Many internet users still need clarification about what cloud hosting is and what its features are. In the following article, we will explore this topic and compare cloud hosting and web hosting, trying to understand the ideal solution based on your web project.
The Differences Between Cloud Hosting And Web Hosting And Which One To Choose For Your Website
Choosing from many alternatives is not an advantage, but it can be unclear. A typical example is the different solutions available for hosting services. In the past, we used to think mainly of two alternatives: shared hosting and dedicated hosting. For some time, however, other solutions have entered the market, some of which have yet to be known by most users. One of them is cloud hosting. Often this service is presented as the most advantageous among those available, but the truth is that few know its main features. Why would it be so convenient? Isn’t it enough to choose cheap and reliable web hosting, as we have always done? Let’s think together in the following article.
How Does Cloud Hosting Work?
To explain what cloud hosting consists of, it is necessary to analyze the two words that make up this term individually. Let’s start with the cloud: this word indicates a global network of servers (physical and virtual) that operate as if they were a single machine. You will have used this technique many times when you have uploaded your files to services such as OneDrive or Google Drive. When you do this, you’re just connecting your PC to a series of servers (the cloud) that create a virtual space on the web with the same functions as your hard drive.
On the other hand, hosting is a service that allows you to host a website on a machine connected to the network, on which all the data necessary for the portal to function are loaded. In other words, it is the house in which web pages belonging to the same domain live. Cloud hosting, therefore, is nothing more than a hosting service that allows you to host a website within a network of connected servers, which pool their IT resources by operating as a single machine.
Public Cloud Or Private Cloud? The Differences Between These Two Hosting Systems
When you buy a web hosting service, you can choose a dedicated or shared one. In the first case, your site is hosted on its machine, making the entire pool of IT resources available. In the second case, however, the portal gets a space inside a shared server with other users. In this case, the machine’s resources are shared among all the sites hosted. Here, a similar choice must also be made when buying a cloud hosting service: private or public. A private cloud is the more expensive alternative and is the equivalent of dedicated hosting. It consists of making all the resources of a network of servers available to a single site.
On the other hand, shared hosting is much cheaper and works like shared hosting. By purchasing this service, the site is connected to a cloud network of servers to which other portals are also connected. The resources of this system are made available to all users in proportion to the workload required by each of them. In other words, when a site reaches exceptionally high traffic peaks, the cloud dedicates more memory and processing power to it. Conversely, when the needs of a portal are small, the resources allocated for its operation are reduced.
Cloud Hosting Vs. Web Hosting: Which Is Better?
The answer is: it depends. Among the main benefits that are attributed to cloud hosting are the following:
- Reducing the risk of system malfunctions. Since cloud hosting consists of a network of servers, if one of them fails, the others will continue to do their job of keeping the hosted websites running;
- Better scalability. The flexibility of the system in distributing resources to users according to their needs would be greater than that typical of shared hosting;
- Increased security from cyber threats. In a similar reasoning to what has been said regarding reducing the risk of malfunctions, if one of the servers of a cloud hosting suffers a web attack, the others can guarantee the functioning of the hosted sites without any interruption of the service.
The advantages mentioned above are actual, but there is one consideration: cloud hosting is priced significantly more than web hosting and can cost up to twice as much. Furthermore, some of its advantages are related to the reliability and protection of the servers hosting the sites. In the event of a malfunction or a computer attack, cloud hosting can avoid service interruption.
But it is equally valid that to minimize the risk of these inconveniences, choosing reliable and secure web hosting is sufficient. Generally speaking, the most notable benefit of cloud hosting is the ability to manage a vast pool of computing resources efficiently, and this feature makes it a good choice for large sites. However, the ideal solution is cheap and good-quality web hosting for medium-small portals.
In Conclusion
In this article, we have explained what cloud hosting is and the differences from standard web hosting. It is a service that offers advantages over the latter, but its cost can be out of the wallet of many website owners.
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