Cloud hosting is a web hosting category that makes websites accessible to the public by employing cloud resources. Unlike traditional web hosting, the cloud model hosts your website using a system of interconnected virtual servers. This dependence on virtual servers in a cloud computing environment rather than a single traditional server ensures greater scalability and flexibility. You can access the cloud servers through a functional internet connection from remote locations.
At HostAdvice, our specialists invest considerable time, resources, and effort in selecting the hosting providers for each category. We analyze, test and rank them according to our standardized requirements and parameters. This list comprises the fastest cloud hosting providers of 2023.
Key Points to Consider When Choosing Cloud Hosting Platforms
- Make sure the cloud hosting provider has been proven to have a speedy and stable server performance.
- The platform should be user-friendly, supportive to customers, cost-effective, adequately secured, and should have ample server resources and features.
- Ensure that the provider complies with recognized standards and adheres to the cloud hosting industry’s best practices.
- Read up on your preferred web host’s user reviews and expert surveys to learn more about its dispositions and characteristics.
- Evaluate your shortlisted providers’ company profiles and business health. Confirm that they have a track record of reliability and possess sufficient capital and resources to run efficiently over the long term.
The Fastest Cloud Hosting Services of 2023 (Bought and Tested)
Kamatera is a global cloud hosting provider founded in 1995 and currently headquartered in New York, United States. The platform operates in 13 global data centers. For over two decades, the web host has enjoyed widespread acclaim for offering state-of-the-art technologies and phenomenal cloud-based services. Kamatera deservingly occupies the top spot on our most rapid cloud hosting providers list due to its swift, timely, and adaptable solutions for various cloud service users.
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.9
Kamatera permits you to configure, scale, and modify your hardware components and server capacity to suit your needs using its management portal, console, or API. It also offers Managed Cloud Services, which allow its experts to supervise your cloud servers, load balancers, firewalls, and other significant components. Similarly, you can launch a new cloud server from a sample of your original server, thus cloning it.
The provider uses cloud firewalls to stave off invasions of your cloud servers and private networks for optimal security. We like that its solutions are suitable for Saas developers, startups, and app & web developers.
Features: A flexible, feature-loaded cloud host with ample cutting-edge hardware and software components that facilitate quick performance and allow you to scale your resources.
Support: It has a generally timely customer support service, but it is not always helpful. You can access support via email, support tickets, and phone.
User Friendly: A quite simple platform with a customized management console, practical user interface, and modifiable server dashboard. It is easy to set up a server, but some of its pre configured servers may be problematic.
Pricing: Kamatera has a unique, flexible pricing method that lets you choose your server configuration, including RAM, storage space, number of CPU cores, and other resources according to your budget. Thus, you can calculate your exact expenditure before launching your cloud server with the host’s price calculator. It also allows you to evaluate the cost per hour.
- Type A – Availability– $52/month ($0.071/hour) – 40 GB SSD / 2 CPU Cores / 2 GB RAM / 50 Mbit/sec Internet Traffic / 1 Public IP / CloudLinux 8 – 64 – bit / 5 cPanel accounts
- Type B – General Purpose– $67/month ($0.092/hour) – 40 GB SSD / 2 CPU Cores / 2 GB RAM / 50 Mbit/sec Internet Traffic / 1 Public IP / CloudLinux 8 – 64 – bit / 5 cPanel accounts
- Type T – Burstable– $0.071/hour– 40 GB SSD / 2 CPU Cores / 2 GB RAM / 50 Mbit/sec Internet Traffic / 1 Public IP / CloudLinux 8 – 64 – bit / 5 cPanel accounts
- Type D– Dedicated– $67/month ($0.092/hour) – 40 GB SSD / 2 CPU Cores / 2 GB RAM / 50 Mbit/sec Internet Traffic / 1 Public IP / CloudLinux 8 – 64 – bit / 5 cPanel accounts
Reliability: A highly speedy and dependable cloud host with a guaranteed uptime of 99.95%.
Cloud Hosting Features – 4.9/5: Kamatera’s cloud infrastructure comprises cloud servers, cloud firewalls, software licensing, cloud block storage, private cloud networks, and cloud load balancers. The platform also offers sophisticated management services, such as Microsoft cloud solutions, cloud consulting, server migration, and disaster recovery. In addition, you can supply a cloud server with your preferred web hosting panel. These features work together to enhance the web host’s cloud hosting services.
