Rapyd Cloud Review: The Best WordPress Hosting?

Let’s face it, few things are more important to the success of your website than good hosting. Every second of downtime or sluggish performance drives more potential customers away, and harms your potential for growth.

Unfortunately, I’ve always had a hard time finding the perfect hosting solution for WordPress sites – that’s why I was excited to conduct this Rapyd Cloud review.

Sure, pretty much every hosting provider promises the world, and Rapyd Cloud is no different – boasting that it can give companies enterprise-grade hosting, without the huge costs. But there are a lot of features built-into this solution that really do give it an edge.

I’m talking about a high-performance database (Maria DB), real-time resource scaling, develop-friendly tools, server-level caching, and so much more.

But how does Rapyd Cloud really perform in the real world? Well, let’s find out.

Quick Verdict: Pros and Cons

I’ll walk you through all of the major pros, cons, and features of Rapyd Cloud, based on my hands-on experience in a moment. First though -here’s a quick take.

I think Rapyd Cloud is a brilliant solution for anyone who wants WordPress hosting that delivers exceptional performance, security, and scalability. Honestly, it might be a bit too powerful for some basic websites.

However, if you’re building a website with complex features, or expect a high volume of traffic, Rapyd Cloud is hard to beat. The real-time resource scaling ensures your site remains snappy, even during traffic surges.

Plus, features like free Object Cache Pro and integrated CDN add significant value – no matter what kind of site you’re hosting.

Pros:

• Real-time resource scaling for snappy performance
• Free object cache pro and free migration services
• Integrated CDN for global content delivery
• Exceptional Redis caching with Relay
• One-click staging for code testing
• Intuitive, easy-to-use dashboard
• Fantastic proactive security measures

Cons:

• Limited to WordPress hosting
• Premium features can be expensive

What is Rapyd Cloud: Basic Overview

Rapyd Cloud is a managed WordPress hosting platform, built to tackle all of the nitty-gritty issues most of us face with WordPress hosting in general.

WordPress sites generally have a greater set of demands than most blogs or old-fashioned portfolio websites. They need to handle high volumes of traffic, manage complex database queries, and deal with sophisticated caching requirements.

Rapyd Cloud addresses these needs directly, combining a huge selection of features to help ensure your website maintains high performance, speed and reliability. I’ll cover these features in more depth below, but some of the big hitters you can benefit from include:

• Real-Time Resource Scaling: No more manual interventions during traffic spikes. Rapyd Cloud adjusts resources on-the-fly, ensuring your site remains responsive no matter what.
• Free Object Cache Pro: Included at no extra charge, this feature optimizes database queries, enhancing site speed and saving you $95/month.
• Redis Caching with Relay: Experience up to double the performance with lock-free, in-memory caching, ensuring swift data access for dynamic sites.
• Integrated Rapyd CDN: Deliver content rapidly to visitors worldwide, reducing load times and enhancing user experience.
• Advanced Security Measures: With features like DDoS protection, daily backups, malware scanning, and a web application firewall (WAF), your site stays protected constantly.
• One-Click Staging: Easily test changes before going live, ensuring a seamless user experience without the risk of downtime.
• Intuitive Dashboard: Manage your site effortlessly with a user-friendly interface that offers powerful built-in tools.

Rapyd Cloud Review: Architecture and Performance

I could probably spend a lot of time talking about all the various features of Rapyd Cloud – but that’d get boring pretty fast. So let’s focus on the things that are going to matter most to you as a website owner – starting with overall architecture and performance.

At the heart of this hosting solution is a server structure built on LiteSpeed Enterprise. If you’re not familiar – that’s a high-performance web server known for it’s speed and efficiency.

According to Rapyd, it delivers ten times the performance of a traditional hosting solution. In fact, you can see how Rapyd outperforms standard WordPress hosting benchmarks here.

LiteSpeed is way better at handling server-level page caching, compression, edge-computing capabilities and more than your traditional Apache or NGINX setup.

It basically gives you the turbo-charged enterprise power you need to run a lighting fast website, without complexity.

Really, what makes Rapyd Cloud so impressive is its ability to handle dynamic and diverse use cases. Rather than offering fixed resource allocations, this hosting solution can scale and adapt dynamically to the real-time needs of your website.

That means it can easily contend with high-traffic content sites, membership platforms, WooCommerce ecommerce sites, and more.

