There are several different options for cloud hosting for you to consider for your business needs. But which one is the best option for you?
Cloud hosting is rising in popularity because it has some of the best options for many businesses.
The goal here is to help you better understand everything that you need to know about cloud server hosting and why this option is the best choice for your business. This will also take a look at some of the best cloud server hosting options to consider.
What is Cloud Hosting?
Cloud hosting is a relatively new concept when talking about servers. This option offers flexibility that you may not have found in the traditional approaches to server hosting.
Previous to the cloud, hosting websites typically meant that you rent out a portion of another server. Distributed servers would use several servers for the site hosting while others use many virtual servers.
With cloud servers, this is a virtual server that operates in a cloud computing environment. This type of hosting is built, hosted, and provisioned in a virtual environment. There is no data stored on physical servers, as is the case with dedicated servers.
It can be important to understand the difference between cloud and shared hosting when considering your options. If you go with a shared server, your site will be hosted on a single, physical server with other websites.
This means that you are sharing that server’s resources, including bandwidth and disk space, with the other users of the hosting company. This can be a downside because the performance of your hosting services can impact the services of other customers and vice versa.
What’s great about choosing a cloud option is that you get pre-allocated and dedicated resources depending on your needs. You aren’t limited to the capabilities of the physical server. This is the reason why cloud servers can be such an ideal option for businesses.
How to Choose the Best Cloud Server Hosting
How do you pick the best cloud server hosting for your needs? There are plenty of factors that you should consider. This section will take a look at just some of these top priorities you should consider when you are choosing hosting services.
Budget
These types of services can range significantly in price. How much are you willing to/can you spend on hosting services? This should be one of the first things that you consider so that you can narrow down your options.
Customer Support
Customer support can be so important because it gives you peace of mind. Whether you are new to web hosting or have some experience, the customer support team will be at your side whenever you need them.
Read reviews about other users' experiences with the customer service to determine their quality. It can be a good idea to look for customer support that is available 24/7, so that you know you have someone around when you need it the most.
Uptime
In addition to budget, uptime is another one of the most important things to consider. If your website frequently goes down, it’s of no use to you. You want to find a hosting service that has high uptime, with a preference to hosting services with a near-perfect uptime.
Money-Back Guarantee
It can be scary to just sink a ton of money into web hosting, especially if you’re not certain of whether or not the service is the right choice for you. A money-back guarantee allows you to try out the service to see if it works for you without being locked into a long contract.
Root Access
If you are more tech savvy, you might want to have root access to your hosting. This allows you to have more control over the server’s environment as well as allows you to add software that you want or need for your specific business.
Traffic
You need to think about the realistic traffic that you expect to your website. Since these services often charge based on the bandwidth and storage needs of businesses, you need to realistically think about how much you really need.
You don’t want to pay for services that you don’t need. Likewise, you want to have a service that can meet the high traffic needs of your business.
Security
Security is as important to your customers as it is to you. Knowing the security levels of the data center where your data will be stored can be a crucial part in picking the best cloud server hosting service for your needs.
It’s crucial that you really take the time to think about the specific needs of your business. This will help you make sure that you get the services that will work for your business.
Through these considerations, you can significantly narrow down your list of options to find the best cloud server hosting for your company’s needs.
Benefits of Using Cloud Hosting
Why is cloud web hosting becoming such a popular choice? By going with a cloud hosting service, you can actually get a lot of different benefits for your business. This section will take a look at some of the best benefits you can get with a cloud server hosting service.
Flexible Pricing
Typically when you pay for server hosting services, you generally pay a flat monthly rate for those services even if you don’t utilize all of the resources offered. This means that you are paying money for resources you don’t even use.
That’s not the case when it comes to cloud servers. With the cloud, you generally only pay for the services that you actually use. You can scale your services as you need to, such as during periods when you often get high traffic or reducing them during slow periods.
You get flexible pricing that you can scale up or down as needed so that you are only paying for what you need.
Easily Scalable
As previously mentioned, cloud services allow you to scale your hosting services as you need to. Most services have an easy-to-use dashboard that allows you to see what you need and adjust your services right there from the dashboard. This means that you don’t have to wait for the hosting service to handle this for you. You can take care of this yourself and see immediate results.
Improved Uptime
Traditional hosting sites can depend on the physical environment where the server is located. If something goes offline at that location, your site goes down.
Due to the nature of the cloud, you will get a higher uptime when compared to traditional hosting. This is because these servers use multiple servers virtually. If one server goes offline, the data can easily be shifted to a server that isn’t down or suffering from some type of technical issue.
