Final verdict
Comparing Flywheel and OVHcloud, both hosting providers offer a range of tailored solutions but cater to different user needs and priorities.
-
Flywheel (Overall grade: 8.4)
specializes in managed WordPress hosting with a strong focus on speed, performance, and support. Exceptional uptime and quick response times are key strengths, supported by managed caching, a high-performance CDN, and robust security measures. Flywheel also shines in offering a user-friendly admin panel tailored for WordPress management, providing tools like automated plugin updates and role-based permissions for collaborators. However, its lack of email hosting services and higher price point could be drawbacks for some users. Overall, Flywheel is an excellent choice for WordPress professionals and agencies needing a reliable, efficient hosting platform.
OVHcloud (Overall grade: 8.2)
provides versatility with a wide array of hosting options including shared, cloud, VPS, and dedicated hosting. It excels in offering extensive storage, anti-DDoS protection, and unlimited monthly traffic, which makes it appealing for high-traffic websites. OVHcloud’s strong compliance and certification portfolio, coupled with detailed user role management, positions it well for businesses requiring stringent security and governance. Despite these advantages, the provider has faced reliability issues in the past, and its support services sometimes lag. OVHcloud is a good fit for users needing scalable and affordable hosting solutions, but may require a bit more technical expertise to fully leverage its capabilities.
 Overall grade:8.4 |
 Overall grade:8.2 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Uptime and Availability | 9.7 | 8.2 |
| Hosting Performance | 8.2 | 7.5 |
| Hosting Security | 9.4 | 9.3 |
| Price | 8.1 | 8.7 |
| Hosting Features | 6.8 | 6.6 |
| Ease Of Setup | 8.9 | 8.7 |
| User Management | 7.8 | 8.9 |
| Customer Support | 8.5 | 7.6 |
| User feedback | 4.4/5 | 3.3/5 |
Hosting types offered
Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.
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|
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|
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | ||
| Cloud hosting | ||
| WordPress hosting | ||
| Ecommerce hosting | ||
| VPS hosting | ||
| Dedicated hosting |
Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.
Detailed comparison
Uptime and availability
Evaluates the average uptime statistics, uptime guarantee and overall availability of the hosting
provider
Score Components:
- Uptime percentage (30%): evaluates the uptime statistics in given period of time
- Uptime guarantee (20%): Assesses if the platform offers an uptime guarantee and
whether the actual uptime matches the promised guarantee. - General performance (25%): Evaluates how fast is the average response time and overall
it’s stability. - Responsiveness (10%): Adaptability to different devices and screen sizes.
- Availability (25%): Reflects the total downtime and number of outages.
9.7
8.2
🏆 Winner Flywheel: Exceptional uptime and quick response time.
Flywheel stands out due to its exceptional uptime guarantee and actual performance. The company promises a higher than standard 99.9% uptime and delivers on that promise with a 100% actual uptime in monitored tests. Their response time averages 371ms, significantly below the industry average. Flywheel’s terms of service guarantee 100% availability, excluding scheduled maintenance and unforeseen outages. They also provide 24/7/365 support, including phone support for higher-paying customers, ensuring assistance is always available.
On the other hand, OVHcloud offers a global infrastructure with 43 data centers and 44 Points of Presence. Although their uptime was 99.37% in a past three-month period, improvements have brought them closer to the standard with a 99.962% uptime. Their performance metrics indicate a page loading speed of 0.9 seconds, and they provide automatic backups and Anti-DDoS protection. Despite these features, their past issues with uptime impact their overall reliability.
While both hosting providers offer competitive services, Flywheel leads with its combination of consistent uptime, quick response times, and strong support system. OVHcloud shows promise with its global reach and improved uptime but falls short in comparison to Flywheel’s robust reliability.
Hosting performance
Score Components:
- Hosting speed (30%): This includes SSD quality, Load times, PageSpeed score ranges,
additional information on website speed, built-in plugins for performance enhancement, available caching
methods, and CPU/RAM options - CDN (20%): Considers whether CDN is available or not, whether it’s free or paid, and
the quality of the CDN service - Available data centers (30%): Evaluates the number of data centers and their locations
globally. - Scalibility (20%): Looks at whether elastic scaling is available, the process required
to scale (manual upgrade vs. automatic scaling), the presence of dedicated servers, and the costs
associated with scaling.
8.2
7.5
🏆 Winner
Flywheel: For users who prioritize speed and advanced technological infrastructure, Sitrground is more suitable for high-demand websites that require reliable and fast global access.
