If your website has outgrown its shared hosting space, you’re likely caught in the “VPS vs Cloud” dilemma, wrestling with the need for more resources, better performance, and increased reliability. The challenge? Understanding the distinct features and benefits that each option offers to address your specific needs.
In this article, we’ll break down the differences between these two types of hosting to help you make an informed decision.
If you’re ready to choose a provider, consult our expertly curated lists of the Best VPS Providers and the top Cloud Hosting Services.
Key Highlights
- VPS Hosting divides one physical server into virtual servers, with options like Managed or Unmanaged.
- Cloud Hosting spreads resources across multiple servers, ensuring minimal downtime and high scalability.
- Cloud hosting consistently handles high traffic spikes, while VPS is limited by its physical server resources.
- VPS users handle their own security; Cloud hosting providers often manage security updates and features.
- VPS offers deep customization with predictable costs, while Cloud has limited customization but offers limitless scalability.
What is VPS Hosting?
If you sign up for unmanaged VPS hosting, you will have root access privilege. As a result, complete control of the website will be in your hands.
If you or your team is not technically adept, you can leave all these technical aspects to the hosting provider through Managed VPS Hosting.
Also, there are other types of VPS hosting, like SSD VPS, Windows VPS, Linux VPS, WordPress VPS, etc. So, if you go for VPS hosting, you will find a VPS server that will satisfy your needs.
Recommended VPS Hosting Providers
- Ultahost – Budget-friendly managed VPS hosting lets you host unlimited sites with unlimited bandwidth.
- Kamatera – Offers a pay-as-you-go solution on a cloud infrastructure with no maintenance required.
- Time4VPS – Self-managed KVM Windows VPS with impressive features tailored for Windows professionals.
For a full breakdown, check out our comprehensive review of the Best VPS Hosting Providers
What is Cloud Hosting?
Cloud Hosting is a type of web hosting where a website’s resources are spread across a network of multiple physical servers, interconnected through sophisticated software. Instead of relying on a single physical server, cloud hosting draws its power from several sources.
This ensures high redundancy; if one server encounters an issue, another in the network can seamlessly take over, minimizing downtime.
Such scalability and resilience have made cloud hosting increasingly popular, even though it’s a relatively newer concept compared to traditional hosting methods like shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting.
Recommended Cloud Hosting Providers
- Kamatera – The go-to cloud hosting provider for cost efficiency. Start small, adjust as needed, only pay for what you use, and cancel anytime.
- HostArmada – Offers top-tier managed cloud hosting with included cPanel/WHM. This ensures easy navigation with just a few clicks, while their dedicated team handles all technical server tasks.
- ChemiCloud – Beginner friendly cloud hosting with many cPanel tools just a click away. You can build your site with a simple Website Builder with drag-and-drop, over 350 templates, and responsive designs.
For a full breakdown, check out our expert review of the Best Cloud Hosting Providers
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting Pros and Cons
VPS Pros and Cons
- VPS hosting is simple to use and adaptable
- The majority of plans can be altered to match the user’s needs, and the majority of plans can be expanded
- Other web apps can be run on the Virtual Private Server and can be resumed separately
- It is possible to host a massive number of websites efficiently
- VPS comes with a slew of advanced features
- The majority of VPS uses the Linux-based operating system, and it has a proven track record of being more stable and secure than the Windows VPS
- Your Virtual Private Server may not be able to use the total amount of RAM or disk space, since the actual web server’s physical resources are shared among the many websites that use it
- The amount of random access memory (RAM), central processing time, and server disk space available on a virtual private server (VPS) is restricted
- It may be challenging to set up an unmanaged VPS, and getting your website up and operating will take longer
Cloud Hosting Pros and Cons
- Cost-effective
- Easy to implement
- Accessible infrastructure
- Scalable and flexible, and users pay only for the number of used resources
- Automatic data backups
- Users have limited control over the infrastructure
- Prone to privacy issues
- Susceptible to cyber attacks
- Downtime is a prevalent issue with cloud hosting
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting Overview Table
| VPS | Cloud Hosting | |
| Resources | Users have their own resources | Users can get resources from multiple servers |
| Performance | Limited performance depending on the plan | Consistent performance and ability to handle high traffic spikes |
| Security | Users are responsible for their security | Providers handle all security features and updates |
| Customization | Enables users to have root access with unmanaged plans | Limited customization and no root access |
| Cost | It is the cheaper alternative with predictable fees | The price depends on how many resources you use, and fees can be less predictable |
| Scalability | Limited scalability | Unlimited scalability with no downtime |
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Resources
With VPS hosting, you have your own resources that you can use and customize as you wish.
