quite high, but if you’re hosting enterprise-grade websites with Cloudways, it might be worth it.

RunCloud doesn’t offer any support add-ons, so you’re stuck with ticketing. In addition, support is limited to RunCloud features and operations. If you have an issue with your CMS (content management system) or a specific plugin, you’re on your own.

Cloudways Wins by a Considerable Margin

RunCloud might have a bit of an advantage in terms of security, but when it comes to pricing, support, features, and performance, Cloudways is clearly in the lead. Don’t get me wrong: RunCloud is still a decent option if you’re a developer looking for an effective control panel to manage your own cloud servers. But for everything else, you should check out Cloudways’ current plans.

Keep in mind that unlike RunCloud, Cloudways is a managed cloud service. You don’t have to create a separate account with your chosen cloud provider, and the cost of the infrastructure is included in your subscription. For an easy way to take advantage of the speed and stability of the cloud without having to handle your own server, Cloudways just makes more sense.

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