You also won’t suffer from the downtime that sudden surges of traffic can cause, especially since you can easily scale these services as you need to.
Redundant Server Environment
With many other types of web hosting, your website is hosted on a single server. This can be a problem because if the server goes down, so does your website. Then you would be down until someone fixes the problem.
Redundant hosting means that there will be a daily backup that can take over for your site when needed. What this means for you is that you will get a live version of your site that can be immediately loaded should something happen, ensuring that you always have the most current site data.
Improved Website Speed and Performance
One of the best benefits that you can enjoy with cloud servers is that you get incredibly fast speeds. Websites that are fast and perform well best serve your business.
The cloud lets you have better load balancing between the different server environments, which puts less strain on hosting than if you were using a single server.
Cost Effective
It may seem like cloud servers are a more expensive option, and that might be true when you just consider the upfront costs. However, once you really take a look at the benefits and the features that you get you realize that this isn’t as expensive as other types of hosting.
For the most part, you only need to pay for the services that you need, so you’re not wasting money on features that you won’t use. You will get a better return on your investment with cloud servers than you would with other options.
Security
In many cases, people are hesitant to make the switch to the cloud because they worry about the security of their data. The cloud host will often have constant monitoring that will ensure the security of your website.
A lot of businesses find that they actually have a more secure site thanks to the cloud, which is why this can be a great investment for your business.
Better Insight
As technology advances, we realize that data is crucial to running a business. Cloud web hosting can offer you the ability to better gather and analyze data, allowing you to make your business more successful.
Knowledge is power, so through resources like cloud analytics, you can get the information that you need to make your business better.
Disaster Recovery
Sometimes things happen that are completely out of your control. When the unexpected does happen, it can have a negative impact on your business if you don’t have a plan in place. Cloud web hosting can give you the fast disaster recovery that you need to avoid as much downtime as possible.
Reviews of Top Cloud Server Hosting
Now that you understand this type of hosting and the benefits that it offers you, which service should you choose? This section will take a look at some of the top services so that you can make an informed decision on which service could be the best one for your needs.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is widely considered to be a top choice for your cloud web hosting needs. One of the most appealing things might be the money-back guarantee, meaning that you can get peace of mind that you don’t have to settle for this service if it doesn’t fit the needs of your business. Here are some of your options for this hosting service:
- Root Access
- Money-Back Guarantee at Anytime
- Free Backups
- Bandwidths of Between 2TB and 9TB
- Between 20GB and 250GB of Storage
- Price starts at $4.99 a month
A2 Hosting
$4.99 a month
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
One of the other areas where this option shines is that you can have an unlimited number of sites, which is something that is hard to find with other web hosting options.
However, you do have to pay extra for your domain name and the SSL certificate. Still, this is one of the most widely regarded cloud web server solutions.
Cloudways
Cloudways is another strong hosting option. A great reason why this is an option to consider is because it has cloud server locations across 25 locations in the world, allowing you to select the best option for you. Here are the basics of this cloud host:
- Bandwidth of between 1TB and 10TB
- Storage of between 25GB and 3840GB
- Affordable price ranges for a variety of needs
Cloudways
$10 a month
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
You do have plenty of options with this host. For instance, you can go with a flat monthly payment like the basic $10/month plan or you can pay as you go, with a rate of $0.0139/hour.
An area where this company excels at is their customer service. Some plans offer 24/7 live chat and an easy ticketing service, which can be a great help for you, though you do have to pay for this service.
DreamHost
If you are looking for a budget-friendly hosting solution, this can be an ideal option for you to consider. It may lack a lot of the features that the more expensive solutions offer, but this is a solution that can work for your business. Here are the basics of DreamHost:
- Bandwidth is Unmetered
- Storage is 100GB
- Root Access
- Free Backups with WordPress Sites
- Price Ranges Between $4.90 and $96
DreamHost
$4.90 a month
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
One of the things that makes DreamHost stand out from the other options on this list is the free SSL-certificate. The unmetered bandwidth is up to 16GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores.
However, you will not have the option for a free domain name nor will you get live chat. You are also limited to only 100GB of storage. If you just need basic hosting services, this can be a great choice especially if you are just starting your business or don’t have a lot of money to invest in hosting services.
Find A Cloud Hosting Service That Works For Your Business
These tips will help your business determine the best cloud server hosting options for you to consider. You have plenty of options, which is why it is so important for you to really consider what your specific needs are.
Some hosting services are better than others, depending on what your business needs. If you want your business to keep up and surpass the competition, you need to have cloud web hosting services. The hosting services listed here are some of the best options that you can consider.