Speed and Performance – 5/5: Kamatera’s most terrific selling point is its outstanding server speed. It has an impressive average page load time of 1.1 seconds. After being tested with UptimeRobot, the provider recorded a 100% uptime over a period of one month. Furthermore, its multiple data centers in various regions enable you to access a fast and stable network.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Rapid and reliable cloud server
- Over 20 years of experience in cloud hosting
- Flexible and affordable hosting plans
- Excellent uptime
- Solid security
- Multiple data centers
- Feature-packed
- It possesses several cutting-edge components
Cons:
- The customer service may be disappointing at times
- Complicated pre configured servers
- You may have to pay for some important features like backups
Managed cloud hosting is a fast and reliable hosting solution ideal for beginners and those who don’t have the time to manage and maintain their hosting plans. With HostArmada’s managed cloud hosting services, all the technical aspects of your hosting will be taken care of by professionals, leaving you with more time to grow and focus on other tasks.
- Overall Score: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 5.0
- Performance: 5.0
- Support: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
Pricing: HostArmada’s cloud SSD shared hosting plans start at $3.24/month, and you can purchase them on a monthly, annual, biannual, and triennial basis. The entry-level plan comes with 15GB of SSD storage, 2 CPU cores, 2GB of RAM, and hosting for one website.
Features: With HostArmada, you’ll get free SSL for all your websites, free website transfer, unlimited FTP accounts, unlimited databases, unlimited email accounts, unlimited subdomains, multiple PHP versions, daily backups, malware scans, malware removal, WAF & IP firewall, and more.
Performance: Since HostArmada offers cloud SSD shared hosting, it enables you to get optimal speeds and super-fast page loads. It offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and an intuitive caching system that’ll make your site load even faster.
Support: HostArmada offers round-the-clock customer support available via live chat, phone, and a ticketing system, along with 10-minute response times. It also offers hundreds of useful tutorials and guides on its official website.
User Friendly: Not only will you get fully managed services, but you’ll also get “Prepare for Launch” features which include a free drag-and-drop site builder, free app install & upgrade, 1-Click WordPress installs, and free loading speed optimization.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Fully-managed cloud SSD shared hosting with “Prepare for Launch” features.
- 45-day money-back guarantee (except for monthly plans).
- Super-fast loading speeds with SSD/NVMe storage and RAID controllers.
Cons:
- Higher prices on renewal (but the prices are still more than worth it for the features you get).
A2 Hosting is a prominent hosting service provider launched in Michigan, United States in 2003. The web host is widely recognized for its exceptional page loading speeds and remarkable uptime. In addition to providing one of the most rapid server speeds, it places a strong emphasis on green web hosting. This preference is aimed at protecting the planet from global warming. It supports this initiative by setting up its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a town also known as “Tree Town” due to its significantly high number of trees.
- Overall Score: 4.6
- Features: 4.7
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.6
- Pricing: 4
- Reliability: 4.8
A2 Hosting features various developer-friendly tools, such as PHP, Apache, MySQL, and Ruby. It is also perfectly compatible with the leading content management systems, including WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, and OpenCart. Furthermore, the provider lets you install these CMSs without the need for a developer and offers performance-enhancing add-ons to make them run faster. A2 Hosting safeguards its servers with Imunify360, an around-the-clock monitoring service, to maximize speed since traditional firewalls and encryption layers can delay users. It also employs scalable data centers, thereby making you protected during DDoS attacks.
Features: The platform presents various hardware components and programs that ensure speedy and reliable cloud computing performance.
Support: It has a prompt and helpful customer support service accessible 24/7 via live chat, phone, and tickets. You could also find answers to your questions in its comprehensive knowledge base.
User Friendly: An easily operated web host that employs the conventional cPanel control panel and a simple user interface.
Pricing: You can purchase the platform’s cheapest plan at an affordable rate. However, there are several restrictions on the cheapest plan and the renewal rates are generally high. The web host offsets this issue by offering a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Startup Plan– $2.99/month (Renews at $10.99/month) – 100 GB Storage / Unlimited Bandwidth / Unlimited Email Addresses / 1 Website / Shared Hosting
- Turbo Max Plan– $12.99/month (Renews at $25.99/month) – Unlimited Storage / Unlimited Bandwidth / Unlimited Email Addresses / Unlimited Websites / Shared Hosting
Reliability: A timely and dependable hosting provider with an average uptime between 99.99% and 100%.
