There have been several talks on the internet about the differences between cloud hosting and a dedicated hosting service. Are you confused as well? Not sure which of these hosting types you should choose for hosting your website? If so, this article might help you in making a decision between these two.
What is Cloud Hosting?
Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting that utilizes a network of servers to distribute the websites or applications to make sure of the stability of the hosted application even when there is a failure in a certain server or peripheral. Cloud hosting services are very common and being adapted by the leading tech ventures because of its flexibility and the easiness to scale. The cloud servers are pretty cheap compared to any other types of hosting service making it much popular even among beginners.
What is Dedicated Hosting?
Dedicated hosting is a type of web hosting where an entire server is dedicated to hosting a single website or application. The websites hosted on a dedicated server will have access to the entire resource of the particular machine. This makes the dedicated hosting servers a power-house without any limitations of a cloud or VPS server. Any application hosted will always have the supply of the free resources available on the server. But the dedicated servers are pretty costly compared to other hosting types making it less suitable for beginners.
Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting
Now that you know about both types of web hosting, it is time to compare them. We have listed some of the most prominent things that we think are important to consider. Have a look.
Performance
Performance is the most important thing to consider while purchasing a web hosting service. Whether it is a small business website or a large eCommerce platform, you should always make sure that the server you choose is capable of managing the load. So, which one of the Cloud and Dedicated hosting servers perform better? Which one will make your website perform much faster?
The answer is pretty obvious. When it comes to performance, the Dedicated hosting servers always tend to perform better because of the dedicated resources they serve to the hosted applications. Cloud services, if not built specifically in a dedicated environment, will always share their resources. Especially if you are on a cheap cloud hosting service, chances are that the same CPU is being utilized by several other applications on the server. There are dedicated resources in certain cloud hosting services, however, in most of them, there isn’t.
So, when considering performance, dedicated servers will always be a step ahead of cloud services. They are virtually an entire machine that you can tweak and tune according to your preferences while the cloud is just a virtual shared environment in a large network of resources.
Stability
Stability is more dependent on the hosting provider than the server type itself. Both cloud and dedicated hosting servers can be extremely stable and never go down if the service provider is good enough to manage them. If they aren’t experienced in the business, chances are that your servers are going down every once in a while no matter which type of hosting service you choose.
So while choosing any of the cloud or dedicated hosting services, make sure that you always go for a service that has good reviews and has been around for a while. This will help you to avoid a lot of unnecessary headaches. There are several providers such as Siteground, Google Cloud Platform, Digital Ocean, etc. that provide good quality web servers for any type of application or website.
Scalability
You will need to scale your web hosting server as your application or website gets modified or new features get added to them. The traffic is also a factor that will force you to scale your resources. So, when it comes to scalability, cloud hosting service beats dedicated servers by a mile. Dedicated hosting services are much harder to resize while the cloud hosting servers can be upgraded or downgraded within a matter of seconds.
So, if you think that you might need to adjust the resources of your server as time passes, you should go with a cloud hosting service. If you think that your web application or website will be more of a stable environment with no to very little changes, a dedicated server will be enough. Choosing a dedicated server doesn’t mean that you cannot ever scale your web server. It’s just that you will either have to migrate your website or need professional help from your hosting provider.
Cost
The cost of the hosting service is also important especially if you are just getting started. You do not need a huge server with a lot of resources for a starter website or application. You should know what you actually need and the server should be scalable according to your requirements. It is not a good idea to keep migrating your website over and over again.
So, you should make a list of features that you need in your hosting service and look for a service that provides these. The cost of the hosting will be much lower if you go for a cloud hosting provider. As the dedicated servers will be dedicated to just you, you will have to pay a considerable amount to have such a server running. You can expect anywhere from $100 and up for a dedicated server while a basic cloud hosting service will be available from just $5.
So, it is always about how much resources you need and how much money you can spend on it. If you prefer a cheap hosting service to get started with, go with a cloud hosting service. If you are already established your brand and website, you may go with a dedicated server instead. Especially if you have a lot of traffic coming in, a dedicated server with powerful resources would be a great idea over a shared cloud hosting environment.
Bottom Line
To wrap it up, if you think that scalability is a factor for your website or application, you should go with cloud hosting. The cheapness lovers also should choose the cloud hosting service over the dedicated servers. If you are more of a performance person, or you need complete control over your web server, you may go with a dedicated web server. Do your own research and make sure that you choose the best.