Dev-Friendly PHP Hosting by Cloudways

Have you ever heard of PHP before? It is one of the most popular server-side programming languages for web development. As of January 2023, PHP holds over 79% of all websites, including popular platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and more. With the growing adoption of PHP 8 and continued use of legacy PHP 5.6 and 7.x versions, choosing the right PHP hosting provider is crucial for delivering fast, reliable websites and applications.

With this comprehensive guide, let’s dive into the key factors to consider when selecting the best PHP hosting, top providers in 2024, and why Cloudways stands out as the premier managed PHP hosting platform. So, here is the detailed best PHP hosting review.

What To Look For In Best PHP Hosting?

While bare shared hosts may claim PHP support, what is PHP hosting includes crucial performance, security, and developer-friendly features tailored to the language. Here are the most critical elements to evaluate:

Multiple PHP Versions

Having access to the best PHP hosting with multiple PHP versions is crucial for PHP hosting. The platform should provide quick and easy access to the latest releases like PHP 8.1, 8.0, and 7.4 and older legacy versions like 5.6 without significant configuration changes. This flexibility allows developers to quickly migrate legacy applications written in older PHP versions to modern infrastructure while building new projects using the latest PHP releases and features.

Switching between versions should take just a few clicks rather than complex server-level changes. Leading PHP hosting providers have optimized stacks and platforms for running applications using PHP 5.6 up to the cutting-edge PHP 8.1. This is extremely useful for teams and businesses with many legacy codebases and modern applications running in parallel on the best PHP hosting. Running different PHP versions side-by-side on the same hosting platform is invaluable.

Optimized PHP Stack

The underlying server configuration and stack significantly impact PHP application performance, speed, reliability, and uptime. Basic optimizations needed in a PHP-optimized hosting stack include OpCache for caching compiled PHP bytecode to avoid recompiling on each request, Redis for object caching, Varnish for HTTP request caching, fast web servers like Nginx for serving the actual PHP code and database caching using Memcached. 

Leading PHP hosting providers invest heavily in custom-building high-performance stacks designed explicitly for running PHP apps that incorporate these critical technologies. The highly optimized PHP stack ensures maximum application performance and speed by reducing load times through caching while enabling the infrastructure to handle more requests through improved reliability.

The difference between an average PHP hosting stack and a finely tuned one is quite noticeable in speed and ability to scale without performance degradation.

Managed Services

PHP hosting providers that offer managed services eliminate the hassle of handling complex server administration, scaling, updates, monitoring, and maintenance tasks, allowing developers to focus solely on writing application code. Managed hosting experts take care of deploying optimized PHP stacks, maintaining server security, initiating upgrades, increasing resources to handle traffic spikes, configuring backups, and proactive monitoring for threats and performance issues. 

This is extremely useful for development teams as it prevents them from the heavy burden of infrastructure management. The time and effort saved allow for finding more resources to build software applications rather than managing hosting ops. Managed PHP hosting is designed to feel like a seamless development team extension.

Reliable Infrastructure

PHP apps often work best with business-critical websites and applications that demand exceptionally reliable infrastructure with maximum uptime and redundancy to minimize downtime. Leading PHP hosting providers invest heavily in building robust and resilient server clusters across multiple data center regions on cloud networks. This enables auto-scaling capacity to handle unexpected traffic spikes without blinking servers. 

Optimized PHP stacks further improve reliability by caching requests and handling more load. The average uptime SLA delivered by top-tier providers exceeds 99.9%, allowing PHP apps to run smoothly. Reliability, redundancy, and automatic failover are important for PHP hosting targeted at enterprise-grade production infrastructure hosting business workflow applications where downtime can be catastrophic.

Affordable Pricing

Cost is often a significant factor for developers and SMBs when choosing PHP hosting plans. The expenses should provide flexibility to scale hosting requirements from barely shared servers for small casual projects to extensive production-grade cloud infrastructure capable of handling business traffic without breaking the bank.

