There are several types of web hosting plans and the best option depends on the user’s requirements. Two of the top options are VPS hosting and cloud hosting. The differences between the two are often misunderstood, mainly due to a lack of understanding about the key features of a virtual private server and cloud hosting.
When given the choice between hosting platforms like Google Cloud, AWS, and CloudVPS, one of the main things a user will look into is performance. This is crucial, as no one would want to invest in a platform that has low performance.
With a virtual private server, system resources are dedicated to the user’s server. This means that a fixed level of performance can be expected from the VPS.
However, VPS performance can be affected by two servers sharing the same physical host requiring extra resources at the same time or if a user requires more resources than the physical host can provide.
In addition to this, if the physical host server fails, all VPS servers on it may fail as well, especially if the host does not provide a failover alternate server.
Moving on to cloud hosting, it will give the user on-demand access to memory capacity and CPU power without it impacting other users connected to the network. High availability and uptime are two other performance elements guaranteed by cloud hosting.
If a server fails, the user will find that downtime is prevented through migration to another server. This is what the VPS vs cloud comparison looks like in terms of performance.
When choosing between a cloud server and a virtual private server, one of the key considerations is about customisation.
If a user opts for VPS hosting, they will find that customisation is very similar to a dedicated server, with the same customisation options as they would have if they had their own server. The user will have complete control over the operating system, website and any software.
The only aspect to customisation with VPS hosting that the user may find limiting is with regard to the operating system, as one’s options may be limited by the virtual hosting machine run by the hosting company.
There are limitations when customising on cloud hosting as well, as the user may have less control when required to distribute functioning across many servers. Cloud environments can also be more complex, thus requiring more technical expertise when using it.
However, if one opts for a cloud server, the customisation options will cover architecture, IP addresses, load balancing, and firewalls.
These are the key differences between VPS hosting vs cloud hosting in terms of customisation.
It is a given that security is a main area of focus when choosing between hosting platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and CloudVPS. AWS, for instance, has security, identity and compliance products like Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon Cognito, and Amazon GuardDuty.
While the security features offered by the different platforms should be taken into consideration when making a choice, there are also differences between cloud and VPS hosting. It could be said that VPS hosting has security similar to a dedicated physical server, but the server security could be affected by poor measures taken by another user sharing the same physical server.
Cloud hosting also offers a good level of security, but it can be vulnerable to attacks due to its web-based nature. There may also be data security compliance concerns as data is housed in different locations with cloud hosting.
A few other differences between a virtual private server and a cloud server are flexibility and the ability to pay as you go. With a VPS server, users will find that they cannot pay as they go and that there is no flexibility. However, both pay as you go and flexibility are afforded by cloud hosting.
Both are scalable, but cloud is much more scalable than VPS. This is because, with a cloud server, the user can add capacity in real-time and data storage is more or less unlimited.
In terms of cost, however, both VPS and cloud are low cost solutions and the choice between the two depends on the user’s requirements.
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