The LiteSpeed Enterprise architecture is further enhanced by Rapyd Cloud’s database solution: MariaDB. This tool enhances query speed and site responsiveness – taking the overall performance of your site to the next level. Which takes us to our next review section.

Rapyd Cloud Caching and CDN Solutions

I often advise website owners to invest in advanced caching solutions and a robust Content Delivery Network (CDN) to enhance website performance. Usually, though, accessing these solutions means paying for extra tools, and dealing with more complexity.

Rapyd Cloud comes with numerous caching solutions built in – as well as a dedicated CDN. The Rapyd CDN is more than just a traditional CDN – it is also a cloud based full page caching infrastructureStarting with caching solutions.

Rapyd Cloud offers server-level caching (with LiteSpeed) to automatically enhance your website load times. It also comes with complex database query caching solutions – perfect for those dynamic or complex website I mentioned before.

On top of that, you get “Object Cache Pro” (usually $95 per month), built-in for free. This solution lightens the workload of your website by storing frequently accessed data in memory, reducing the need for repetitive database queries.

You even get free Redis caching with Relay – a state-of-the-art PHP caching layer that outpaces the standard Redis clients you might be familiar with. This tool doubles as an in-memory cache, optimizing speed while conserving resources.

Combine all that and you get a caching suite that can support just about any site – even major ecommerce sites built with WordPress.

Then, let’s not forget the Rapyd CDN, for extra-fast content delivery too. This comes built-in with your plan, allowing you to deliver content to users globally without unnecessary lag.

The CDN even features intelligent image optimization, which means it can compress images and convert them instantly into modern formats like WebP.

WordPress-Specific Features in Rapyd Cloud

As I mentioned above, Rapyd Cloud is a hosting solution designed specifically for WordPress users. Obviously, that means it’s not a great pick if you’re using another type of website builder, but it also means there are a bunch of great WordPress-specific features to explore, such as:

WooCommerce Optimization

Launching an online store with WooCommerce? Rapyd Cloud makes managing that store a breeze. You can access WooCommerce-specific optimizations, including efficient cart management, session handling, and product catalog caching.

There’s even something called “Smart Purge Technology”, which means that whenever a product’s cache is cleared, all your related category and tag pages are updated too. Plus, there’s an “elastic search” functionality for ultra-quick product searches.

Membership and LMS Site Enhancements

For those launching LMS (Learning Management System) solutions and membership sites, Rapyd Cloud offers access to role-based cache management and optimized user session handling to ensure that members receive personalized experiences without compromising site speed.

Oh, and for educators and membership site owners, there’s a built-in BuddyBoss app integration. That means you can easily manage things like messaging systems, activity streams, and member profiles without having to use a different dashboard.

WordPress Site Management Tools

I’ll talk more about the overall user experience and interface offered by Rapyd Cloud in a minute. But if you’re looking for an easy management solution, this hosting platform is definitely a great pick.

It comes packed with great features, like “rollback” options to revert to previous WP versions, or rollback specific plugins in a couple of clicks.

You can keep themes up to date instantly with a theme management dashboard, and leverage WP_DEBUG pages for PHP error insights and notices.

There’s also a range of command-line tools, so you can dive deeper into your site’s backend. Plus, you get automated backups and updates, to help minimize risks, and there are one-click staging environments for experimentation.

Rapyd Cloud Security Features

It seems like a lot of website owners often need to balance “performance” with security – with one sometimes coming at the expense of the other. Fortunately, with Rapyd Cloud, that isn’t the case. This is one of the top hosting solutions I’ve tried based on security alone.

It comes with advanced firewall protection already built-in, as well as advanced DDoS protection – ensuring uninterrupted and safe access to your website for visitors.

If you use a lot of apps on your website, the application containerization features help to ensure that security risks with one app don’t have a negative impact on another.

Plus, thanks to partnerships with other tech leaders, Rapyd Cloud has upgraded its security ecosystem with a bunch of compelling extras.

For instance, the partnership with PatchStack means you get “proactive vulnerability detection” – through a system that constantly scans and identifies risks in your WordPress core, themes, and plugins.

You also get automatic virtual patches and firewall measures whenever a potential vulnerability is detected.