Flywheel and OVHcloud both offer SSD storage and free CDN integration to enhance hosting performance and speed. Flywheel, however, showcases faster load times with a heavyweight theme clocked at 1.69 seconds, compared to OVHcloud’s 4.85 seconds. Flywheel operates 11 global data centers, which surpasses OVHcloud’s six, potentially offering better local loading speeds and content delivery. Moreover, Flywheel’s technology is more up-to-date, which may contribute to its superior performance.
Website Speed
Flywheel excels in website speed with an LCP time of 872ms, significantly outperforming OVHcloud’s 1.8 seconds. Although both fall within the acceptable range of LCP (up to 2.5 seconds is considered good), Flywheel’s website speed is notably better, indicating a more efficient user experience.
Scalability
Both hosting providers offer scalability options tailored to varying needs; however, Flywheel provides a more customized approach with its custom cloud plans where resources can be configured to user requirements. OVHcloud also offers a variety of hosting types, including shared and dedicated servers, with tiered pricing to accommodate different user levels.
Hosting security
and regulatory requirements
Score Components:
- Technical security measures (40%): This includes encryption, firewalls, DDoS
protection, secure configurations, server monitoring, access control and availability of security addons
(e.g Sitelock security). - Operational security measures (30%): Encompasses data privacy, backups and data
redundancy. - Compliance and certifications (20%): Adherence to legal and regulatory requirements
(e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and possession of certifications (e.g., ISO 27001, SOC 2). - Business and reliability (10%): Factors in the provider’s reputation, uptime
guarantees, and customer support.
9.4
9.3
🏆 Winner
Flywheel: Flywheel offers a robust suite of security features tailored to meet stringent compliance standards.
Both Flywheel and OVHcloud, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.
Technical security measures:
Flywheel and OVHcloud both provide comprehensive technical security measures. Flywheel includes free SSL certificates, plugin security alerts, Fastly WAF, intelligent IP blocking, auto-healing technology, and nightly backups. In contrast, OVHcloud offers SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt and Sectigo, anti-DDoS protection, and built-in firewalls. Flywheel stays current with PHP 8.1 support, while OVHcloud’s specific PHP versions are not detailed.
Operational security measures:
Flywheel’s operational security measures encompass free migrations, malware removal, and round-the-clock support from WordPress experts. OVHcloud provides task automation via Crontab, an API for managing products, and detailed statistics and logs to track website traffic. Flywheel’s role-based permission model and federated identity service simplify user authentication. OVHcloud focuses on multi-site management within the same hosting plan and maintains a strong user community and partner program for additional support.
Compliance and certifications:
Flywheel adheres to HIPAA, GDPR, 21 CFR Part 11, GCP, and SOC 2 standards. OVHcloud complies with a broader range of certifications, including GDPR, PCI DSS, ISOs 27001/27017/27018, SOC 1/2/3, HIPAA, HDS, and others. Flywheel’s compliance efforts primarily target healthcare and clinical trial sectors, while OVHcloud’s extensive certifications support various industries, including financial services and public sectors.
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|---|---|---|
SSL certificate |
Free and third-party |
Let’s Encrypt and paid options |
Additional security features |
WAF, IP blocking, plugin alerts, malware removal, auto-healing, nightly backups |
Anti-DDoS, firewall, task automation, API, statistics, multi-site management |
PHP versions |
8.1 |
Not specified |
GDPR compliance |
Yes |
Yes |
HIPAA compliance |
Yes |
Yes |
PCI compliance |
Not specified |
Yes |
Hosting features
Score Components:
- Domains (20%): Assesses the availability of a free domain, domain purchase options, and
pricing - Email (15%): Considers if the provider offers full email hosting, or is reselling
third-party service, and if the email is only transactional or not - Website builder (15%): Checks if website builder is available, and it’s user
friendliness and overall the level of customization allowed. - Staging environment (20%): Determines if a staging environment is available, allowing
for testing changes before going live. - FTP & SFTP accounts (10%): Evaluates if and how easily users can access FTP and
SFTP accounts - Git and SSH access (20%): Assess whether Git is integrated into the hosting service and
if SSH access is provided
6.8
6.6
🏆 Winner Flywheel: Offering robust managed WordPress hosting with extensive support and performance features.
When comparing Flywheel and OVHcloud on various aspects, Flywheel stands out with its specialized focus on managed WordPress hosting. Flywheel offers free migrations, a 14-day demo site, and managed services that ensure caching, security, and software updates. This caters particularly well to professionals and organizations focused on WordPress-specific projects. Key features include managed caching and security, 24/7 support, and a user-friendly dashboard, although Flywheel lacks email hosting services. On the other hand, OVHcloud provides a broader range of hosting solutions with a more generic approach but includes a free domain and email hosting in its plans, which might be a deciding factor for users who need these additional services bundled with their hosting package.
