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Difference between Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Hosting: An Overview

In recent years, there have been many changes in the web hosting landscape. In order to meet the requirements of different websites, various hosting types like Shared Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Cloud Hosting, etc. have evolved. Since each hosting type offers certain advantages and disadvantages and the performance of a website relies heavily on the web host, it is important to choose a plan for your website meticulously. In today’s article, we will look at Dedicated Hosting and Cloud Hosting services and talk about the differences between them.

What are Dedicated and Cloud Hosting Services?

Dedicated Hosting Cloud Hosting
The website is hosted on a physical web server. All the resources are dedicatedly used by the site. Site owners have complete control over the configuration and computing power of the server. The website is hosted on multiple servers and the resources that are required for the functioning of a site like CPU and RAM are distributed amongst various websites. These servers work together to provide hosting services. Virtualization separates the resources required by different instances of the servers.

Comparing Dedicated Hosting and Cloud Hosting Services

Feature Dedicated Hosting Cloud Hosting
Costs Since the site is hosted on a dedicated physical server, the upfront costs are high. Also, site owners have to spend on hiring technical experts to manage dedicated servers. Cloud Hosting services offer an on-demand cost-scalability feature which makes it more cost-efficient than Dedicated Hosting services. Also, in Cloud Hosting, you pay only when you have scaled up the resources used by you.
Customization In Dedicated Hosting since the resources are isolated, there is complete root access available to the users. This allows you to customize the server environment as per the requirement. In Cloud Hosting, since the website is hosted on multiple servers, there is restricted control over the hosting settings and server environment.
Resource Scalability Adding resources like RAM, CPU, etc. usually involves high costs and is a time-consuming process. This makes traffic-spike management a difficult affair. Cloud Hosting services allow you to instantly add resources at the click of a button. This is ideal for websites getting unpredictable traffic.
Single point of failure In Dedicated Hosting plans, since the site is hosted on a physical web server, there is a single point of failure. Therefore, if the web server crashes, the website can be rendered unavailable. This can lead to a loss of reputation and/or business. By the virtue of its design, Cloud Hosting offers higher reliability than other traditional hosting types. The website is hosted on a cluster of virtual servers. Therefore, if one server crashes, then immediately another one steps in. This ensures that there is no downtime as there is no single point of failure.

Conclusion

Despite the benefits offered by Cloud hosting services, you must remember that Dedicated Hosting plans have their own advantages too. Therefore, it is important to assess the hosting requirements of your website before finalizing a host. Even if you decide to purchase a Cloud Hosting plan, ensure that you consider all aspects well before migrating your site. Some features that you can look for are 99.99% uptime assurance, state-of-the-art data center, redundant storage architecture like Ceph, 24×7 support, etc.

Do share your experience with Cloud Hosting or Dedicated Hosting services with us in the comments below.

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