Before knowing what makes cloud hosting awesome, you must first know what cloud computing is.
Cloud computing provides virtual server resources directly to the users for data storage and heavy computing requirements. It is a complete game-changer as users can get on-demand technology services akin to physical data servers at affordable prices. With its limitless applications, it has given birth to new ideas and ground-breaking concepts. Some of them include- Cloud storage, Blockchain, Software-as-a-service (SaaS), Big Data, Internet of Things(IoT), and the list goes on. Cloud hosting is a service offered by cloud computing that gives a web hosting service better flexibility and improves its scalability.
Traditional Web Hosting
The traditional way of web hosting requires a server in a data center that is either shared or dedicated. The server resources are allocated accordingly as per the service that is opted by the user. In shared web hosting, multiple users share a single server space and use the resources simultaneously. Dedicated web hosting grants the site owner full control over one or more servers. The site on dedicated hosting gets the entire resources of the server for itself. It is an exclusive and very costly hosting service usually preferred by large businesses with special requirements and finances.
Cloud Hosting
Alternatively known as cluster server hosting or server on-demand hosting, cloud hosting doesn’t run on the space of a physical server. Instead, it runs on a virtual space that has unlimited resource allocation. It is done by pooling together server resources from different servers and allocating them on a need-to-use basis. It’s like hosting on a single powerful server with almost infinite physical storage and superb processing power.
The main difference between regular web hosting and cloud hosting is:
In regular web hosting, you pay for the server’s physical space, whereas in cloud hosting, you pay for the use of server resources.
What makes cloud hosting a better alternative to web hosting?
The performance of a website depends heavily on the hosting service. Meaning, the choice of hosting is to be done based upon the site’s nature.
It’s still difficult to judge between web hosting and cloud hosting as it doesn’t present a clear picture.
Here are some parameters to help you compare the two in a better way:
Performance
Almost all websites initially prefer shared web hosting as it is the cheapest option and provides basic requirements for a website with regular traffic. Your site shares server space with many other websites each with requirements of its own. Meaning, they share the same storage and server resources that are very limited. The web hosting service provider is responsible for the management, support, and security. However, there are times when a few sites soak up server resources affecting the performance of your site. It causes lags, downtimes and in worse cases- a server crash.
Cloud hosting infrastructure is based on a network of virtualized servers that are synchronized. It’s done in a way to facilitate fast sharing of resources between sites. So even if your site urgently needs some more server resources, a balanced load is maintained.
Site Management
Most web hosting services give additional services like automated backups, free domain registration, website migration, malware scans and so on. They are designed for beginners so that they could launch their site without technical expertise and fuss. However, there isn’t much the user can do in cases of server errors and such. They have to bide the storm until the problems are resolved. Meanwhile, the site takes a hit as it is down performing or even closed.
Cloud hosting comes with root access to the control panel. It helps in disaster recovery and in case of errors, the client can switch to another server without disturbing site functionality.
Functional Flexibility
Traditional web hosting has limited server resources. There is no scope of scalability as you can’t upgrade the resource allocation unless you upgrade your server for hosting. Meaning, each time your site grows to a stage where traditional hosting can’tsustain it, you have to switch your hosting plan and overpay for unused resources of the upgraded hosting.
Cloud hosting removes these redundancies as you get to scale the resources like storage, RAM, bandwidth, etc. freely with just a few clicks. The use of resources gets tracked that provides statistics for future reference.
Cost-Effectiveness
There is a fixed payment structure for a traditional web hosting service that remains the same irrespective of your use. That is why many businesses don’t find these plans feasible as you end up overpaying for unutilized resources.
Cloud hosting bills you strictly for the resources utilized by the site. This increases profitability for sites with fluctuating resource requirements.
Safety and Security
Most web hosting companies like MilesWeb provide digitalocean cloud hosting, aws hosting, and managed web hosting services that include SSL, protection against malicious activities, malware, data hacking, viruses and spam.
Cloud hosting offersbetter security measures and protocols in place than traditional web hosting. The data storage is especially safer as the security is upgraded with added firewalls and advanced monitoring systems.
Outline
The reasons why cloud hosting trumps web hosting are:
- Incredible scalability: Unlike traditional web hosting that utilizes static space and resources limited on a physical server, cloud hosting monitors the load on your site in real-time and automatically allocates necessary resources.
- Better loading speed and functioning: Sharing resources with multiple websites on a single server makes your website load more slowly and can also cause lags. Cloud hosting is alien to such issues as your site gets enough resources to maintain optimum functionality all the time.
- Pay-for-Use: You get flexible billing in cloud hosting as it charges for using resources like storage space, RAM and so on that may vary at different times. Meaning you don’t need to pay the same on a day where your site gets high traffic and requires more resources and when there is low traffic where it uses nominal resources.
The rest I leave to your judgment.
