Featured Partners
1
IONOS
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
2
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
3
Bluehost
$1.99 per month
Yes
Yes
4
Hostinger
$2.69 per month
10% off w/ code: FORBES10
free domain, free email, free website backups
Compare the Best Cloud Hosting Services of 2025
Best Cloud Hosting Services of 2025
Methodology
Our best cloud hosting provider list is the result of deep dives into the offerings and performance of plans from 25 providers. We collected data on 48 factors in six categories, all targeted to the needs of SMBs. Every category was scored and weighted based on real-world needs and experiences to narrow down our list to the top eight cloud hosting providers.
Some of the factors we considered include:
| Decision Factor | Scoring Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 27% | We started with the core features that every cloud hosting package should include and then dug deeper into the standout features that add value, flexibility and ease of use. |
| Value | 18% | Everyone has a budget and we keep that in mind when comparing what you get to how much you are paying. We look at whether products are worth their cost and what use cases they best fit. |
| Service and Support | 13% | Customer service and technical support are paramount, especially for technical detail-heavy products such as cloud hosting. We looked at contact accessibility and quality of responses to see which teams stood out. |
| Hosting Type | 10% | We only considered products powered by web hosting. Traditional VPS, dedicated servers and standard shared hosting were not considered for this list. |
| Consumer Sentiment | 15% | Our data team dug deep into thousands of reviews and online discussions about cloud hosting providers to gather a well-rounded view of what everyday customers think of these cloud hosting providers. |
| Expert Score | 17% | Our experts use years of real-world industry knowledge and experience to dig into the details of the promise versus the reality of products. We find where promises fall flat and the intangibles that rarely make feature lists but make products shine. |
What Is Cloud Hosting?
Every website is a set of data stored somewhere. Usually, that data is stored on a server, which is a type of computer. Just like a desktop computer, servers have CPUs, hard drives for storage and different amounts of processing power.
Until recently, data was generally stored on one server in a specific data center location. Cloud hosting still stores your data on servers, but it allows you to use multiple servers in multiple locations for better performance and disaster recovery. This network of systems is the cloud. This means if one server goes down, your site can still be accessed. It also means you can easily scale up the site by drawing additional resources from the pool of servers.
If that sounds a bit familiar, it’s because CDNs (content distribution networks) are a type of cloud computing that keeps duplicates of your website in specific locations to better serve your global audience.
It bears noting that some cloud hosts divide the host’s cloud infrastructure up into cloud VPS packages. This is different from a traditional virtual private server (VPS), where you are guaranteed a specific portion of a specific server’s resources. Yes, it gets muddy fast, but the bit to remember is that cloud VPS is more scalable than traditional VPS. Many hosts call this virtual private cloud, and for some SMBs, it is a less technical option to access the benefits of cloud hosting.
While some shared web hosting providers talk about being powered by the cloud, what they often mean is that they use a third-party cloud service, such as Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS), to power set shared hosting plans or provide extra storage. Stand-alone cloud hosting generally offers far more flexibility and scalability.
How To Choose the Best Cloud Hosting
The best cloud hosting provider for your business is one that aligns with both your current needs and future goals. While features like free migration and domains can be nice bonuses, essentials like strong security, reliable uptime, data storage, speed, pricing and customer support should be prioritized when making your decision.
Essential Cloud Hosting Features
Cloud hosting features are similar to shared or dedicated hosting features: great support, security, performance and storage, for example. However, cloud hosting also comes with unique feature needs such as root access control to allow you to customize your hosting environment.
At the very least, review the following features for each cloud host you consider.
- Control. Full root access control allows you to build an environment from the ground up.
- Security. Beyond customized security settings from root access, look for providers with robust security features such as a dedicated IP and proactive monitoring.
- Support. Because cloud computing can have more technical demands, finding a cloud host with good technical support, or even managed hosting, is vital.
For example, SiteGround goes above and beyond in support with fully managed cloud plans, while IONOS excels in allowing users control of their resources.
Value
Cloud hosting pricing is admittedly more complex than shared hosting, VPS or often even dedicated server plans. Sometimes that makes identifying value tricky; however, most of the difference comes down to control and scalability. The more customizable your plan, the more likely pricing plans will be by the hour in a pay-as-you-go option.
Plans that are closer to being structured like a traditional hosting plan with limited control will more likely be a set monthly rate. Those plans might offer more managed features for businesses without tech teams that make the higher price more attractive.
Either pricing plan could offer add-on costs for additional resources such as storage, RAM and more CPUs. However, some set monthly pricing plans may only offer upgrading to another plan instead of scaling up as needed. On the plus side, set monthly cost plans may offer multi-year payment discounts or other extras, such as free first-year domain names.
For example, DreamHost’s monthly rate cap and InMotion Hosting’s low introductory flat-rate billing make budgeting easier, while SiteGround’s fully managed service easily justifies its higher pricing.
Scalability
Quick scaling is one of the primary benefits of cloud hosting and a main reason for the unique cloud billing options. While individual hosts and plans vary, many allow you to add extra resources and servers without any downtime to deal with sudden traffic spikes. Many even include automatic scaling, up and down, to help you conserve budget and maximize website performance.
For example, if you have a product go viral, traffic might spike before any of your team is aware of what is happening. Automatic scaling can take care of provisioning new resources so your website never slows down. Likewise, planned spikes for events such as Black Friday or new product launches can take advantage of temporary additional resources without having to pay higher rates the rest of the time when needs are lower.
For example, full control hosts such as IONOS and SiteGround include live scaling and auto scaling features to address traffic spikes quickly.
Performance
Performance is all about how your website behaves for visitors. Does it load quickly, are there pauses between mouse clicks, does checkout lag or do graphics not load completely?
