Web Hosting vs Cloud Hosting: How are They Different?

Choosing between Web hosting vs Cloud hosting is often a decision many people face when building a website. While both options have the infrastructure necessary to make your site accessible to visitors, there are differences in how they work, their performance, security, scalability, and cost. As your business evolves and website resources increase, understanding the differences between these two hosting options is essential for making the right choice for your needs, whether you want to build a blog, a small business, or a larger ecommerce store.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Web hosting provides storage space and a connection to the internet for your website; hosting providers handle server management and maintenance.
• Cloud hosting shifts the focus from physical servers to virtualized resources pooled and accessed online.
• The key differences between web hosting vs cloud hosting architecture include scalability, customization, and management approaches, making each option suitable for different website types.
• The difference between cloud and web hosting performance metrics, like speed and uptime, varies depending on available server resources vs automatic scaling.
• Web hosting offers predictable pricing, while cloud hosting’s pay-for-what-you-use model provides flexibility at the potential risk of increased costs.
• Your specific website needs, technical knowledge, and budget should guide your choice between web hosting vs cloud hosting plans and providers.

What is Web Hosting?

Before understanding the difference between Cloud and Web hosting, you should understand each to make an informed decision for your new website or online business.

Traditional web hosting involves renting server space on a physical machine housed in a data center, owned and maintained by a hosting provider. Your website files, databases, and software reside on this server, which connects online and delivers your content to visitors.

Types of Web Hosting

There are four main types of web hosting, each catering to different site and business needs.

Shared Web Hosting

In shared hosting plans, multiple websites share resources (CPU, RAM, disk space) on a single physical server. This is the cheapest type and is usually the best option for beginners with small sites or personal blogs. However, this can lead to the “noisy neighbor” problem, with high traffic on one site consuming limited resources or malware infections affecting the others.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting

VPS hosting is a service where a physical server is divided into virtual compartments, giving you dedicated resources and greater control while sharing the hardware with other sites. It performs better than shared hosting, but you need more technical expertise to manage it correctly.

Dedicated Hosting

You lease a dedicated server exclusively for your site, providing complete control and almost unlimited resources. This type of server setup is usually used for large companies with high-traffic websites and specific security needs. This hosting type usually needs an in-house IT team to manage.

WordPress Hosting

This involves specialized web hosting designed specifically for sites built using the WordPress platform. WordPress Hosting includes pre-configured settings, automatic updates, and better security features tailored to WordPress websites.

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting distributes your website across interconnected virtual servers, drawing resources from a shared pool of physical hardware. Unlike traditional hosting, which usually relies on individual servers, Cloud providers use a network of servers that form a cloud, providing resources like storage space and computing power (CPU), which are then distributed and can be accessed as needed.

How Cloud Hosting Works

Virtualization

Cloud computing enables the creation of virtual servers and resources from the linked hardware, allowing a single physical server to be divided into multiple virtual servers, each operating independently and forming a distributed network.

Resource Pooling & Data Storage

The combined resources (CPU, RAM, storage) are gathered into a shared pool, while data is stored across the server network. Users can draw from this pool as required, then, if one server fails, the others take over.

Automated Scaling

Automatic scaling dynamically adjusts resource allocation in a Cloud server, ensuring that CPU, RAM, and bandwidth are scaled up or down in real-time based on demand. This can be particularly useful for businesses and websites that experience fluctuating traffic patterns or unexpected spikes.

There are three main types of cloud web hosting services:

Public

This is where Cloud hosting services are delivered over the public internet and shared with multiple customers, similar to shared hosting. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offer public Cloud services.

Private

A private Cloud uses infrastructure exclusively for a single website (like dedicated hosting). It can be deployed on-site with a private data center or using a third-party hosting provider. Private Clouds offer enhanced control, security, and customization, making them best for businesses and large sites with strict regulatory or security measures.

Hybrid

The combination of public and private Cloud environments allows for much more flexibility. Hybrid Cloud solutions let businesses get the best of both models, such as using the public cloud for scaling sites while the private cloud stores sensitive data.

Key Differences Between Web Hosting vs Cloud Hosting

Architecture

Traditional web hosting works on a centralized architecture, with sites hosted on single physical servers, meaning all your files and data are stored on one specific machine.

Cloud infrastructure uses a distributed system where websites are spread across a network of interconnected virtual machines, drawing computing resources from a shared pool of physical servers.

Scalability

Scaling in traditional Web hosting often has to be done manually. When a website’s traffic demands increase beyond the capacity of your current hosting plan, you’ll generally need to upgrade to one with more CPU, RAM, and storage or migrate your site to a different hosting provider.

As discussed, Cloud hosting plans provide automatic scaling. Resources and bandwidth can be adjusted in real-time based on demand to handle increased traffic without upgrading manually for additional resources.

Server Management

The provider manages the server hardware and software in a Web hosting setup, including the operating system, maintenance, and security. Site owners are responsible for managing their content, additional software like plugins, and databases. This is usually done via a control panel, such as cPanel.

Server customization in Web hosting is generally limited by the back-end access control your chosen provider gives you. Most of the time, you must use the software and settings their systems and infrastructure are based on.

Customization

Cloud hosting offers a wide range of management options. Website owners can choose self-service, where they have complete control over their infrastructure, or managed Cloud services, where the provider handles most of the technical aspects (maintenance, security, updates, etc.) as in web hosting.

