Cloud Hosting vs Dedicated Hosting: Which is Right for your Business?

The type and size of your business determines the kind of web hosting service compatible with it. While in-house data centers like dedicated hosting were the norm until now, times have changed with the introduction of cloud hosting. Let’s check out which one is perfect for your needs.

What is cloud hosting?

Cloud servers can be customized for your unique requirements to maximize performance, security, and offer ample control. While it has some similarities to dedicated server hosting, it is hosted in a virtual infrastructure that is shared and controlled by the cloud hosting service at an economical price as you only have to pay for the resources you use.

It makes scaling resources easy and quick so that you do not waste resources and spend unnecessary money, or run out of resources when you need them either. Your IT performance optimization is done efficiently with cloud servers without the added costs and responsibilities associated with dedicated hosting. Cloud services are highly compatible with businesses that have changing workloads and resource requirements.

What is dedicated hosting?

A whole server along with all of its resources and features are assigned to a single business. You get complete control of your server and its resources so you can configure it any way you want. You are the sole business who can access your server. So you don’t have to share your resources with other accounts.

You can either outright buy a server or rent one. You can also choose between unmanaged and managed hosting depending on whether you have a team who can deal with the responsibilities of the server.

What are the advantages of cloud hosting?

You get incredible security and stability with cloud hosting as your environment is separated from any potential problems that accounts might encounter on the same server as yours. As resources are segregated, even if an account uses more than their fair share of resources, it is not a problem, which is not the case with physical servers that have shared resources.

Cloud server have also proven to be quick and stable as they do not fall victim to the same hardware problems that physical servers do. Hence, they are the perfect option for those on a tight budget.

The ability to scale easily and quickly is the best thing about cloud hosting. With ample resources the performance they deliver is faster as well. Cloud servers offer immense scalability which you can increase or decrease without making changes in the hardware.

What are the disadvantages of cloud server hosting?

Internet dependency is one of the major problems with cloud hosting as it is not possible to work if you do not have an internet connection. Since web hosting services look after the entire setup, third party interference could prove to be a glitch in your operation.

As users use cloud to save their entire database on, it could be at a risk of being vulnerable as the web hosting services might not be able to secure the entire cloud.

What are the advantages of dedicated server hosting?

Dedicated server hosting is highly popular as it offers complete control of the server to its users. So you get to decide the security, use of resources and its complete configuration including storage, bandwidth, memory, and CPU.

It is quite crucial especially if you deal with huge amounts of traffic that require your servers to work at optimum capacity. Given the fact that you are the only user, you can customize the server however you want.

Dedicated hosting basically means you have the entire server to cater to only your business and its unique requirements. Since you are the only user you get a say in the security as well as taking measures that ensure reliability.

An efficient dedicated hosting service will provide you with technical staff to keep an eye on your entire setup, equipment, and operation to ensure it functions smoothly without any glitches.

What are the disadvantages of dedicated server hosting?

One of the biggest drawbacks of dedicated servers is the cost factor. As you get the run of the entire server including all of the resources, you have to pay a substantial amount of money for the privilege. Storing your server in–house requires a lot of space which can increase your cost again if you have to accommodate it.

The IT team is responsible for the smooth functioning, maintenance and management of the entire server. So any mistake you make could result in your website experiencing downtime or crashing entirely.

Conclusion

Dedicated servers and cloud servers both have their advantages and disadvantages. Cloud hosting is perfect for small to medium businesses and their requirements as they offer immense scalability and flexibility.

If you have a large business with ample funds, dedicated hosting might be right up your alley. However, even big organizations are choosing managed cloud server hosting these days as they offer brilliant features with ample resources.