OVHcloud shines in offering unlimited monthly traffic, a unique selling point for users with high-traffic websites, and includes robust anti-DDoS protection. While OVHcloud’s user interface may not be as specialized as Flywheel’s for WordPress configurations, it does provide a comprehensive control panel to manage various services and APIs. Moreover, OVHcloud supports multiple CMS installations with its 1-click CMS install feature and offers detailed statistics and logs for web traffic analysis. Both hosting providers offer FTP/SFTP access, but Flywheel provides more in-depth WordPress-specific tools like Blueprints and Local Development Environment, giving an edge for dedicated WordPress developers.
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|---|---|---|
Free domain |
No |
Yes, for the first year |
Free SSL |
Yes |
No |
Email hosting |
No |
Yes |
Website builder |
No |
Yes, 1-click CMS |
Staging environment |
Yes |
No |
FTP & SFTP account |
Yes |
Yes |
Git and SSH access |
Yes |
Yes |
Free backup |
Yes |
Yes |
Money back guarantee |
Yes, 60 days (selected plans) |
No |
a location.
As a result in rare cases the features mentioned here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.
Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both Flywheel and OVHcloud offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.
Email services:
Flywheel focuses solely on WordPress hosting, omitting any built-in email services, and suggests third-party solutions like Google Workspace for email needs. This can be a drawback for customers wishing to manage everything under one provider. OVHcloud, however, provides varying numbers of email addresses depending on the hosting plan and supports transactional email services, which could be particularly useful for users needing integrated email hosting and website services.
Price
Score Components:
- Plan value (40%): What each pricing tier offers.
- Transparency and clarity (30%): Clearness of pricing structures.
- Flexibility of plans (20%): Range of options to suit different budgets.
- Hidden costs (10%): Additional expenses not included in the plan.
8.1
8.7
🏆 Winner OVHcloud: Offering competitive pricing and diverse features, OVHcloud stands out as a versatile hosting provider.
Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.
Flywheel offers a range of plans tailored for WordPress hosting with additional perks like free domain names, SSL certificates, and performance insights. Their Tiny Plan starts at $13/month with features like 1 site, 5GB storage, and 20GB bandwidth. OVHcloud, in contrast, provides more budget-friendly shared and cloud hosting plans. Their Starter Web Hosting plan, for instance, costs just $1.04/month, offering 1 free domain, 1GB storage, and 2 email addresses. While Flywheel has a higher entry cost, it includes specialized features more suited for dedicated WordPress users.
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|---|---|
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Tiny Plan $13
1 site, 5GB storage, 20GB bandwidth, free domain name, SSL certificates. Value for price:8.1
|
Starter Web Hosting $1.04
1 site, 1GB storage, 2 email addresses, free domain name. Value for price:8.7
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|---|---|
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Starter Plan $25
1 site, 10GB storage, 50GB bandwidth, free domain name, SSL certificates. Value for price:8.1
|
Personal Web Hosting $4.39
1 site, 100GB storage, 10 email addresses, free domain name. Value for price:8.7
|
|
Freelance Plan $96
Up to 10 sites, 20GB storage, 200GB bandwidth, free domain name, SSL certificates. Value for price:8.1
|
Professional Web Hosting $7.69
1 site, 250GB storage, 100 email addresses, free domain name. Value for price:8.7
|
|
Agency Plan $242
Up to 30 sites, 50GB storage, 500GB bandwidth, free domain name, SSL certificates. Value for price:8.1
|
Performance Web Hosting $13.19
1 site, 500GB storage, 1000 email addresses, free domain name. Value for price:8.7
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|---|---|
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Custom Plan Custom pricing
30+ sites, custom storage, custom bandwidth, free domain name (if applicable), SSL certificates. Value for price:8.1
|
Performance Web Hosting $13.19
1 site, 500GB storage, 1000 email addresses, free domain name. Value for price:8.7
|
Enterprise plans
Flywheel’s Agency Plan is designed for agencies with up to 30 sites, offering 50GB of storage and 500GB of bandwidth at a premium price of $242/month. It includes features like PHP 8.1, FlyCache, and various security enhancements, catering to high-traffic needs. OVHcloud’s Performance Web Hosting plan, available at $13.19/month, provides ample 500GB storage and advanced options like CDN Basic, making it an affordable solution for enterprises requiring expansive resources and high email account limits.
Ease of setup
platform.