This can also give greater flexibility, letting you set up your virtual servers and environment to meet your specific needs. You can use advanced tools and services to build and deploy custom applications, depending on your technical ability.

Website Performance & Uptime

Traditional Web hosting provides reliable performance because resources are dedicated to a specific server and not shared with a large, fluctuating pool of users. You can generally expect consistent page loading speeds and server response times. This can be especially beneficial for ecommerce sites that require better reliability and performance.

Cloud hosting can enhance site speed through its linked network and pooled resources. This means it can deliver content faster by distributing data transfer and processing across multiple servers, which also helps prevent performance issues.

Both traditional Web hosting vs Cloud hosting providers offer uptime guarantees usually around 99.9%. This uptime is essential to a stable online presence for small to medium-sized businesses and personal websites.

This is due to redundancies. Thanks to multiple servers in data centers and the Cloud system, others can take over seamlessly if one server experiences an issue. This redundancy minimizes the risk of downtime and ensures continuous availability.

Web Hosting vs Cloud Hosting Cost Structure

Web hosting usually has a fixed monthly fee that you see upfront, which varies depending on the package you sign up for. This lets you plan your budget and, most importantly, know there will be no extra fees.

Most providers offer different packages with different amounts of storage, bandwidth, etc., allowing you to select one that matches your needs. As your site grows and its traffic increases, your plan may not be enough to keep it running smoothly. Most hosting companies will let you to upgrade.

Cloud hosting often uses a pay-as-you-go payment model. This means your monthly pricing is determined by your resource consumption instead of a fixed rate.

Pricing is typically broken down into individual server resource components, such as CPU usage, RAM allocation, storage consumption, and data transfer. This approach is cost-efficient and allows for flexible spending.

One of the cons of Cloud hosting is that unpredictable traffic, spikes, and high-resource usage can potentially result in higher costs than fixed-fee Web hosting.

Cloud vs Web: How to Choose the Right Hosting Solution

When considering Web hosting vs Cloud hosting, there are a few things you need to consider before choosing.

Estimate your current and anticipated website traffic. Starting with a smaller web hosting plan can be a good way to keep costs down while expanding your online business and allowing you to upgrade when needed with minimal downtime.

For example, if you start building a simple website or blog, you can choose basic shared hosting, while resource-heavy sites and ecommerce stores will require higher-tier plans like WordPress or Cloud hosting with more virtual space on a server.  

For websites with consistently changing or high traffic, the benefits of Cloud hosting’s scalability can be an advantage; however, as we discussed earlier, due to the pay-as-you-go pricing system, this can lead to unexpected costs.  

Technical knowledge is another factor. Web hosting is often easier to manage for beginners who aren’t familiar with the technical side of website and server management. Those who use Cloud hosting usually have more technical skills, especially regarding self-managed options.

Selecting a Hosting Provider

Following the above, choosing the right hosting provider is vital for your website. Here’s a breakdown of key factors to consider:

Performance & Stability

Look for providers with high availability backed byuptime guarantees to keep your website accessible to visitors around the clock. Similarly, check the provider’s server infrastructure, including hardware specifications and network connectivity, to ensure you get the speed and performance your site needs.

The different hosting plans will also affect your site, so ensure you choose the one that aligns with your needs (shared, WordPress, Cloud). Ensure the provider offers easy scaling paths, allowing you to upgrade as your website grows.

Security

Keeping your site secure is essential for you and your visitors. This means you need a hosting service with the right features, including firewalls, malware scanning, and regular updates.

The service should also include an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to encrypt and protect sensitive information during transfer between your website and visitors’ browsers.

Regular backups are another essential part of data protection. A good hosting company should have automated backups with easy disaster recovery to restore your site in case of malware infections, data breaches, or crashes.

Consider providers with expert technical support. They should have multiple contact channels like live chat, email, and ticket systems so they are easy to contact when needed.

Additionally, look at the quality of their self-help resources, like a comprehensive knowledge base, blog, and tutorials to help you learn more and troubleshoot issues yourself.

Customer Support

Choose providers with expert technical support. They should have multiple contact channels like live chat, email, and ticket systems so it’s easy to contact them when needed.

Additionally, look at the quality of their self-help resources, like a comprehensive knowledge base, blog, and tutorials to help you learn more and troubleshoot issues yourself.

The Hosted.com affordable Web Hosting plans are backed by our high-performance hardware combined with SSD storage and LiteSpeed server software, which is built and optimized to deliver maximum performance with a 99.9% uptime guarantee no matter what type of website.

We take your online safety seriously with comprehensive 24/7 malware monitoring through Monarx and Imunity360 for advanced threat detection and removal and advanced firewalls to filter out harmful traffic and other security risks.

You also get a free SSL certificate and daily automated backups to give you peace of mind, knowing your website’s files and data are safe while saving you money. In addition, you get a free domain name registration* with selected cPanel Web Hosting plans.

Lastly, you get access to the intuitive, user-friendly cPanel control panel, making it easy to manage your website, domain, emails, and databases from a single dashboard.

*Ts & Cs Apply

Free Domain Registration applies to the following domain name extensions: .com, .online, and is only applicable at the time of purchase.

Free Domain Registration depends on the selected hosting plan and only applies on 12-, 24-, and 36-month billing cycles. All listed prices exclude Premium domain names.

FAQS

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– Web Hosting Security – Top 11 Best Practices

– Web Hosting Comparison: A Complete Guide

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– Small Business Owner Tips on Choosing the Best Domain and Hosting