How to Set Up WordPress on Cloudways: Complete Migration Guide (2026)

We’ve been hosting WordPress sites on Cloudways since 2019, managing 50+ sites across their platform. This guide walks you through the exact setup process we use, from initial server configuration to DNS migration, with zero downtime.

If you sign up through our referral link and use the coupon code Digitizer on the payment page, you’ll get a 20% discount for 3 months.

Before Cloudways: Set Up Cloudflare DNS

Before migrating anything, move your domain’s DNS to Cloudflare (the free plan works fine). Here’s why this step is critical:

• Fastest DNS in the world, Cloudflare consistently benchmarks as the fastest public DNS resolver
• Instant propagation, When you switch hosting, DNS changes take effect in seconds instead of 24-72 hours
• DNS independence, Your DNS records aren’t tied to your hosting provider, making future migrations trivial
• Free security layer, Your origin server IP stays hidden behind Cloudflare’s proxy

To set up: Create a free Cloudflare account, add your domain, let Cloudflare scan your existing DNS records, then update your domain registrar’s nameservers to the ones Cloudflare provides. Propagation takes 12-72 hours.

Step 1: Create Your Cloudways Account

Important: Upgrade your account immediately after signing up. The free trial is only 3 days, if you forget, your server and all data will be permanently deleted.

For servers over 4GB RAM, you need an approved (paid) account before you can even create one.

Step 2: Choose Your Server Provider

Our recommendation: Vultr High Frequency or DigitalOcean Premium. These use NVMe SSD storage and higher-clock CPUs, delivering noticeably better WordPress performance than standard tiers.

Step 3: Select Server Location

Location matters more than most people think:

• Israeli audience: Frankfurt, Germany (closest major data center to Israel)
• European audience: Amsterdam or London
• US audience: New York or Chicago
• Global audience: London or a US East Coast location

Pick the location closest to where most of your visitors are. If unsure, check your Google Analytics geographic data.

Step 4: Size Your Server

• Single site, moderate traffic: 2GB RAM, 1 vCPU, handles most business sites comfortably
• Multiple sites or high traffic: 4GB RAM, 2 vCPUs minimum
• WooCommerce stores: 4GB+ recommended due to PHP processing overhead

If you’re migrating from another host where you were told to keep upgrading resources, the issue was likely poor optimization, not insufficient hardware. We’ve seen sites running on 32GB servers that performed identically on 4GB after proper optimization.

Note: One large server is better than two small ones for performance. But if sites need different PHP versions, they must be on separate servers.

Step 5: Configure Server Settings

In your server’s Settings & Packages:

1. BASIC tab: Set Memory Limit to 512MB
2. ADVANCED tab: Set NGINX Static Cache Expiry to 43200 (30 days), this significantly improves speed test scores
3. PACKAGES tab: Set PHP to 8.2 or 8.3 (match your current site’s version, check at wp-admin/site-health.php)
4. PACKAGES tab: Set MySQL to the latest MariaDB version available (currently 10.11+)

Step 6: Enable Automatic Backups

In server settings → Backups tab, set Backup Retention to 4 weeks. This gives you a solid recovery window if anything goes wrong.

Step 7: Configure Email (SMTP)

WordPress sites need to send emails (password resets, form notifications, order confirmations). In server settings → SMTP tab, enable Elastic Email through the Add-ons window. It costs pennies and takes 2 minutes to set up.

Step 8: Install WordPress

Create a new application on your server. Cloudways will set up a fresh WordPress installation with a temporary URL like: http://wordpress-XXXXXX.cloudwaysapps.com

Step 9: Set Up SFTP Access

In your application settings → Access Details tab, create SFTP credentials under Application Credentials. Note down the following for the migration:

• DB Name
• Public IP
• Application URL (temporary address)
• SFTP Username and Password

Step 10-11: Migrate Your Site

On your old hosting:

1. Install and activate the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin
2. Enter your email and the details from Step 9:
   • Destination Site URL → your temporary Cloudways URL
   • Database Name → DB Name from Step 9
   • Server Public IP Address → Public IP from Step 9
   • SFTP credentials from Step 9
3. Click Migrate and wait for the confirmation email (30 minutes to 12 hours depending on site size)

Step 12: Verify the Migration

Check your site using the temporary Cloudways URL. Everything should be an exact clone, pages, posts, users, media, and settings. Two things to verify:

• .htaccess rules: Custom rules and 301 redirects aren’t copied automatically, transfer them manually
• Recent changes: If you have a WooCommerce store, check for orders that came in during the migration window

Set the temporary site to “Discourage search engines” (Settings → Reading) if it will be live for more than a few hours.

Step 13-14: Go Live (DNS Switch)

1. In Cloudways → Application settings → Domain Management, add your real domain
2. In Cloudflare, update the A record to point to your Cloudways Public IP
3. If you set up Cloudflare DNS earlier, the switch happens in seconds. The world sees your site on the new server almost instantly.

Step 15: Enable SSL

In Cloudways → Application settings → SSL Certificate, add your domain and email to get a free Let’s Encrypt certificate. Enable automatic HTTPS redirection.

Step 16: Clean Up Internal Links

Install the Better Search Replace plugin to replace any references to the temporary Cloudways URL:

1. Replace the temporary URL (without http/https, without trailing slash) with your real domain
2. Select all database tables (except Duplicator’s tables if you use that plugin)
3. Check “Case-Insensitive”
4. Run the replacement
5. Then replace http://yourdomain.com with https://yourdomain.com to ensure all internal links use HTTPS

Warning: This modifies your database directly. Double-check your search and replace strings before running.

Step 17: Set Up Email (If Needed)

If your old hosting handled your business email (not Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), you have options:

• Rackspace via Cloudways: $1/month per mailbox, simple, reliable
• Cloudflare Email Routing: Free incoming-only email forwarding (great for contact forms)
• Shared hosting for email: A cheap plan (like Hostinger) gives you unlimited mailboxes and forwarding

Avoid catch-all email addresses, they attract massive amounts of spam.

After Migration: Performance Optimization

A properly configured Cloudways server gives you a solid foundation, but there’s more you can do. Image optimization, font loading, script management, Core Web Vitals tuning, and caching configuration can take your site from “good” to “excellent.”

We’ve written a detailed guide on how to improve WordPress speed and performance that covers everything you need.

Need help migrating your site to Cloudways? We’ve done it dozens of times and can handle the entire process for you. Get in touch.