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Cloud Hosting vs. Hosted Services: What’s the Difference?

If you’re a business owner, then you know that finding the right hosting solution is essential to your success. With so many different types of hosting available, it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. In this blog post, we will compare cloud hosting and hosted services and explain the benefits of each. We’ll also provide examples of businesses who have benefited from using each type of hosting. So, what’s the difference? Let’s find out!

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting that uses a network of remote servers to store and manage your website data. This type of hosting is often more expensive than traditional web hosting but offers several advantages, such as increased speed and reliability. Hardware failures are also less likely to affect your website since there is no single point of failure.

The setup consists of multiple different servers with shared hosting resources. It is possible to configure the cloud servers to meet specific business requirements with updates to security levels, performance and control.

Some of the benefits of secure cloud hosting include:

Increased speed and reliability

Cloud hosting can be faster and more reliable than traditional web hosting because it uses a network of servers. This means that if one server goes down, your website will still be accessible from another server.

Scalability

Cloud hosting is scalable, which means that it can grow with your business. If you need more resources, you can simply add more servers to your network.

Flexibility

Cloud hosting is also flexible, which means that you can choose the size and type of server that you need. Traditional web hosting limits you to a single web server, cloud hosting doesn’t.

Disaster Recovery

Multiple servers store your data, meaning cloud hosting helps you recover from disasters much more quickly. Data centres can also be located in different parts of the world, which can help to protect your data from local disasters.

Some examples of cloud hosting services are AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud Platform, Azure and ownCloud, the GDPR compliant equivalent to Dropbox.

Hosted Services

Hosted services are web-based applications that are managed by a third-party provider. A single server is used to store and manage your website data. This type of service offers fewer features and flexibility. However, hosted services can be a good option for businesses that need a simple and secure solution for their website and data. Examples of hosted services inc:

  • Web hosting
  • Virtual server hosting
  • Storage
  • Monitoring
  • Email

One thing to keep in mind about this type of web hosting is that your company is responsible for managing and monitoring it. You need to have a team that is equipped with the IT knowledge and expertise to set up, maintain, and troubleshoot server environments. The great thing about having your own dedicated server is that you get complete control. With a cloud solution, the data lives alongside information from hundreds of other companies which means there’s less security when it comes to who can see what—and this could be dangerous if anything happens. Should anything go wrong, it could potentially be accessed, either intentionally or accidentally, by other parties.

Key Differences Between Cloud vs. Hosted Services

When comparing both types of services, there are a few key differences to keep in mind:

Cost

A fixed, recurring fee is usually charged for hosted services, while cloud hosting offers greater flexibility due to its pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Control

Cloud hosting gives you more control over your data and how it’s used, while hosted services provide less control.

Flexibility

Cloud hosting is more flexible than hosted services because you can choose the size and type of server that you need.

Reliability

Cloud hosting can be more reliable than hosted services because it uses a network of servers. This means that if one server goes down, your website will still be accessible from another server.

Security

A dedicated hosted server is more secure than one shared with multiple tenants.

Speed

Cloud hosting can be faster than hosted services because it uses a network of servers.

Features

Cloud hosting often has more features than hosted services, such as scalability and flexibility.

Setup

Cloud hosting can be more complex to set up than hosted services. It is a job best left to IT professionals or those with technical knowledge.

Now that you know the difference between cloud hosting and hosted services, you can decide which one is right for your business. If you need a more flexible and scalable solution, then choosing to opt with cloud hosting providers might be a good option for your business.

Multi-tenancy

One of the main differences between cloud and hosted services is multi-tenancy but what does this mean?

According to Gartner, multi-tenancy is a reference to the mode of operation of software where multiple independent instances of one or multiple applications operate in a shared environment. The instances (tenants) are logically isolated, but physically integrated.

In other words, multi-tenancy is an innovative approach that maximises the use of resources by sharing them among many people. This means concentrating infrastructure in locations with lower costs and improving peak load capacity as well as making systems more resilient during times when they’re only used 10% or less often than normal because there are so few users who will experience downtime otherwise! Hosted services don’t offer these capabilities which make cloud computing better suited for disaster recovery planning – especially if your business needs quick reacting abilities.

So, which is right for you? Cloud hosting solutions or hosted services? The answer depends on your needs and budget. If you need a more powerful and flexible solution, then cloud hosting is a good option. However, for a more simple and secure solution, hosting on a dedicated server is probably the better option.

If you’re still undecided about which type of hosting is right for you, our team of experts can help. We offer both cloud hosting and hosted desktop solutions, so we can help you find the best option for your business. Contact us today on 0330 202 0220 or email sales@venomit.com to learn more about our services and how we can help you grow your business.