Is Cloudways good for WordPress performance?

Cloudways provides good infrastructure (DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS) but requires manual performance tuning. With proper configuration — correct server size, Redis enabled, Varnish tuned, PHP-FPM workers set — it can deliver excellent WordPress performance. Without tuning, it underperforms relative to managed alternatives.

Why is Varnish not caching my pages on Cloudways?

Common causes: cookies from WordPress plugins bypass Varnish, query strings in URLs force cache misses, or WooCommerce cart cookies are incorrectly handled. Check the X-Cache response header — "MISS" means Varnish didn't serve the cached version. Review bypass conditions in Cloudways Application Settings.

All Fix Guides

Slow WordPress FixCloudways

WordPress Slow on Cloudways? Here's What to Check.

Cloudways gives you cloud infrastructure but doesn't configure it for WordPress performance by default.

Server size too small for traffic — 1GB RAM server with WooCommerce causing slowdowns

Varnish cache misconfigured — MISS on pages that should be cached

Redis enabled but WordPress Object Cache plugin not installed

Cloudways CDN (StackPath) not serving from edge nodes efficiently

5 Fixes to Try on Cloudways

Ordered from quickest win to most involved. Try them in sequence.

Right-Size Your Cloudways Server

EasyHigh impact

Cloudways 1GB servers ($11/mo on DigitalOcean) are insufficient for WooCommerce or high-traffic WordPress. Scale to at least 2GB RAM for WooCommerce ($22/mo) or 4GB for sites above 50k monthly visitors. Cloudways vertical scaling is instant with no downtime.

Enable Redis Object Cache Plugin

EasyHigh impact

Redis is available on all Cloudways servers but requires the WordPress plugin to use it. In Cloudways dashboard → Server → Settings and Packages → enable Redis. Then install and activate the Redis Object Cache plugin in WordPress. Verify connection in Settings → Redis — should show "Connected."

Tune Varnish Cache Exceptions

MediumHigh impact

In Cloudways → Application Settings → Varnish Settings, review the bypass conditions. By default, query strings and certain cookies bypass Varnish. Add exclusions for UTM parameters and ensure WooCommerce session cookies are handled correctly (cart/checkout bypass, product pages cached).

Increase PHP Workers

MediumHigh impact

In Cloudways → Server → PHP-FPM → pm.max_children. Default is often 4–8 workers. For a 2GB server running WooCommerce, set to 20–30. For a 4GB server, 50–80. Too few workers causes request queuing; too many exhausts RAM and causes server instability.

Use Cloudflare Enterprise (via Cloudways) or Add Your Own

MediumMedium impact

Cloudways offers Cloudflare Enterprise integration at extra cost. Alternatively, add your domain to Cloudflare's free plan and set Cloudways server IP as origin. Cloudflare's CDN layer supplements Varnish by caching assets at edge — reducing load on the origin server significantly.

If none of these work…

Cloudways requires more configuration than managed WordPress hosts. If you're not comfortable tuning server parameters, the performance gains of cloud infrastructure are offset by misconfiguration.

The Infrastructure Fix

Some performance problems can't be fixed with plugins.

MevoHost runs NVMe SSD, LiteSpeed, PHP 8.3, Redis, and Cloudflare CDN on every plan — the stack that makes WordPress fast by default, not by accident.

Free Migration

We move your site from Cloudways — files, database, DNS.

NVMe SSD

3–5× faster storage than SATA SSD. Database queries are instant.

Redis Included

Object caching on every plan. No plugin configuration required.

See MevoHost Plans