Difference Between VPS vs Cloud Hosting; Which Is Cheaper and More Secure?

There are slight variations between VPS vs cloud hosting, but knowing them can make a huge difference in how you handle and communicate with your website.
When you start the journey of creating your own website, you are faced with an evidently never-ending maze of options, each of which makes a massive difference in the performance and success of your website. Knowing this, it is easy to linger on any crossroads, obsessing about the path to take and why.

In this article, we are going to clarify the difference between cloud-hosting vs VPS in detail. The choice between virtual private server vs cloud hosting is no different. You will discover the features of these plans as well as any drawbacks when you read this post, and you will be able to adapt them to your own situation.

There is much to cover, so let’s dive in!

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What Is the Difference Between VPS and Cloud Hosting?

In order to make a better decision between these two types of hosting plans, you should first know the definition, pros, and cons of each of them. So, we are going to identify them in the following section.

What Is VPS Hosting?

VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Servers), sometimes also referred to as “Private Cloud,” is based on servers that are created using the mechanism for virtualization. A VPS runs its copy of an operating system (OS), which enables customers to have super user-level access to that specific operating system, hence they can install almost any software that runs on that OS.

The architecture of these servers is one with several individual dedicated slots on the same virtual machine. One can assign each slot to dedicated resources. Nevertheless, the system usually operates on a process that is time-shared or resource-shared.

Some of the main drawbacks that are preventing the VPS hosting industry from hitting the next stage is its instability, which can cause a specific slot or resource to collapse in any crash scenario and the application or website on that particular space will be inaccessible with no redundant online access unless and up to the time the issue is resolved.

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The rest of the applications on various slots will, however, be up and running without any disruption in service.

But as all the resources belong to the same machine, there remains a possibility, although in exceptional cases where major trouble hitting a certain slot, such as unexpected redundant traffic on a random day or DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, may cause the entire device and subsequent applications to go down.

However, VPS hosting does offer some useful points, as it lessens the gap closer between the dedicated and shared hosting solutions.

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Advantages of VPS Hosting

1- Extremely Customizable

A VPS can be an excellent option for website users who have outgrown their shared hosting plan. However, this approach is not necessarily useful for any kind of website out there.

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2- Root Access

The common issue that you would have to deal with if you didn’t use a VPS is the lack of access to your root environment. Without access to the root environment, you have to simply rely on software packages that the hosting provider supports. It’s important to mention that unsupported software can raise security concerns for hosting provider parties, hence on a shared server, every single available software will be dictated by the host.

According to the mentioned facts if your business necessitates a specific software that is not supported by the host then this server could cause issues for you. nevertheless, by using a VPS, you will be able to freely implement any kind of software changes within the server as you please.

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3- Performance

VPS also appears to offer very good performance, because a certain amount of server resources are guaranteed. Though you are likely to be constrained to some degree by the physical machine. Moreover, there is a risk that your performance may be influenced by other sites using the same physical system, or when you press up against the limit of your plan limits.

4- Scalability

If you own a small business and do not intend to expand it then you would not need to worry about the amount of traffic your website will receive. On the other hand, if you have plans to grow your business it is a great chance that you’ll experience a rise in the website traffic as the customer base expands, therefore you will need a server to accommodate this. a VPS can make it much easier to scale up operations without interfering with the functioning of the server.

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5- Better Customer Service

Encountering a problem with hosting servers can definitely make a stressful situation to handle as the livelihood of your business depends on these servers. If you choose to use VPS you will benefit from a dedicated customer service representative who will be able to help you resolve any kind of problems, and also offer recommendations that can help you manage your business.

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6- Security as a Service

Securing a cloud base has become one if not the most important concerns for all digital industries. Security operations are normally built into cloud server providers architecture from the ground up, therefore virtual private servers can be inherently safe. The overriding infrastructure that hosts VPS servers is entirely secure as it is subject to constant security upgrades initiatives and this makes VPS the best secure cloud server option.

7- Single-Tenancy

Single-tenant hosting also called dedicated hosting is a kind of infrastructure that is dedicated to a single client. Single-tenant hosting is almost like a family home and a sanctuary to a single-family where no other people are allowed there. According to these facts, on VPS servers your hosting instance is isolated from other instances on the same parent server which can give you more space in customizing your software. This also can ensure more security as exposures to vulnerabilities and penetration attacks are isolated to a single client and other clients won’t suffer the same fate.

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8- Easy Backups

Another benefit of VPS hosting is that it can make automated backups easier than anyone could imagine, all you need to do is to point and click. Scheduling backups, maintaining multiple backups as well as restoring them all from scratch is fast, simple, and easy to comprehend, ensuring that even in the worst-case scenarios, your data will be protected.

