Cloud Hosting Architecture: Differences from VPS, Pros and Cons, and WordPress Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is hosting where virtual servers are allocated CPU and memory from a resource pool built by combining multiple physical servers through virtualization.
It is not tied to a single physical server, but the bill changes with how much you use. This guide covers the resource pool structure, auto scaling, how it differs from a VPS, the pros and cons, and which sites it suits.
1️⃣ How Cloud Hosting Works: Many Servers, One Resource Pool
Cloud hosting combines multiple physical servers through virtualization into a single resource pool. Virtual servers are allocated CPU and memory from this pool, and disks are usually stored on network storage outside the physical servers. That is why a virtual server is not tied to any one physical server.
If one physical server has a problem, the virtual server starts running again on another physical server.
2️⃣ Two Meanings of Cloud Hosting: Infrastructure and Product
Cloud Hosting has two meanings: it can mean the infrastructure or it can mean the product.
Cloud as infrastructure is the resource pool of a cloud provider such as AWS or Google Cloud. When they operate on this infrastructure, shared hosting, a VPS, and managed WordPress hosting are all referred to as cloud hosting.
Cloud hosting as a product is a plan where you use the resource pool directly. Resources increase and decrease with traffic, and you pay for what you use.
3️⃣ How It Differs from a VPS: Cloud VPS
A VPS is a virtual server created by dividing one physical server. If that physical server has a problem, the virtual server is interrupted with it. Cloud hosting runs virtual servers from a resource pool, so they start running again on another physical server.
A cloud VPS, by contrast, is a product sold as individual virtual servers on cloud infrastructure. DigitalOcean, Vultr, and AWS Lightsail fall into this category. The infrastructure is cloud, but it is used the same way as a VPS.
With a cloud VPS, you choose the virtual server size as a plan and pay a fixed monthly price, and resources do not grow automatically. When traffic increases, you change to a larger plan yourself.
Some cloud VPS products keep the disk inside the physical server. In that case, if the physical server fails, the virtual server stays down until it is recovered.
4️⃣ Auto Scaling and Usage-Based Pricing
Auto scaling automatically adds and removes server resources to match traffic. Rather than upgrading the specs of one server, the common approach is to add more servers, and a load balancer in front of them distributes visitors across them.
With usage-based pricing you pay for what you use, and server running time, data transfer, and storage are each calculated separately. In a month when traffic spikes, the bill rises with it.
A cloud VPS is also billed by the hour, but it has a monthly cap. That cap is the fixed monthly price.
You can build the same setup with several cloud VPS instances and a load balancer. In that case you configure the scaling up and down yourself.
🔲 AWS and Managed WordPress Hosting
Auto scaling and usage-based pricing are sold as-is by cloud providers such as AWS. With AWS EC2, the number of servers increases and decreases automatically, and you pay for what you use.
Even within AWS, Lightsail is a cloud VPS. You pay a fixed monthly price and change to a larger plan yourself when resources run short.
Cloudways is a managed cloud VPS where you choose the infrastructure from DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. It is billed by the hour and has no visit limits. Auto scaling comes in a separate product called Cloudways Autonomous.
Managed WordPress hosting mostly operates on cloud infrastructure but is sold as monthly plans. Infrastructure and limits differ by provider.
Kinsta is moving its infrastructure from Google Cloud to Oracle Cloud. If you go over the visit limit, the site stays in operation and the excess is billed as an overage. Pressable operates on Automattic's WP Cloud and fails over automatically to another data center if a server has a problem. WPX has three data centers and splits its plans by number of sites, with no visitor limits.
5️⃣ Pros and Cons of Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is not tied to a single physical server, so the site stays in operation even if one server fails. When traffic spikes, resources increase, and when traffic drops they decrease again.
The trade-off is that the bill is hard to predict. Server running time and data transfer are calculated separately, so the bill rises in a month when traffic spikes. On AWS, data transfer is free up to 100GB each month, and beyond that you pay for what you use.
Auto scaling and the load balancer have to be configured by you.
If you want a fixed monthly price, use a cloud VPS or a managed cloud VPS. Cloudways starts at $11 a month. Lightsail charges an overage only when you exceed the data transfer allowance.
6️⃣ Who Should Use Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is suited to sites where traffic spikes suddenly. Online stores that lose sales when the service is interrupted and services accessed from many countries also fall into this category.
For a blog or company site with steady visitor numbers, a cloud VPS is enough, and you can run it within a fixed monthly price.
If you don't want to configure servers yourself, use a managed cloud VPS or managed WordPress hosting. The providers we recommend are Cloudways, Kinsta, Pressable, and WPX, and we are direct affiliates of each.
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