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Dedicated Servers vs VPS vs Cloud Servers

We are sure in comparing different server providers you have bumped into different hosting models, such as VPS, Dedicated Servers and Cloud Servers.

Although any of them would be suitable for you to begin with, it is important for you to choose the service which adapts the most to your needs. In order to help you to choose, in this post we have selected information about several server options in order for you to make up your mind and choose what is most suitable for you.

Server models

Let´s have a look at the setup within each of them.

Dedicated Severs: Dedicated Servers have been the traditional solution for high-performance activities. As the name implies, each server is dedicated privately to one single client. The client gets access to a physical server with an agreement about the hardware specifics, processors and storage, all of it within the same unit.

Clients of Virtual Private Servers are given a portion of a physical server based on the amount of  hardware resources paid, so because of this, multiple clients share the same physical machine. From the perspective of the client, a VPS is not very different from a Dedicated Server with a setup range from low to medium. However, owing to the virtualization layer, the service provider can keep lower prices than Dedicated Servers.

Cloud Servers are often mixed up with VPS Servers, since both are based on virtualization and imply similar advantages and disadvantages. Even so, oftentimes the definition depends on the hosting provider. In Clouding.io we have raised Cloud Computing to another level, thus the storage system and computation nodes run separately. This provides our clients some advantages such as easy scalability and redundance beyond traditional VPS or Cloud platforms. All in all, a VPS Cloud from Clouding.io can compete face-to-face – and even offer you more advantages – than a traditional Dedicated Server.

How prices are calculated

Whilst in some other posts we will focus on how you can make the most of your resources, in this one we will stress the pricing issue. The first thing you should know is that usually Dedicated Servers will require a monthly minimum and can have a registration fee. It is the same with the VPS providers, which are usually paid on at a monthly rate. However, at Clouding.io the Cloud Servers are billable hourly.

Besides, with Cloud Servers you will have a simple setup available and a fast implementation. Starting a server for a quick test will cost you only a few cents. Because of the explanation above, this would not be possible with Dedicated Servers or normal VPS.

Making the selection

Your needs, of course, will determine which server model is the best for you, but because of all the above explained, it is obvious that Cloud Servers are in most cases the best option. This table shows the main points that differ ones from others:

Comparative summary

Server model	Main features	It is the best for	Prices
Dedicated Server	One physical server per client	Large web applications	Monthly fixed rate Registration fee
Virtual Private Server (VPS)	Pre-setup servers Effective Cost	Websites with predictable traffic	Fixed monthly rate
Cloud Server	Advanced Automatic Redundancy Scalable Servers at Will	Practically anything	Depends on the provider
Clouding.io	Elastic resources (RAM, CPU y SSD) Power Stability Quality Customer Service	Anything	Billing per hours No monthly minimum

 

If what you really need is computing power, then Dedicated Servers are adequate for you, since its actual strength is focused on high execution hardware. However, its lack of flexibility requires you knowing in anticipation the resources that you will need, since either it is limited or there is no chance whatsoever to escalate the server afterwards.

Therefore, if you are developing something of a variable scale and you like experimenting with no limits, virtual platforms are probably the most suitable for you.

From both virtualized environments, Cloud Servers from Clouding.io aim higher compared to the VPS regarding a lot of issues.

First off, the scalability is easy and does not require a lot of effort, and for the same reason our Cloud Servers are more reliable. Besides, with these Servers you will get quality customer service, with no intermediaries, and your IPs will be geo-located in Spain.

Secondly, whereas VPS can be competitive regarding the price, with Clouding.io Cloud Servers you can save owing to its billing per hours, since you can optimize costs any time and you won’t have to pay either minimums or a monthly fixed rate.