In early 2024, I became aware of xCloud<\/a> due to the announcement that Shahjahan Jewel was investing in it and becoming a partner<\/a>. Jewel is the CEO of WP Manage Ninja<\/em>\u2026 the company behind some of my favorite plugins like FluentCRM<\/a>, FluentForms<\/a> and FluentBooking<\/a>.<\/p>\n I thought this was a pretty interesting move. They\u2019re investing in a hosting company?<\/p>\n Then they came out and launched it using a limited-time lifetime offer. That was definitely interesting and got some attention. It is also a pretty classic move for these guys as a launch strategy.<\/p>\n On the flip side, xCloud is actually a brand of Startise<\/a>. This is the same company behind the WP Developer<\/em> brand, which has created plugins such as Better Links<\/em>, BetterDocs<\/em>, Templately<\/em>, Essential Addons<\/em> and others.<\/p>\n So, this is indeed a team of people who live, eat and breathe WordPress. And they came out with a hosting solution. So, the question is\u2026<\/p>\n Is xCloud any good?<\/strong><\/p>\n The hosting space is pretty crowded already. Does xCloud have what it takes to make a dent?<\/p>\n Well, spoiler alert! I\u2019ve now moved 11 sites over to xCloud. I moved them away from Cloudways and I put them on xCloud instead. And I cancelled my Cloudways server.<\/p>\n So, it was definitely good enough for me. Better \u2013 and faster<\/em> \u2013 than Cloudways.<\/p>\n xCloud<\/a> is basically software. It is server management software that allows you to easily manage WordPress sites on virtual private servers (or VPSs).<\/p>\n So, you are actually hosting your sites on a VPS from Vultr<\/em>, Digital Ocean<\/em>, Google Cloud<\/em>, Amazon<\/em>, etc. You get to pick your provider.<\/p>\n In this way, xCloud is much closer to Cloudways in how it functions. It is also similar to RunCloud<\/a>, ServerAvatar<\/a> or Gridpane<\/a>. Each of these companies basically provide the software and the support, but your VPS is elsewhere. GridPane is way more geared toward larger agencies and hosts.<\/p>\n xCloud does also offer their own servers as an option. I don\u2019t know for sure, but I think they are outsourcing their managed servers through Vultr. And you can save a little bit of money by going through xCloud directly. <\/p>\n There are a lot of different kinds of hosting out there.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got your traditional all-in-one consumer hosts such as Bluehost<\/em>, SiteGround<\/a>, Hostinger<\/a>, etc. These kinds of hosts are usually pretty beginner-friendly and they offer one-stop-shops for everything. They\u2019ll manage your domains, your email, your websites, etc.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve also got more expensive, managed cloud-based hosting options. This would include companies such as Rocket<\/a>, Kinsta<\/a> and WPEngine<\/a>. These kinds of hosts usually come with limits on the number of sites, limits on disk space etc. This is due to how the cloud works (since many of these companies use Google Cloud or Amazon behind the scenes).<\/p>\n A virtual private server is another option. It is more of a DIY option, but it has the advantages of:<\/p>\n That\u2019s where xCloud comes in. You\u2019re using a VPS server, so you can pack a punch with your hosting and practically do whatever you want with it. But, xCloud simplifies usage of a VPS. The usual nerdy and \u201craw\u201d management of a server is turned into a pretty user-friendly experience that is much closer to other types of hosting.<\/p>\n VPS hosting offers more horsepower for the money and more flexibility without the hard limits. That\u2019s why a lot of people like hosting their sites this way.<\/p>\n Now, I want to first be clear here\u2026<\/p>\n My web host of choice right now is Rocket Hosting<\/a>. You can read my Rocket hosting review here<\/a>. I love them and I host a majority of my Concierge clients<\/a> as well as this very site on Rocket.<\/p>\n But, like anybody who is in the business, I have accounts with other web hosts as well. And, until recently, I was using Cloudways for 11 websites. Some of those sites are for some of my clients with smaller sites\u2026 and some of them are mine. These are sites that I elected to keep on Cloudways because they just didn\u2019t warrant a host like Rocket.<\/p>\n Migrating sites to different hosting isn\u2019t rocket science. I often make use of Migrate Guru<\/a> to move sites and it works flawlessly in most cases. So, the process basically worked like this for each site:<\/p>\n Easy peasy.<\/p>\n But, here\u2019s what I noticed on every site I moved over\u2026<\/p>\n Every site I moved was noticably faster on xCloud than it was on Cloudways.<\/strong><\/p>\n As this became more clear, I even tweeted this out:<\/p>\n Migrating some sites from Cloudways to the new xCloud hosting. And\u2026 dayum\u2026. xCloud is a LOT faster! For the same exact server specs, too.<\/p>\n \u2014 David Risley (@davidrisley) February 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Yes, I spun up a Vultr High Frequency server to use with xCloud. Same exact server specs as I was using from Cloudways. Same exact data center, in fact. So, the ONLY thing that is different is the tech stack that was installed by xCloud versus the tech stack installed by Cloudways.<\/p>\n xCloud<\/a> is just faster. Plain as day.<\/p>\n Clicking around the backend of the site is faster. Everything feels instantaneous.<\/p>\n Again, none of these sites are huge. If I was pulling some huge BuddyBoss site over, I would have needed more horsepower. But, this was a direct apples-to-apples comparison and xCloud is simply faster.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Not every VPS management panel is the same. When you use one of these things and connect up a VPS server to it, your panel is going to set that server up in a certain way and using certain software.<\/p>\n If you read into some of the nerdier reviews of Cloudways, one of the big items you see coming up is that their tech stack is rather old. They use a standard Apache\/Nginx setup. For most sites, this doesn\u2019t matter. But, for some it does.<\/p>\n When you compare that to some other server setups that are more tweaked for performance, you\u2019ll see either pure Nginx setup and\/or Litespeed. Some of your fastest hosts out there make use of Litespeed.<\/p>\nWhat xCloud Hosting Actually Is\u2026<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\nWhy xCloud Over Traditional Hosting?<\/h2>\n
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My Experience Switching To xCloud Hosting (from Cloudways)<\/h2>\n
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Why xCloud Performs Better Than Cloudways<\/h2>\n
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