Score Components:
- Site migration (25%): Assesses whether the provider offers tools for site migration,
either automated or manual, and whether these services are free or require a fee. - Admin panel usability (35%): Evaluates the type of admin panel provided, such as the
standard cPanel or a custom solution, focusing on its accessibility and user-friendliness for both
technical and non-technical users. - Setup features (20%): Examines the availability and ease of use of various setup
features, including FTP accounts, file managers, email account setup, PHPMyAdmin, and easy CDN
configuration. - Help center quality (20%): Measures the quality and accessibility of the provider’s
help center resources, including articles and tutorials.
8.9
8.7
🏆 Winner Flywheel: Known for its intuitive setup process and extensive support resources, Flywheel stands out as a reliable hosting solution.
Flywheel offers a custom-built admin panel designed specifically for WordPress users. This interface is clean, intuitive, and user-friendly, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users. The features are well-organized, and even those who are new to website management can find their way around without much hassle. Flywheel focuses on simplifying complex tasks, such as site migration and staging, with easy-to-access tools directly from the dashboard. The control panel also supports collaboration, allowing multiple users to manage the same project seamlessly.
OVHcloud, on the other hand, provides a centralized Control Panel that serves as the primary interface for managing their hosting services. The Control Panel is relatively straightforward but might have a steeper learning curve for non-technical users. It includes a variety of tools and options for configuration, which can sometimes be overwhelming for beginners. Advanced users, however, will appreciate the flexibility and control OVHcloud’s interface offers, particularly with additional features like FTP access, SSH, and a marketplace for add-ons.
Both Flywheel and OVHcloud offer free site migration services, but the approaches differ slightly. Flywheel provides free migrations for all your sites, allowing you to prioritize and monitor the progress through a dedicated Migration Dashboard. This makes it exceptionally easy for users to transfer their existing sites to Flywheel without dealing with technical complexities. OVHcloud also offers migration tools, but these tend to be more manual and may require a bit more technical expertise to execute. While OVHcloud’s service is useful, it may not be as user-friendly as Flywheel’s automated options.
The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. Flywheel offers a wide range of resources alongside 24/7 chat and phone support. OVHcloud also boasts a detailed help center with an intuitive search function and around-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, ensuring comprehensive user support.
User management
accessibility.
Score Components:
- Role customization (40%): Flexibility in creating and defining user roles and
permissions. - Ease of management (30%): User interface and tools for managing users.
- Access control (20%): Effectiveness of access control measures for different user
levels. - Scalability (10%): Ability to manage a growing number of users efficiently.
7.8
8.9
🏆 Winner OVHcloud: Superior user and role management capabilities for businesses.
When evaluating the user roles, permissions, and accessibility of both Flywheel and OVHcloud, several contrasts become apparent. Flywheel offers comprehensive access for collaborators, allowing them to manage sites, add and remove other collaborators, and handle databases while restricting billing and site deletion tasks. OVHcloud, on the other hand, provides much more granular control with the ability to define specific roles and permissions via OpenStack users. This approach enables more precise delegation, enhancing security. OVHcloud’s framework of unrestricted user creation and versatile role definition stands out for businesses requiring more customization and oversight.
In terms of user interfaces and tools for managing users, Flywheel employs a straightforward dashboard that centralizes site management tasks. The Flywheel platform is user-friendly and simplifies the process of adding or removing collaborators with minimal steps. OVHcloud offers a more complex control panel tailored to manage extensive infrastructure requirements. It supports the generation of configuration files for various tools like OpenStack CLI, making it a robust choice for technically-inclined administrators seeking fine-tuned control. Both platforms are quite efficient but serve different user needs based on their complexity and ease of use.
Access control measures and user management scalability are also important considerations. Flywheel’s system is functional for smaller teams managing a moderate number of collaborators, but its limitations on resetting sites and managing billing could be restrictive for larger operations. OVHcloud’s approach, with no limit on the number of users and the ability to disable specific accesses quickly, makes it highly adaptable for growing businesses. Its robust role management via OpenStack ensures that security and efficiency do not degrade as user numbers increase, making OVHcloud the more scalable solution.
Flywheel user roles table:
| Role | Description | Access highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborator | Collaborators assist site management without financial access. | Full dashboard access, add/remove collaborators, SFTP access, database management. |
OVHcloud user roles table:
| Role | Description | Access highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Full control over infrastructure management. | All actions including resource management, billing, user roles. |
| Network Operator | Manages network configurations and resources. | Controls network settings, monitoring, and IP allocations. |
| Infrastructure Supervisor | Oversees and maintains overall cloud infrastructure. | Limited to monitoring and reporting, no changes to configurations/settings. |
| ObjectStore Operator | Manages storage resources and access. | Permissions for storage functions including deletions, updates, and modifications. |
| Image Operator | Handles private image operations. | Creates, deletes, and tests private images in the cloud environment. |
| Compute Operator | Manages computing resources and deployment tasks. | Responsibilities include instance creation, deployment, and maintenance. |
Customer support
hosting provider.