9- Automated and Fast Deployment

It’s important to mention that manual deployments are error-prone and it’s simply because it involves humans doing stuff as Murphy’s Law clearly states: “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong”. Important steps of the operation can go wrong or even worse be missed. Fortunately in automated deployments, once the operation is configured, the process will be set, and it’ll be the same every time a release is initiated.

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10- VPS Is Unbelievably Safe

VPS hosting is not as reliable as dedicated hosting, but it does knock shared hosting out of the park. Your VPS will run independently of any other websites that use the same physical server, but there is a risk that the poor security of another website could easily affect yours.

Now that we know everything there is about VPS hosting, before reading about VPS vs cloud hosting, let’s move on to reading about cloud hosting.

Suggest you read our article about virtual private server vs dedicated server

Disadvantages of VPS

Despite all VPS’s numerous advantages, it does have some drawbacks. Below you can read about some of the main disadvantages of VPS hosting.
Limited Configurations
Unlike shared hosting servers, VPS hosting is much more difficult to set up and handle. Many of the software and services should be manually configured, which can be daunting for beginners and it certainly requires more technical experience.

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1- Restriction on the Physical Server

on a physical server, there can be multiple VPS servers at a time. Should one of these servers consume way too much CPU or RAM power, it can slow down the entire server, also it will affect your VPS container, even if you are not connected in any way with the other servers. several software limitations were specifically designed to solve this problem, but be aware that everything is possible and this problem can result in crashing the entire server.

2- Lack of Dominant Control

VPS users do not have complete control over their environment which makes it challenging in some ways.

3- VPS Is Not The Most Scalable Solution

For sure, a certain amount of server resources are guaranteed in VPS hosting, but it will be hard to quickly scale the site and your current hosting plan will not be able to manage any traffic spikes, depending on the volume.

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What is Cloud Hosting?

The biggest difference between cloud server and VPS is that cloud hosting uses many different physical servers, rather than being a single physical server segment.

That means you are going to draw resources and process power from physical servers all over the world. You will be able to have access to virtually unlimited resources and the risk of slower speeds does not exist.

The enormous benefit of cloud storage is that, when you encounter traffic spikes, it gives you more versatility and guarantees efficiency. Instead of confining yourself to the restrictions of one server, you can simply tap on more server resources whenever you need them. There also exists no chance that the website will go down if one physical server fails since another server will immediately step in to take its place.

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That being said, cloud hosting does not provide as many configuration options as VPS hosting does— even if your host requires you to customize, to configure a cloud-based server you would usually need much more technical expertise.

Hosting companies are increasingly providing the best cloud hosting services at competitive rates. These services include Cloud VPS— a VPS hosting option that has all the cloud hosting add-on benefits. This makes it one of the best choices for larger businesses in need of flexibility and dependability.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a great choice for website owners who want high capacity and scalable hosts with distinguished performance behind them. Cloud hosting comes with a lot of advantages, but it is not perfect for every website style as you will see below. Read the Advantages and disadvantages of cloud hosting to be able to choose the best cloud hosting for your website.

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Customization Choices

The best cloud hosting services offer good customization choices to their users. But, due to the sheer number of servers you need to spread the settings over, you can be constrained. Setting up your hosting system to get the most out of your network could also require some technical skills.

Ability to Scale

Cloud storage is truly shining in its scalability capabilities. Basically, you are going to have a whole network of servers to tap into at the time of need for supplementary storage, or to meet rising traffic needs. You will also get very high uptime and great performance due to the high server availability. When there is ever a physical server malfunction then the domain is simply moved to another server.

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Very High Security

The best cloud hosting environments will also be very secure and will be separated from other users on the same physical server network. Although since your host is completely web-based this makes it more vulnerable to attacks.

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VPS Hosting VS Cloud Hosting

Together we read about the definitions of the best cloud hosting and VPS hosting and became familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. Now, in this section, we can discuss cloud server vs VPS and review how each of them performs based on certain benchmarks.

1. VPS vs Cloud Performance

If you move your website out of a shared hosting plan, the performance is one of the biggest differences you will notice with both cloud and VPS hosting. The speed, stability, and reliability that you will have with both of these types of hosting is far superior to that of shared hosting. There are however some differences between the two in performance levels.

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VPS Hosting

When it comes to comparing cloud hosting vs VPS speed, we have to say that with VPS hosting, you are assured to share the server space with other websites and the page loading speeds would be quicker than shared hosting.