With cloud hosting, you draw power from a multitude of servers, i.e., the cloud. This means the resources are spread out, and you will have nearly a 100% uptime guarantee. Because you have all these virtual servers connected together, it is perfect for servers who need to increase their resources within a short notice to handle higher levels of traffic.
Cloud Hosting is the winner of this category because it enables users to get resources from multiple servers. This is excellent for websites that need to increase their resources at a moment’s notice.
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Performance
Both VPS and cloud hosting offer strong performance, but VPS has limitations due to its reliance on a single physical server, restricting your access to a set amount of resources.
VPS typically uses faster SSDs for quicker data access, unlike shared hosting, which often uses slower HDDs.
Cloud hosting, in contrast, maintains a slight advantage, especially during high-traffic events like product launches or sales. Its network of interconnected servers allows it to adapt to unexpected traffic surges, delivering consistent speed and reliability.
So when weighing options like SSD VPS against Cloud Hosting, consider both speed and adaptability to determine the best fit for your needs.
I have to give the win to Cloud hosting because of its consistent performance and ability to handle high and unexpected traffic spikes.
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Security
Web Hosting Security is a crucial consideration when choosing between VPS and Cloud hosting solutions. Both VPS and Cloud hosting offer better security features compared to shared hosting. However, they differ in the level of management required.
With VPS hosting, you are mainly responsible for your own security settings and ensuring that all software is up-to-date.
Cloud hosting, on the other hand often includes more automated security measures and can dynamically allocate resources to better handle potential security threats.
In terms of security, Cloud hosting has a slight advantage because the provider is responsible for keeping your website secure and updated. However, if you prefer to do this on your own, then VPS is the better one for you.
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Customization
VPS hosting allows complete customization of the website and related applications. It provides the client with root access in unmanaged VPS hosting; thus, you can tweak the technical configurations as much as you like. Your website will run on its individual operating system instance, but the whole virtual server will run on the same OS. So usually, you can’t choose between Linux and Windows after signing up for the hosting plan.
Cloud hosting also limits the customization area since its operation is distributed among numerous servers. However, its liberty to customization is narrower than VPS as there is no root access privilege. Nevertheless, you can choose any OS you want from the readily available Windows and Linux clouds.
The winner for the Customization category is VPS hosting. It is not as limited as Cloud hosting, and unmanaged VPS hosting enables users to have root access to change and modify their websites.
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Cost
When deciding between a cloud server vs. VPS, one of your biggest considerations is likely pricing. While both options are more expensive than a shared hosting environment, they are cheaper than a dedicated server, but you’ll still get many of the benefits of dedicated hosting.
VPS will typically be the cheaper option and tends to be more predictable. You’ll have resource caps and a certain level of support that you get for a set fee.
Cloud Hosting is more scalable, but his also means that the price is less predictable. Depending on the resources you used that month, you might have to pay more for one month if you have traffic spikes. It still has an excellent value for money and tends to be more affordable than a dedicated server plan.
Take the services of Upcloud vs. Vultr. Vultr starts as low as $1.00 a month and ranges up to $120, depending on your needs. Upcloud starts at $5 a month. However, Upcloud is unique from Vultr because you can choose to create your own plan, where you can decide how much CPU, memory, storage, and even the location of the servers you would like to use. This means that, because of this extreme flexibility, you are paying for precisely what you need each month.
For more information check out our dedicated pricing pages:
I have to crown VPS as the winner because it is the more affordable option with predictable fees. However, both VPS and Cloud hosting are cheaper than dedicated server hosting plans.
VPS vs. Cloud Hosting: Scalability
VPS hosting has limited scalability. Although the client operates all website functionalities through a virtual server, it is still bound by the fixed amount of resources in the physical container server. To scale up the resources beyond a certain point, you must migrate to another plan which can pose downtime risks.
Cloud hosting allows for theoretically unlimited resources, as servers can be replaced or scaled without downtime. This offers your website virtually limitless storage, bandwidth, and processing power, contributing to a highly reliable uptime.
The clear winner of this category is Cloud hosting, as it has virtually no limitations when it comes to scaling.
Conclusion
One of the biggest differences when deciding between VPS vs. cloud hosting will come down to scale and customization.
Cloud hosting plans can be scaled on a moment’s notice and automatically go up and down as you need more resources for your site. From resource usage to pricing, cloud hosting is the more flexible and scalable option.
VPS hosting isn’t as scalable, but it is a good option for people who want root access and have extreme customization needs but don’t want to pay for a dedicated server.
If you are still looking for a new hosting plan, you can compare two or three hosting plans to decide which one is right for you.