Score Components:
- Support communication channels (30%): Measures the variety of customer support types
provided (live chat, chatbot, email, phone, etc.) - Availability (20%): Assesses the availability hours for each channel, including 24/7
support options. - Technical support quality (30%): Assesses whether the provider offers comprehensive
technical support, including hardware upgrades (e.g., HDD to SSD), software installations, and web
server configuration changes. - Enterprise support (20%): Checks if there are dedicated or priority support services
for enterprise-level customers.
8.5
7.6
🏆 Winner Flywheel: Known for its 24/7 customer support and advanced hosting solutions ideal for WordPress sites.
|
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|---|---|---|
Phone support |
||
Live chat support |
||
Chatbot |
||
Email/ticket support |
||
Enterprise support (dedicated agent, priority support) |
Flywheel offers an extensive range of customer support options, featuring 24/7 chat support, email/ticket support, and phone support during business hours. They provide free migrations, a dedicated account manager, and a migration dashboard for streamlined site transfers. Flywheel also includes managed plugin updates, performance insights, and specialized support for WooCommerce and high-traffic sites. This level of commitment to customer service ensures users receive continuous and reliable assistance.
OVHcloud provides multiple customer service levels, with varying response times and costs. Their standard support is limited to working hours, while their business and enterprise plans offer 24/7 technical support at a higher cost. Email/ticket support is available across all levels, but live chat support is yet to be launched. While OVHcloud supports comprehensive resources like a knowledge base and community forum, the response efficiency and accessibility are less compared to Flywheel.
User feedback
Flywheel is highly regarded for its intuitive user interface, efficient WordPress management, and reliable speed and performance. Customers appreciate the ease of site migration, robust support, and included features like SSL and backups. However, some users highlight concerns over recent pricing changes, slower customer service response times, and issues with email limits and staging environments. Despite a few drawbacks, Flywheel is praised for its agency-oriented focus, making it a strong choice for professionals managing multiple client websites.
User feedback for this hosting provider reveals a stark contrast in experiences. On one hand, users appreciate the competitive pricing, diverse range of services, multiple datacenter locations, and solid server performance when issues do not arise, reflecting a favorable cost-benefit ratio. On the other hand, many users criticize the provider’s customer service, highlighting slow response times, inadequate technical support, and unresolved billing discrepancies, with some experiencing significant delays and lack of assistance in critical situations. Overall, while the hosting services can be robust and reliable, the customer support and service delivery times need considerable improvement.
FAQ
Which platform is better suited for hosting WordPress websites?
Flywheel is better suited for hosting WordPress websites as it offers specialized WordPress features like managed caching, automated plugin updates, and a user-friendly admin panel tailored specifically for WordPress management. These features, combined with robust security measures and strong support, make Flywheel an excellent choice for WordPress professionals and agencies.
Which platform offers better customer support?
Flywheel offers superior customer support with 24/7 chat, email, and phone support during business hours. They also provide free migrations, a dedicated account manager, and managed plugin updates. OVHcloud’s customer support is less accessible, with limited live chat and slower response times, making Flywheel the better choice for consistent and reliable support.
Which hosting service offers more scalability options for growing websites?
OVHcloud provides more scalability options with its wide array of hosting types, such as cloud, VPS, and dedicated hosting, along with a boost option for traffic spikes. Flywheel offers custom plans and compute-optimized dedicated servers, making it a good choice for high-traffic WordPress sites, but OVHcloud’s range and flexibility provide more scalable solutions.
What are the major differences in pricing and value between flywheel and ovh?
Flywheel’s plans start at $13/month and focus on WordPress sites, offering features like staging sites and real-time backups, reaching up to $242/month for enterprise-level services. OVHcloud’s plans are more economical, starting at $1.04/month, and include a free domain and email hosting, with higher storage options making it appealing for different budgets and needs. Flywheel offers more specialized features, while OVHcloud provides more storage and affordability.
How do the providers handle email hosting and what features are included?
Flywheel does not offer built-in email services and suggests third-party solutions like Google Workspace, which could be a drawback for some users. In contrast, OVHcloud includes varying numbers of email addresses and supports transactional email services, making it more suitable for users needing integrated email hosting and website services.
The making of this blog
We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.