Yet VPS hosting is restricted as the website is still hosted on a physical server — even though you have a separate partition of your own. This way, your VPS is also constrained by physical storage resources and hardware.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud Hosting pulls on many servers around the world to offer excellent levels of performance. Also, cloud computing can provide the same speed and reliability during high-demand periods. Additionally, being able to draw RAM (memory) and CPU power from a variety of servers gives it a remarkable capacity to manage even the most unpredictable surges in traffic.

Plus, due to its ability to transfer files and operating obligations to another server if one fails, the best cloud hosting services are also secured against downtime.

The Winner: Cloud Hosting

2. Scalability As You Expand Your Website

A scalable hosting service is a requirement for most businesses and website owners. When you are looking for the right hosting solution for your needs, consider how easy it would be to scale up with the hosting company. Do not just take a look at what you need now. Take the scalability differences between virtual server vs cloud hosting into consideration and prepare for the future.

VPS Hosting

Even though VPS may offer more server resources than shared hosting can, however, its scalability is limited by the physical server which is hosting your service. You can increase your virtual server’s memory and processing power but these numbers are still fixed. The physical server has certain resources that it can deliver.

You will need to move to a new plan to scale up your VPS hosting beyond the limits of the physical server.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is not restricted to a single physical server so it has virtually unlimited scalability options. When your company expands, your cloud hosting is growing along with you, providing higher rates of bandwidth, storage, memory, and processing power.

With the best cloud hosting services, you can quickly scale up your hosting plan to cope with the extra traffic if you think you will need more bandwidth and other services.

The Winner: Cloud Hosting

3. Customized Control: Your Website, Your Rules

As your business grows, the ability to customize your server setup gets more important. Both VPS and cloud hosting has significant advantages over shared hosting- where you have no control over your setup- in that respect.

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VPS Hosting

VPS hosting lets you reach a level of customizability close to that of a dedicated server. Full root access means you can control all aspects of your VPS setup, including the operating system ( usually Linux or Windows).

Cloud Hosting

You do get a degree of customizability from cloud hosting. You would be able to configure firewalls, change the network architecture, and enforce load balancing, for instance. However, because your hosting is built on a vast server network, your hosting company needs to limit your control over certain settings to make sure your cloud hosting works effectively.

The Winner: VPS hosting

4. Safety and Security: Protection Against Attacks

Security considerations are of course relevant when you are running a business. If you are not sufficiently covered, hacking, DDoS attacks, and malware infections can have a devastating impact on your bottom line. Not only do various forms of hosting consider various security concerns, but also you will also have varying rates of security controls with different providers.

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VPS Hosting

VPS hosting provides you with a high degree of security – equivalent to that of a server. As each VPS on the same physical server is different from others, the website will not be affected even when another website on the server is hacked. Moreover, being hosted on a single physical server means security is even tighter than when accessing cloud hosting.

However, you should be mindful that if another website on your server is hit with a DDoS attack, if the attack is big enough, the physical server can still be incapacitated. On a VPS hosting, you are also responsible for your own security customizations and installations. So your level of protection depends on the actions you take to keep your VPS hosting safe.

Cloud Hosting

Security levels of cloud hosting are fairly high since the website is kept apart from others. You would be able to bring your own security controls in addition to those that your hosting company is providing. Nevertheless, the principal drawback of cloud-based hosting is the complexity of the setup.

Your hosting is distributed over various physical servers, making it easier to keep your website entirely secure. There are vulnerabilities as with all web-based services: cloud hosting is more likely to suffer from malicious attacks.

The Winner: VPS hosting

5. Cost Concerns: Affordability and Value for Money

VPS or cloud hosting is far more affordable than dedicated servers, and at the same time provides many of its advantages. These two options mean you will have greater access to secure, high-performance hosting as well as a great value for money.

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VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is not only cheaper and offers better value for money in comparison to a dedicated server, but it also provides a consistent monthly rate as well. Every month you choose your plan and get the number of resources promised. VPS hosting rates vary based on a number of factors, such as resource caps, server specifications, and the support level you need.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is more costly than VPS hosting, due to its limitless storage and excellent scalability. However, it is still great value for money and is usually much more affordable than a dedicated server.

Due to the scalability options, the monthly costs of cloud hosting are less predictable than VPS hosting. For example, if you encounter traffic spikes, your monthly costs are going to be higher than normal. If your traffic is lower than average, however, you may end up paying less.

Who Should Use VPS Hosting?

A VPS server is a proper choice for almost any kind of situation. nevertheless, here are some use cases that can make a VPS the best choice.