Transparent and predictable pricing allows for accurately projecting expenses over the long run. Leading PHP hosting providers offer a variety of plans based on cloud providers, server sizes, resources, and managed services. Customizable plans provide full-fledged control over resources to provision hosting as per exact requirements rather than forcing developers to choose from traditional shared, VPS, or dedicated server plans. Affordable pricing is vital for PHP hosting targeted at small teams and organizations.

Why Cloudways Standout For PHP Hosting?

Founded in 2011, Cloudways is a managed PHP hosting platform built to simplify cloud hosting for developers. The company has earned a stellar reputation for speed, security, and ease of use in deploying PHP apps.

Here are standout reasons why Cloudways is regarded as the best hosting provider tailored for PHP:

Multi-Cloud Infrastructure

Cloudways stands out in the PHP hosting space due to its integration with leading Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers, including DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). 

This multi-cloud support offers a vast data center presence across the globe, providing users with an opportunity to choose their preferred cloud networks based on their specific needs. This approach ensures optimal performance and reliability, as users can select the cloud provider that best suits their cost, location, and feature requirements.

By offering a choice of multiple cloud providers, Cloudways ensures that users are not locked into a single provider and can benefit from the unique strengths of each.

ThunderStack Technology

Cloudways’ custom-built ThunderStack technology is another standout feature differentiating it in the PHP hosting market. ThunderStack couples PHP with Varnish for static caching, Redis for object caching, and Nginx and Apache web servers, among other technologies. This type of combination guarantees maximum uptime and speed for PHP applications, ensuring they perform optimally under all conditions. By optimizing the hosting stack specifically for PHP, Cloudways ensures that users can get the most out of their PHP applications.

One-Click PHP App Install

Cloudways simplifies the deployment of best PHP hosting PHP applications with its insightful control panel, which enables one-click installation of popular PHP apps and frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and CakePHP. Users can also quickly deploy content management systems like WordPress and Magento and recreate existing projects via git/SSH repositories. This ease of deployment saves developers time and effort, allowing them to focus on building and improving their applications rather than dealing with the complexities of deployment.

Managed Services

Cloudways, the best PHP hosting platform, offers managed services, coping with all aspects of infrastructure maintenance, scaling, updates, and monitoring. This allows developers to focus solely on writing best PHP hosting application code rather than dealing with server administration. The platform provides expert solutions for PHP-related issues through 24/7 chat and email support, ensuring that help is always available. By caring for the infrastructure, Cloudways allows developers to focus on what they do best: building great applications.

Developer-First Features

Cloudways is designed with developers in mind, providing a range of features that make it easy to build, organize, and manage best PHP hosting PHP applications. These include git/SSH access, Laravel Forge integration, REST API access, WebSockets support, PHPMyAdmin, Cron jobs, and command-line interface (CLI) access. These features make Cloudways ideal for PHP development teams, providing them the tools to build and manage their applications effectively.

Reliable & Secure

Cloudways, the best PHP hosting platform, offers robust security techniques across infrastructure and applications, delivering an industry-leading 99.99% uptime service level agreement (SLA). The platform uses cutting-edge security measures, including robust DDoS protection, regular backups, and SSL certificates, to provide peace of mind and protect users’ data. This commitment to reliability and security ensures that users can trust Cloudways with their “best PHP hosting” PHP applications.

Global Availability

With data centers across the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East, the best PHP hosting platform, Cloudways, ensures that PHP application servers are placed closest to visitors, ensuring low latency and high speeds globally. This global availability makes Cloudways an ideal choice for businesses and developers targeting users in multiple regions, guaranteeing optimal performance regardless of where they are located.

Cost-Effective Pricing

Cloudways offers very reasonable pricing, starting at $11/month for basic requirements and scaling transparently based on the selected cloud provider, server resources, and usage needs. This flexible, cost-effective pricing model ensures that users only pay for the resources they need, making Cloudways an affordable choice for the best PHP hosting. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, this hosting provider offers a PHP hosting solution that fits your budget.

