We’re habituated to seeing the term “cloud” attached to every basic technological concept. The tech-enthusiasts have a fair understanding of what “the cloud” is; however, the same thing can’t be stated for all its potential applications in the cheapest PHP hosting.

Before we dive in, let’s explore the distinction between shared hosting and cloud hosting. Shared hosting involves multiple websites on a single server sharing resources; on the other hand, when you buy cloud VPS, your website is hosted on multiple synchronized cloud servers, ensuring superior performance and scalability.

Cloud hosting, for instance, is not merely shared website hosting with a cloud label glued on it. It operates on a whole new level in comparison to the conventional forms of shared hosting, providing several customized benefits that validate its existence.

What is Shared Hosting?

Let’s talk about shared hosting, an affordable web hosting solution where each client gets access to a segment of the same physical server to deploy their website or application. Shared hosting is one of the most affordable methods to get a website online, as the service provider hosts multiple clients on a single physical server, contributing to reduced overall costs.

Since shared hosting is an ideal and affordable solution for less demanding projects, it has its fair share of limitations. With multiple websites sharing the same physical hardware, individual clients may experience varying levels of server performance.

This may not be an issue for websites and applications with minimum requirements or moderate website traffic.

Advantages of Shared Hosting

• Reliable solution with affordable monthly charges
• User-friendly management through intuitive control panels
• Built-in software and one-click installations for popular scripts
• Managed technical support and server-hardening solutions
• Perfect for entrepreneurs with partial technical expertise

What is Cloud Hosting?

Fundamentally, the basic differentiator of cloud hosting is the cloud itself. Just like cloud computing, cloud hosting has earned a strong reputation, as it draws computing potential from “the cloud” i.e., a pool of dynamically allocated resources across a wide range of physical components, rather than depending on a precise set of hardware.

Cloud hosting comes with extreme flexibility, enabling an unlimited amount of resources to work together as one system. By taking advantage of virtualization, many physical servers are combined and presented to the website or application as a single machine.

The advantages of cloud hosting reflect many other benefits of other cloud computing services, such as enhanced reliability, superior performance, and on-demand scalability. These features are ideally designed for websites, where a new product endorsement or unexpected success can generate a spike of visitors in merely a few minutes.

Conventional hosting may struggle under the traffic load; however, with cloud hosting, a website’s resources can automatically scale to fulfill the website’s needs, ensuring that your website remains prepared for sudden traffic surges.

If any server goes down, another server in the cloud automatically picks up the slack. If those servers are overloaded, then additional servers are instinctively implemented online to adopt.

Eventually, cloud hosting is crafted to deliver the guaranteed service level that your website needs.

Advantages of Cloud Hosting

• Highly scalable resources that can be upgraded on demand
• Reduced downtime due to server networks
• Pay-as-you-go module.
• Provides distributed server networks and dynamic resource allocation
• Robust security tools for mission-critical websites

How does Shared Hosting work?

The full potential of hardware generally gets stretched in several directions, with various websites and applications constantly competing for processing power. Suppose one customer on a shared platform faces a traffic spike; fortunately, if other websites on the same server are inactive, some resources can be allocated to deal with the additional visitors.

The server has a limited set of resources to distribute, so resource-intensive websites will always struggle to get what they require. The outcome will be unstable performance, slow-loading website performance, and a substandard user experience.

If your website is your primary source of income, this can be a considerable issue. However, even with increased competition for resources, shared hosting can leverage advanced technology to offer decent performance, at least for websites with low or medium requirements.

How does cloud hosting work?

With cloud hosting, every single resource you customize is exclusively allocated to you. Processors, RAM, and SSD storage offer guaranteed performance, similar to the dedicated server. Like a shared hosting platform, cloud hosting allows centralized management through a centralized dashboard, offering the flexibility to manage files via SFTP, install or update applications, modify source code, and much more.

Virtualization enables the website to operate as if it were hosted on dedicated hardware, utilizing the allocated processors and RAM. Ultimately the biggest difference is that unlike shared hosting, cloud hosting provides fully dedicated resources that can be increased on demand for superior performance. Somewhat like a dedicated hosting option for clients who need more power without the hassles of server management.

Choose shared hosting in these scenarios

• Deploying a small business website or blog.
• Having limited technical expertise and preferring simple management.
• Operating on a tight budget.
• Not expecting high traffic in the coming days.
• Running a basic website without complicated functionality.

Choose cloud hosting in these scenarios

• Running an e-commerce website or resource-intensive application.
• Expecting significant traffic or occasional traffic surges.
• Looking for advanced security measures and reliable uptime.
• Having the budget for premium hosting plans.