1- Dealing With a Limited Budget

It is crystal clear that shared hosting is a good idea for beginner businesses due to its low price but VPS hosting isn’t more expensive than shared hosting plus VPS can offer so much more. Generally speaking, if you have big plans to expand your business a virtual private server can serve you well as you will be granted premium security and flexibility also you’ll be coupled with almost endless scalability potential.

2- You Have Several Apps

You can run as many applications as they meet your needs on your rented virtual private server. On the other hand in managing cloud or shared hosting, you need to pay for each application. Also, the perfect scalability potential of a VPS allows you to upgrade as soon as you notice a need for more RAM or storage.

3- Worried About Data Security

If your web application handles confidential information such as names, contact data, credit card information, etc using shared hosting would not be a wise choice as it is too much unstable and you’ll be vulnerable to virus infection through your server neighbor. VPS can guarantee your security as it is a private server. you can also set up firewalls to increase your app’s safety.

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4- You Need To Be Online 24/7

An app that is made for customer services must be around the clock. Availability is a crucial factor for a certain type of apps. e-commerce apps for instance, in this case, you will lose your buyer if you are offline, or messenger apps in which your only goal is to connect people 24/7, the list can go on with more examples but the point has been made. If delivering around-the-clock service to your clients is vital, your best option is a virtual private server. Should your server lose connection your VPS provider will immediately connect you to another server.

The Winner: Well in terms of price, there is no definite winner. VPS hosting is less expensive but provides less scalability. Cloud computing costs, on the other hand, are higher but the value for money makes it worth the extra costs.

Who Should Use Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting might not be perfect for every kind of business. Depending on your plans of expanding your site you may need to consider using cloud hosting in some situations. For instance, let’s say you’ll be running a huge sales promotion and you’re expecting your website traffic to surge 4x during the event, then you’ll certainly need a hosting environment that can handle this without your site going offline. below we will discuss situations that will require cloud hosting:

1- Regulated Businesses

Use cases: Healthcare and financial organizations. Health care organizations need to be more adaptive to cope with shifting industry regulations. Private or hybrid cloud adoption enables the medical staff to have flexible administration and instant access to client records which will make their job much easier.

2- Businesses With Remote Staff or Multiple Locations

Use cases: Global workforces, remote teams
Businesses have to pay for physical space to house the machines, and communication in addition to hardware stuff. Without a practical cloud server, document-sharing between multiple workplaces in a huge industry can become enormous trouble. Using cloud-based solutions can make it much easier for the staff to access tools and information from different and remote workplaces from all over the world.

3- Analytical Businesses

Use cases: Marketing groups, sales teams
Cloud servers can be of use for marketers as they can allow data congestion from several sources such as web and social platforms without latency or a burdensome financial overhead.

4- Businesses That Require Flexibility

Use cases: Tech startups, corporations
large industries face uncertainties with shrinking and expanding business cycles and continual industry “disruption” requires them to stay in order and be flexible to thrive and expand and cloud hosting grants that kind of flexibility.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Better VPS or Cloud?

Cloud hosting is more expensive than VPS hosting as it has more resources and scalability. When it comes to predicting expenditures for VPS, you have no clear vision since it is not scalable. But in comparison with the dedicated server, cloud hosting is much more affordable.

When to Switch Between VPS Hosting and Cloud Hosting?

When it comes to VPS vs cloud server you need to know that both of these options have their sets of advantages, but be aware that what suits one may not be ideal for another.

If you are running a new business and you expect to grow with increased traffic in the future it is best to start with VPS Hosting as it is more cost-efficient. On the other hand, if you’re a growing business with expansion plans and your server fails to efficiently handle the load and requirements of your incoming online traffic, it is recommended to switch to Cloud Hosting.

Is It Possible to Switch Between VPS and Cloud Hosting?

Absolutely yes, whenever you feel the need to switch to another server you can start the operation. You just need to purchase a new hosting plan, transfer your files, change DNS, wait 48 hours for propagation, and, at last, you need to cancel the old plan. You can also request to migrate your content.

Conclusion

Well according to the difference between cloud hosting and VPS hosting, we saw that cloud hosting seems to be the more decent option. But why is that?

Cloud-based hosting is more stable because when a part of the component goes down, there will be no effect on the performance since the whole idea of it is decentralized hosting.

There is an option in the Cloud to incorporate additional resources if necessary. RAM, disk space, or bandwidth, etc., can be added by just a few clicks and dismissed without financial loss if no longer needed. Therefore, cloud hosting can also be described as a web hosting solution offering on-demand services. It is dynamically scalable and can be customized to suit customer needs. It does not require a big investment, Unnecessary services may be withdrawn without cancelation or any extra fees.

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