Benefits Of Using Cloudways For PHP Hosting

Here are some of the major benefits of acquiring the PHP hosting service of Clodways. These prominent features might help you choose the best option for your website.

Ease Of Use

Cloudways, the best PHP hosting platform, is designed to be user-friendly, making it an ideal choice for beginners and experienced developers. The platform’s intuitive interface simplifies the management of your website, allowing you to install the best PHP hosting applications quickly, manage databases, and optimize server settings.

Moreover, the best PHP hosting platform, Cloudways, provides a wealth of tutorials and documentation to assist users in getting started and exploring the platform. This commitment to user experience extends to every aspect of the platform, from the initial setup to the complex management of your website. No matter what you’re up to, whether you’re launching your first website or managing multiple sites, Cloudways makes the process straightforward and hassle-free.

Scalability

Scalability is a crucial feature of the best PHP hosting platform, Cloudways, allowing you to upgrade your hosting plan as your website grows quickly. The platform offers a variety of server sizes and configurations, enabling you to find the perfect best PHP hosting plan for your needs. As your website expands, Cloudways makes adding additional resources such as RAM, CPU, and storage simple.

This flexibility ensures that your hosting plan can adapt and grow with your website, providing the resources required to ensure optimal performance.

Reliability

Reliability is a cornerstone of the best PHP hosting platform, Cloudways, which offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee. This is achieved through redundant servers, load balancing, and automatic backups. In addition, Cloudways has a dedicated team of experts available 24/7 to solve any issues, guaranteeing that your website remains up and running. This commitment to reliability provides peace of mind, knowing that your website is in trusted hands and that any potential issues will be promptly addressed.

Security

Cloudways, the best PHP hosting platform, offers robust security features to protect your website from potential threats. These include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and malware scanning. Additionally, Cloudways provides a range of security features such as SSL certificates and DDoS protection, to enhance your website’s security further. This comprehensive approach to security ensures that your website is well-protected against various threats, protecting your data and your users’ information.

Customer Support

Cloudways excels in customer support, offering 24/7 assistance from a team of experts. Support can be accessible via live chat, email, or phone, providing multiple channels for assistance. In addition to direct support, the best PHP hosting platform, Cloudways, also offers a wealth of documentation and tutorials to assist users in getting started and troubleshooting any issues. This commitment to customer support ensures that help is always available when needed, providing a seamless and hassle-free hosting experience.

PHP Support

Cloudways offers comprehensive support for all versions of PHP, including PHP 5.6, PHP 7. x, and PHP 8. x. Switching between PHP versions is simple, requiring just a few clicks. In addition, Cloudways offers a range of PHP-specific features such as PHPMyAdmin and Composer, aiding in developing and managing your PHP applications. This extensive PHP support makes Cloudways an ideal choice for PHP developers.

Fast Performance

Cloudways, the best PHP hosting platform, utilizes a range of technologies to enhance the performance of your website. These include SSD storage, the Nginx web server, and PHP 7.x. Additionally, Cloudways offers a variety of caching options to improve website performance further. This focus on performance ensures that your website loads quickly and runs smoothly, providing an optimal user experience.

Developer-Friendly

Cloudways is the best PHP hosting platform, and it’s also a developer-friendly platform, offering a range of features designed to simplify the deployment and management of PHP applications. These include one-click application installation, Git integration, and SSH access. Additionally, Cloudways offers a range of developer tools such as a command-line interface (CLI) and a REST API, aiding in the automation of your workflows. This focus on developer-friendly features makes Cloudways the best option for developers, simplifying the development process and allowing you to focus on creating great applications.

Choosing The Right Cloudways PHP Hosting Plan

The best Cloudways PHP hosting plan for you will depend on your specific needs and budget. If you are starting, you may want to choose a plan with fewer resources and a lower price. As your website grows, you can upgrade to a plan with more resources.

Here are some factors to consider when choosing a Cloudways PHP hosting plan:

Website Size And Traffic

When selecting a Cloudways best PHP hosting plan, the size of your website and the amount of traffic it receives are essential factors to consider. For smaller websites or those just starting, a plan with fewer resources and a lower price point may be more than enough. 