Cloud Hosting Features – 4.6/5:
A2 Hosting offers various cloud-powered hosting services and solutions, including dedicated hosting, shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, Linux hosting, eCommerce hosting, and cPanel hosting. All its hosting packages also come with a free Cloudflare CDN.
Speed and Performance – 4.8/5:
A2 Hosting boasts an expeditious page loading speed and excellent uptime. It has an average page load time of 286 ms and an average uptime of at least 99.99%. Similarly, its servers work efficiently with only 13 minutes of downtime over 6 months.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Highly rapid page loading speed
- Environment-friendly
- Reliable uptime
- Solid security
- Free site migrations
- CMS and developer-friendly features
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- User-friendly
- Scalable data centers
- Effective technical support
Cons:
- No free domain
- High renewal rates
- Restrictions on the most economical plan
Cloudways is a Malta-based managed cloud hosting provider established in 2011 with the primary aim of offering its customers a hybrid of managed and unmanaged hosting solutions. The platform is built on five unmanaged web hosts, including Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Amazon Web Services, and Linode. Although it offers several admirable services, it is best known for its impressive cloud-powered managed WordPress hosting. Cloudways stands out from many other cloud web hosts because it allows you to serve numerous website visitors without losing speed. This benefit is partly facilitated by its possession of over 65 data centers in various locations.
- Overall Score: 4.8
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.5
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.9
Cloudways optimizes your websites for WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce and utilizes advanced caches for more rapid operation and increased security. Unlike traditional hosting platforms, it provides maximum freedom and flexibility that guarantees uncomplicated custom PHP server arrangements and timely scalability.
The web host also features an ironclad security system, which consists of Cloudflare Enterprise, WAF, firewalls, Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, Bot Protection, SSH, Self Healing Servers, and Two-Factor Authentication. We endorse Cloudways for high-traffic websites due to its vertical scaling feature. With this platform, you can enjoy three different server backups (scheduled, on-demand, and local) as well as server recovery.
Features: A modern-day cloud computing medium with various tools and resources like you will expect from a provider constructed on five web hosts.
Support: The platform features responsive, around-the-clock technical support with a comprehensive knowledge base, blog, and community forum. You can contact the customer service team via email and live chat. However, call support isn’t available. Standard support is free, but you may have to pay for the Advanced and Premium stages.
User Friendly: It has an attractive and contemporary user interface with easily accessible and properly ordered tabs and options. Still, you may not find its custom control panel easy to use from the start if you are only familiar with the traditional cPanel.
Pricing: A generally affordable cloud hosting provider with a wide range of pricing plans for the five web hosts. It also has a ‘Pay as you Go’ payment scheme.
- Minimum price– $10/month – 25 GB Storage / 1 Core Processor / 1 GB RAM / 1 TB Bandwidth / DigitalOcean Data Centers
- Maximum price– $3569.98/month – 20 GB Storage – 96 vCPU – 384 GB RAM – 2 GB Bandwidth / AWS Data Centers
Reliability: An excellent web host for high-traffic websites that can handle load quickly and efficiently.
Cloud Hosting Features – 4.9/5: Cloudways features several programs, services, and tools that foster cloud computing. Some of these cloud hosting components include Cloudflare CDN, Breeze cache plugin, cloud servers, WordPress cloud hosting, cloud hosting for Laravel, Magento eCommerce cloud hosting, and cloud PHP hosting.
Speed and Performance – 4.9/5: Cloudways is one of the swiftest cloud hosting providers as suggested by various speed and load tests. It can achieve a page load time of 864.9 ms and can even boost to 769.66 ms if you optimize it with the WP Rocket plugin. Similarly, the platform has an average uptime of 99.99% and an insignificant total downtime of 35 minutes over 365 days.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Super speed
- Excellent uptime
- Scalable
- Adequate security
- Managed Cloud Service
- Impressive load handling
- Decent customer support
- Numerous data centers
- Flexible pricing plans
- Pay as you Go
- Customizable backups
Cons:
- Extra charges on larger servers
- Non-intuitive control panel
- No email hosting
- No phone support
- Absence of Litespeed servers
- Inability to register domains
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Fastest Cloud Hosting Services: Final Recommendations
When people choose cloud computing over traditional hosting, they typically expect to experience timely deployment, efficiency, adequate storage capacity, guaranteed data security, scalability, developer-friendliness, regular backups, and data recovery. Hence, these are the key factors you should look out for when seeking the quickest cloud hosting providers. The platform must also have a prompt page load time as this is the most convenient way to determine if it is fast or not.
