There seems to be a bit of confusion about the different ways to host a website online. We have a variety of companies that offer web hosting and also cloud hosting. So what is the difference and is it really that important if you take a web hosting company or a cloud hosting company?
So what do cloud hosting companies offer you? They offer you website hosting on virtual servers. The vertical service will pull all the resources from web servers or extensive underlying networks.
If you decide to go with a cloud hosting service it is easy for you to tap into their services when you need them. In the end, this can result in major cost savings to you because you are only paying for the services and space that you use. Furthermore, you can access these services from anywhere and anytime you need to.
A web hosting company will rent you a block of space on their server. Where a cloud hosting company only charges you for space you need right now. As your site grows and your capacity grows, the service will grow right along with you. When a person builds a new website they might only need 1GB of space to start off. So there is no need to have 8GB of space sitting there that you aren't using, but you are still paying for this space on the server.
A cloud hosting company will only charge you for the space you are using right now. They won't make you pay for a block of space that you are not using. There are many websites that don't exceed 2GB of data on the site but are forced to sign up for a plan that has 10GB of space they can use. Space is wasted and unless you expand and grow your site, you are forced to leave 8GB of space open on the server that you're paying for each month.
What Are Your Options?
You can choose to host your website on a public cloud or a private cloud. So what is better?
Public Cloud: The public cloud uses different public vertical servers that pool their resources from other publicly available virtual servers. The data is physically stored on other shared servers which form the cloud resources. The public cloud servers have some security measures set up to ensure that the data you have placed in the cloud will remain secure.
Private Cloud: Normally a corporation will go with this service because of the privacy issues they are concerned with. In the private cloud, the hosting service will use private cloud ring-fences resources that are private servers that other cloud providers have.
What Services Do They Offer?
PaaS: You are given the software that you need to build your site and start setting up and developing the different applications. It is a lot easier to use than the IaaS option. This is the perfect option for people who are not technically inclined and don't know how to develop their own software or web pages.
IaaS: Here you are just given the space on the server where you can install your own software and start developing and designing your website. This is the best option if you are an IT professional.
This is a great way to go if you have a new website and don't need a lot of space. As your site grows, your space grows right along with you.
Hope this has helped you to understand what a cloud hosting company is and what they have to offer you.
Do you have anything else to add?