However, the bandwidth, storage, and processing power demand for the best PHP hosting will increase as your website grows and attracts more visitors. Choosing a plan that can accommodate your current traffic levels while also allowing for future growth is essential. Cloudways offers scalable solutions for best PHP hosting, so you can start with a basic plan and upgrade as needed. This ensures that your website can continue to perform well and provide a good user experience as it becomes more popular and worthy.

Number Of Applications

Another essential consideration is the number of applications you need to host on your Cloudways best PHP hosting plan. If you’re running multiple applications, each will require its own set of resources to function correctly. A more resource plan will be necessary to ensure that all applications can run simultaneously without performance issues. 

Cloudways provides the flexibility to select a best php hosting plan that matches the resource demands of your applications. Whether you’re hosting a single or multiple applications, you can find a plan that offers the right CPU, RAM, and storage balance to meet your needs.

Required Features

Different Cloudways PHP hosting plans come with various features; choosing one with the needed features is essential. Some plans may offer dedicated IP addresses, managed backups, and application monitoring, which can be crucial for maintaining the security and performance of your website. 

Consider the specific requirements of your website and applications when selecting the best hosting for PHP plan. For instance, if you handle sensitive information, you might prefer plans with robust security features. Cloudways’ flexible plans allow you to choose the most critical features, ensuring you have the tools and services necessary to manage your website correctly.

By carefully evaluating these factors, you can choose the best PHP hosting plan with Cloudways PHP hosting plan that best fits your website’s size, the number of applications you need to host, and the specific features you require. Cloudways’ scalable hosting solutions provide the flexibility to adjust your plan as your needs change, ensuring that your hosting environment always aligns with your website’s demands.

Differences Between Cloudways PHP Hosting Plans Offered by Different Providers

Cloudways offers the best PHP hosting plans on five cloud platforms: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. The plans offered by each provider vary in terms of price, resources, and features.

DigitalOcean

• Price: $11 per month to $166 per month
• Resources: 1 GB to 16 GB of RAM, 1 Core to 8 Core Processor, 25 GB to 320 GB of NVMe Storage, 1 TB to 10 TB of Bandwidth
• Features: Free SSL certificate, free domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 24/7 customer support

Linode

• Price: $12 per month to $152 per month
• Resources: 1 GB to 16 GB of RAM, 1 Core to 8 Core Processor, 25 GB to 320 GB of NVMe Storage, 1 TB to 10 TB of Bandwidth
• Features: Free SSL certificate, free domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 24/7 customer support

Vultr

• Price: $11 per month to $158 per month
• Resources: 1 GB to 16 GB of RAM, 1 Core to 8 Core Processor, 25 GB to 320 GB of NVMe Storage, 1 TB to 10 TB of Bandwidth
• Features: Free SSL certificate, free domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 24/7 customer support

AWS

• Price: $36.51 per month to $584.16 per month
• Resources: 1 GB to 16 GB of RAM, 1 Core to 8 Core Processor, 20 GB to 320 GB of NVMe Storage, 2 TB to 32 TB of Bandwidth
• Features: Free SSL certificate, free domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 24/7 customer support

Google Cloud

• Price: $33.18 per month to $527.73 per month
• Resources: 1 GB to 16 GB of RAM, 1 Core to 8 Core Processor, 20 GB to 320 GB of NVMe Storage, 2 TB to 32 TB of Bandwidth
• Features: Free SSL certificate, free domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 24/7 customer support

Conclusion

Choosing the best PHP hosting provider is essential for reliably running critical web applications built using the widely adopted language. Cloudways Cloud Hosting is the leading managed best PHP hosting platform tailored for PHP.

By leveraging multiple IaaS networks’ computing power and combining it with state-of-the-art best PHP hosting optimizations, security protections, dedicated technical support, and rapid deployment, Cloudways will deliver the premiere destination for PHP hosting in 2024.