Through the partnership with Monarx, users also get to guard their site with proactive and automatic malware protection systems. On top of that, you get bot protection already built-in for all websites, free SSL certificates with most hosting plans, and 24/7 back-end analytics.

From an overall security perspective, Rapyd Cloud really is hard to beat.

Rapyd Cloud Pricing and Plans

Before I cover how easy this solution is to use (overall), and how much customer support you get, let’s dive into the price you’ll pay for all of the cutting-edge functionality mentioned above.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a super-cheap hosting provider, Rapyd Cloud probably isn’t the best choice – although you can get discounts if you pay annually (2 months free), or every two years (6 months free).

Here’s a rundown of the monthly price for the core plans, and their core features:

• Lite: $35 per month: Designed for simpler, static websites, this plan supports around 200,000 monthly visits, and comes with 30GB of SSD storage, and 30GB of offsite backup storage. You also get unlimited free CDN support, and free migration.
• Startup: $119 per month: Building on the power of the Lite plan, this solution comes with 36 auto-scaling supercharged PHP workers. It also offers 100GB of SSD storage, 200GB of offsite backup storage, and supports up to 500,000 monthly visits.
• Performance: $359 per month: On top of everything you get in the Startup plan, the Performance plan comes with support for up to 2.5 million monthly visits, 150GB of SSD storage, 300GB of offsite storage, and 146 auto-scaling supercharged workers.

Notably, all of those plans work on a “scaling” basis. For instance, if you have a massive site, you can upgrade the Performance Plan to “Performance 5” for $599 per month – which gives you a lot more storage, PHP workers, and support for additional visitors.

Alternatively, if you want something truly custom-made, the Enterprise Plan gives you a flexible solution with Elite support, Object Cache Pro, Redis Caching with Relay, vulnerability protection, malware insurance, and more – all for a custom price.

Ease of Use and Support

You might assume that with all of the advanced features you get, Rapyd Cloud would be pretty complex.

However, I honestly found the system to be incredibly user-friendly. Registering is easy – all you need to do is enter a few details, and you’ll be sent straight to a simple onboarding process. Here, you’ll answer a few questions about your website.

From there, Rapyd Cloud walks you through the process of getting everything set up, from choosing your domain name, to picking your server location. You can also pre-install WooCommerce if you like.

After you’re finished with the initial setup, most of the work you do will take place in the central control panel.

Everything is organized cleanly, with specific tabs for things like Themes, Plugins, stats and settings. You also get a bunch of easy-to-use tools for fine-tuning security and performance.

I also love the in-built tools for team collaboration. You can assign roles and permissions to other members of staff, which is great if you don’t want to handle everything alone.

The Customer Support Experience

Customer support is one of the biggest gripes I tend to have with hosting providers – but Rapyd Cloud does a great job of actually putting users first.

Every customer gets free migration support, 24/7 assistance, live chat, and web-form assistance.

The Live Chat is great – as I really hate filling out annoying email forms when I’m encountering technical difficulties.

However, you might notice that sometimes you have to wait a little while for an actual human representative to be available. An AI bot is always around to handle basic queries, though – and it’s actually pretty reliable.

The support ticketing system – intended for less urgent issues – allows you to designate where you want your message to go (such as technical support or billing), which is useful – and you do receive a notification to let you know your message has gone through.

Beyond that, there’s a decent knowledgebase packed with self-help resources you can sort through if you prefer a self-help approach.

I actually really like how this help center is organized, with a handy search function, and plenty of clear sections for different topics.

If you want the “premium” support experience – however, you’ll need to consider upgrading to a premium plan.

That might be worthwhile for enterprise-level users, as you do get a dedicated account manager, access to private Slack channels, and tailored infrastructure solutions.

Final Verdict: Is Rapyd Cloud Worth It?

So, is Rapyd Cloud a worthwhile hosting solution? In a word – I’d say “Absolutely”. It definitely offers top-tier performance, security, and ease of use.

It’s also one of the most versatile systems I’ve tried – great for virtually all kinds of websites.

However, it is pretty expensive. Yes, there’s a free three-day trial, and you can save a little cash on long-term subscriptions.

However, if you’re only hosting a very basic site, you probably won’t be able to justify the price of this service.

I’d probably recommend considering Rapyd Cloud only if you’re launching a large site, with a lot of specific demands.

In that case, the value for money is actually excellent – and you’ll struggle to find better performance anywhere else.