When you decide to launch a website, apart from creating and designing it, you need to ensure that you choose the right web hosting service too. There are several web hosting platforms available, like Shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting, VPS Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting. Choosing the right hosting plan can ensure that your site performs optimally at all times. Today, we are going to talk about two popular hosting types – Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting and highlight the differences between them to help you make the right choice.
In Cloud Hosting, your website resides on a shared server backed by a robust cloud storage network. Multiple sites share the server’s resources. It ensures increased scalability, reliability, and optimum performance of the website.
In a Dedicated Server setup, an entire physical server is completely allotted to one user. All the hosting resources, computing power and storage solutions of the server are dedicatedly allotted to one user, eliminating all the cons of sharing of resources.
Differences between Cloud Hosting & Dedicated Server Hosting
Here are some major differences between Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Hosting services:
1. Resource Sharing
- Cloud Hosting – You are allotted a section of the space on the server, and the resources are shared with other sites.
- Dedicated Hosting – Your site is the only one residing on the server and not shared with other sites. Hence, the resources are dedicated to your site.
2. Control
- Cloud Hosting – Since multiple users share the resources, you have limited control over the server. Also, customisation possibilities are limited as any change impacts all other sites. Hence, with Cloud Hosting services, you need to use a standardised hosting environment.
- Dedicated Hosting – There is nothing that you can’t do with a dedicated server. Being the sole user of the server, you can make changes to the configuration settings, install any third-party applications, and customise the hosting environment as per your site’s needs. Further, with control over the security settings of your server, you can maximise site security.
3. Cost-efficiency
- Cloud Hosting – Since you are not using the entire server and its resources, Cloud Hosting plans are cheaper than Dedicated Hosting plans. Further, most Cloud Hosting providers offer cost-scalability. It is a feature that allows you to add resources when needed and pay only for the resources required by your site. Hence, you don’t have to hoard extra resources for traffic spikes. However, if your website demands more resources regularly, then the costs can climb quickly.
- Dedicated Hosting – Dedicated Server Hosting is undeniably the costliest hosting service around. Since you are the sole user of an entire server, the costs are not divided between multiple users, and you have to bear them alone. However, for high-traffic websites like e-commerce platforms and social media sites, the additional costs are justified since the performance efficiency of a Dedicated Server makes up for the higher prices.
Summing Up
As you can see, both Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting, offer specific benefits and are suitable for certain websites. However, it is essential to remember that since no two websites are the same, each site has a unique hosting requirement. Hence, it is crucial to assess your site’s hosting needs and choose the best option for your website. Good Luck!
