The technological differences between VPS hosting and Cloud hosting have become quite a buzz in the web hosting industry. Most people tend to misunderstand the common differences between the two. This is often caused by a lack of awareness of the differentiating factors between cloud hosting and VPS hosting. The most established organizations and start-ups now have to make decisions on whom to host their websites due to the advent of virtualization and remote operations.
Web hosting has eliminated the need for an operating system, a CPU, top-tier hardware, particular web applications such as WordPress, Joomia, and Magento. And that's just not it! There is no more need for periodic maintenance to keep the server running as well as the use of redundant power supplies.
Business organizations now have to choose between dozens of hosting companies. You have to navigate through much information and figure out what best suits your website. To reduce this confusion, We will narrow it down to two web hosting: VPS hosting and cloud hosting, and see how they compare.
VPS refers to a Virtual private server. It is also known as a private cloud. VPS servers are developed through a virtualization mechanism. One physical server is divided into smaller virtual servers, with each server acting as its dedicated server environment. The dedicated servers are allocated their own resources, which can be customized and configured the way you want. You will enjoy data security as there is no exchange of files or data between accounts on the same VPS server.
One of the risks with VPS hosting is that should one physical server fail, then all the VPS using that server fail. The VPS performance also varies if one of the sites hogs resources on the physical server.
Cloud hosting is a top-of-the-line application hosting solution. This form of hosting has gained popularity and acceptance within a very short period of time. Organizations using cloud hosting have access to their websites anytime and from anywhere. The hosting resources are replicated on every cloud server in the cluster for each website.
Some of the web hosting services that run simultaneously include file storage, email services, FTP, SSH, SFTP, among others. You enjoy a great deal of reliability due to the equal allocation of resources on the cloud servers. Where one machine malfunctions, there is no failure or disruption of the hosting service.
One advantage of cloud hosting is using multiple servers and having more available resources at your disposal. When your traffic needs to change, you can always increase the power of your servers.
There are five major factors to put into consideration when choosing your web hosting solution. We will compare Cloud hosting and VPS hosting based on these categories.
Performance
One of the most crucial factors to consider when choosing a Web hosting solution is its performance. Websites must load faster whenever your clients are looking for it and are always online. VPS cloud hosting offers very high performance, and you are assured of a certain amount of available resources. The performance of your websites is not affected by other websites on the same server unless in instances where several websites experience abnormally high demands at the same time.
With cloud hosting, you are assured of an impressive uptime. Cloud hosting has an inbuilt backup system that meets the needs of websites that may experience unusual high demands. If you want a web hosting solution with high performance, then cloud hosting is the best solution.
Security
Online security is a major concern for most businesses with websites. The consequences of your website being hacked could have major legal and financial implications. While your choice of web hosting solution does not entirely protect you from hackers, it is an essential part of online security.
VPS hosting environment is incredibly secure. VPS operates independently from other sites sharing the same server, which ensures it's protected from third-party access.
Cloud hosting is entirely web-based is more prone to online attacks. Though both hosting plans are secure, VPS is a better solution when it comes to security.
Cost
VPS plans and Cloud hosting plans costs are dependent on the details of the offer. Regardless of the provider you choose to buy from; the price falls in the middle of dedicated and shared hosting. If you choose a HostGator, a VPS plan will cost you more than the cloud hosting plan.
Other providers, however, offer Cloud hosting at higher prices.
The price factors for both hosting plans are generally similar and highly dependent on which provider you buy from and the hosting plan details.
Customization
Before buying any web hosting plan, you need to be well conversant with what you want your website to accomplish and the software you will use. This is especially crucial for tech-savvy website owners.
VPS hosting can be heavily customized according to your website needs. A virtual private server has control over the OS and root access to the server. Limits are, however, imposed based on the physical server configurations.
Cloud hosting solution has a sheer amount of servers and only offers a decent amount of customization options. In order to configure your hosting setup, a considerable amount of technical skills is required. Though crowd hosting is a strong contender, VPS hosting shines when it comes to customization.
Scalability
Most websites have constant needs over some time. Occasionally, businesses will experience significant fluctuations based on viral content or changes in seasonal factors. VPS hosting solution only guarantees a certain amount of server resources. This web hosting solution will, however, find it challenging to handle traffic surges.
Cloud hosting has high availability of servers and can meet rising high traffic while maintaining high performance and uptime.
Whether you choose Cloud hosting or VPS hosting solutions will depend on the dynamics of your business website and the solutions sort after.