Even with scaling options, it’s important to pick a cloud hosting plan that has adequate CPU and RAM capacity for the normal operation of your website. If your website is video or photo heavy or includes interactive features, you’ll likely need more resources than less complex sites.
Uptime, which is how often your website is online and working, is a primary metric regardless of package. For any hosting service, 99.9% uptime is considered the bare minimum and results in up to 44 minutes of downtime every month. A host that offers a 99.999% uptime guarantee is preferred, as that guarantee means no more than 26 seconds of downtime monthly.
However, be aware guarantees don’t mean things don’t go wrong, it means the host will usually reimburse you in some manner when your website is off-line longer than the guarantee. Generally, this means a credit towards your hosting plan in some amount. Look for details in the service level agreement (SLA) for your host and plan.
For example, DreamHost, AccuWebHosting and Bluehost are all confident enough in their systems to give a 100% uptime guarantee.
Control
While not universal, most cloud hosting providers give you far more control over server settings than shared hosting plans offer. Many cloud hosting plans allow you root access, which means your tech team can install any software, choose which OS to use, edit files, change software configurations and generally do all of the customization needed for a bespoke system. This is especially useful when dealing with custom security needs.
For example, AccuWebHosting, DreamHost, InMotion Hosting and IONOS all provide full root access (or full administrator access on Windows systems).
Storage
When selecting a cloud hosting service, it’s important to choose a plan with enough storage capacity to meet your needs. Yes, most plans have easy scaling options, but you need a baseline for normal day-to-day operations.
Entry-level cloud storage plans usually start around 100GB to 200GB (although options as low as 1GB are sometimes available) of storage because many use cloud hosting for more than one website. Some entry-level plans allow up to 300 websites on a single plan, for example. If you suspect you’ll need extra storage in the near future, however, it could be worth investing in a higher-tier plan—or at least checking how easy it is to upgrade later.
It’s also worth noting that many plans may limit the number of files you store (called nodes). While limits can be in the millions, if you’re hosting dozens of websites, files can add up quickly.
For example, SiteGround’s largest package offers 1TB in storage, while other hosts, such as DreamHost, use lower included limits but offer add-on storage blocks.
Support
Before committing to a cloud hosting service, it’s important to know how much help you’ll get from the hosting provider. Web hosts offering set monthly pricing and set resource cloud hosting plans often have the least support, while those with pay-as-you-go options and easier scaling often offer more support.
For example, some providers don’t operate a telephone support line, instead relying on web chat and email functions. Especially for e-commerce, 24/7 phone support or at least quick turnaround email support can be vital. No one wants to wait for hours on Black Friday if their online store is broken.
Another support option to watch for is managed vs. unmanaged hosting. Managed hosting means that the hosting provider handles a lot of the behind-the-scenes technical tasks such as setting up the server and dealing with updates, so you don’t necessarily need an in-house tech team.
Checking out customer reviews on websites such as Trustpilot can also provide a handy overview of what existing and recent users think of a provider’s service.
For example, it’s hard to beat a dedicated customer support representative such as offered by IONOS.
Featured Partners
1
IONOS
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
2
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
3
Bluehost
$1.99 per month
Yes
Yes
4
Hostinger
$2.69 per month
10% off w/ code: FORBES10
free domain, free email, free website backups
Which Cloud Hosting Service Is Best for Your Business?
Which cloud host is best for you will largely depend on your needs. For some, a robust fully customizable cloud hosting plan with pay-per-use billing may be best. For others with less technical resources, a fully managed cloud plan might be perfect. Still, others may want the power of cloud hosting but the convenience of set pricing and less technical demands that cloud VPS offers.
Whichever you choose, be sure to compare offerings to your specific needs, be aware of your upgrade or scaling capabilities and look for money-back guarantees in case you get in over your head technically.
Some specific examples of host use cases are:
- If you are new to tech hosting without strong technical skills, SiteGround’s fully managed cloud hosting can offer the support you need to get started.
- If your business is on a tight budget that can’t easily adjust to surprise usage overage charges, try a flat-rate monthly plan, such as InMotion Hosting’s cloud VPS, or a pay-as-you-go cloud hosting plan with a monthly cap, such as DreamHost.
- For businesses with frequent seasonal traffic spikes, live scaling is a must, and you might prefer plans from IONOS or a plan with auto scaling from SiteGround.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is cloud hosting better than shared hosting?
Cloud hosting is usually more powerful but not always the better option than shared hosting. Cloud hosting usually offers more control but comes with a need for more technical skills. Shared hosting is usually cheaper, with fewer technical skills needed but has more limitations, such as limited storage and bandwidth.
Is cloud hosting secure?
A good cloud hosting service will use multiple security measures, such as firewalls, encryption, dedicated permanent IP addresses and well-protected physical server locations, to keep client data safe. However, website owners and their staff must follow good security practices as well, such as strong passwords and educating themselves on how to spot phishing attacks.
What are the types of cloud hosting?
Cloud hosting usually falls into three main categories.
• IaaS (infrastructure as a service): The provider hosts infrastructure, in this case, web servers, on behalf of a client.
• PaaS (platform as a service): Along with the necessary infrastructure, PaaS hosting offers development tools, database management tools and an operating system. This is a popular solution for developing web applications.
• SaaS (software as a service): SaaS providers lease fully developed cloud-based applications to their clients.
Do I still need a CDN if I’m using cloud hosting?
Yes, in most cloud hosting situations, you’ll still want a CDN. While cloud hosting uses multiple servers, those servers are often still in close physical proximity to each other, so you’ll need a CDN to ensure fast content delivery globally.