Speed and performance are interrelated and need to be simultaneously optimal for you to enjoy a completely time-effective cloud hosting. In this light, you should go for a reliable cloud hosting provider with optimum average page load time and ideal uptime.
Our tests and studies suggest that Kamatera is the closest thing to a perfectly time-efficient cloud hosting provider. Thus, we recommend it for a truly timely cloud hosting experience.
How Do We Rank and How Should You Choose Your Cloud Hosting Platform?
- Speed and Performance22%
- Pricing7%
- Scalable Resources7%
- Cloud Hosting Features10%
- Ease of Use5%
- Customer Support8%
- Security and Backups7%
- User Reviews30%
- Other Factors4%
The above chart reveals the parameters we evaluated when compiling the list of the most rapid cloud hosting providers. We represented each parameter’s degree of influence on each provider’s overall score in percentages, which are shown in the right column. Furthermore, we independently analyzed these facets and gauged them beside credible user reviews to discern their precise scores. Our investigations were conducted with great care and attention to prevent errors.
To determine the actual speed and performance of the short-listed providers, our experts performed several speed and uptime tests over a specific period. We also observed their cloud hosting features and verified their effectiveness. Then, we rated each applicable parameter over five, factored in their allotted percentages, and calculated each web host’s overall score from the cumulative result.
Below are the essential factors you should consider when choosing a speedy cloud hosting provider and the extent of their relevance:
Speed and Performance (22%): If you desire a speedy cloud hosting experience, one of the most important factors to consider is the web host’s speed and performance. You should examine its average page load time and uptime and ensure they are not more than 2 seconds and less than 99%, respectively. There are other speed and performance parameters you can assess as well, such as average server response time, TTFB (time to fast byte), and downtime.
Pricing (7%): It is important to choose a cloud hosting provider that offers effective features at reasonable costs. Some web hosts also grant first-time discounts and a money-back guarantee.
Scalable Resources (7%): Cloud hosting ensures adequate scalability due to its network of interconnected servers. Regardless, it would be helpful to go for a cloud web host that lets you configure and manage your server resources with ease.
Cloud Hosting Features (10%): All good cloud hosting providers present various tools and services that facilitate an adequate cloud hosting experience. Some of these features include a private cloud network, compute resources, object storage, and data mirroring.
Ease of Use (5%): It would be best to choose a user-friendly cloud computing panel with an intuitive control panel and a simple user interface.
Customer Support (8%): It is crucial to go for a cloud hosting platform whose customer support team is willing and able to assist you when you have questions or issues. An ideal customer support service is available 24/7 and easily accessible.
Security and Backups (7%): It is advisable to pick a cloud web host with rock-solid security and regular backups. This decision will help safeguard your data and protect your website from malware, viruses, and unauthorized users.
User Reviews (30%): User reviews provide a first-person description of a particular web host and help you perceive your expectations from a realistic lens. It is the most critical factor to evaluate to avoid choosing the wrong cloud hosting provider. Hence, it influenced a significant 30% of each provider’s overall scores.
Other Factors (4%): Other factors to assess when choosing a cloud computing platform include the web hosting company’s reputation, freebies, awards, certifications, and years of experience.
What Is Cloud Hosting and Who Is it For?
Cloud hosting is a web hosting strategy that enables you to use the resources, including disk space, RAM, CPUs, and bandwidth, of multiple servers, to host your website or conduct other web-related services or solutions.
It works through the principle of virtualization, where a (usually remote) physical server is split into multiple interconnected virtual servers known as cloud servers. Then, these cloud servers form a single network for hosting your website.
This hosting model is different from shared hosting because it hosts your website on multiple connected servers, while shared hosting involves hosting multiple websites on a single shared server. In cloud hosting, the server resources can be accessed remotely through the internet.
Cloud hosting stands out from traditional web hosting due to its greater scalability and flexibility, excellent uptime, cost efficiency, mobility, data loss prevention, disaster recovery, collaboration, and high speed. This type of hosting is suitable for app developers, automotive industries, schools, financial organizations, healthcare providers, insurance companies, hotels, and legal industries.