Shared hosting vs Cloud: what actually changes

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"Cloud" is so worn out in advertising that it has stopped meaning anything. In our catalogue it means something concrete: a virtual machine of your own, with a private network and a higher growth ceiling than a VPS.

Side by side


Shared hosting
Cloud
Resources Resources shared with other accounts, with per-account limits (CPU, memory and processes). Reserved, with a higher ceiling: up to 16 vCPU and 60 GB of RAM. Public network plus a private network between your machines.
Administration Ours. System, security and updates are on us. Yours, same as a VPS: delivered with the OS and root access.
Control panel cPanel included. Not included, bought separately.
Growing Change plan in minutes, no migration. Scales higher, and links several machines over the private network.
Backups Taken by us every night before dawn. Not included, bought separately.
Built for Company websites, small and medium shops, business e-mail. Projects that grow in layers — application on one machine, database on another.

The short answer

If what you have is a website, shared hosting does the same job with less effort and no administration. Cloud pays off when the project stops being "a website" and becomes a system with separate pieces that need to talk to each other over a closed network.

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Signs it is time to move

1 You are going to split the application and the database across machines.
2 You need several machines to talk without going over the public internet.
3 You expect to grow beyond what the largest shared plan allows.
Moving up a tier changes who administers it. Above shared hosting, the system becomes your responsibility: updates, firewall and backups. Read what changes between a managed and an unmanaged service before deciding — that is the part that catches people out.
What does not change with the plan. The domain stays registered in your name and e-mail can come along. Migrating does not force an address change or lose messages — it is planned and done without the site going offline.

If you are not sure, tell us what the site does and how much traffic it gets. Asking costs less than moving twice.

We will tell you the right option for your case, with no push towards the dearest plan.

Talk to our team

SEE ALSO

All four tiers at once: Shared hosting, VPS, Cloud or dedicated: the full comparison.

WEB HOSTING

Looking for hosting that stays out of your way?

cPanel, a free SSL certificate, backups every night before dawn kept for a year, and support that answers in your language.

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Free migration of your current site · no lock-in

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Grows with your project without making you move house. from $5.30/mo

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