SSD VPS vs cloud VPS: Key differences and how to choose the best option for your business

SSD VPS vs cloud VPS: Key differences

SSD VPS and cloud VPS have fairly similar features. So, you’ll need to dig deep into the advantages and disadvantages of each type of VPS hosting to decide which is best for your business.

Advantages of SSD VPS

In some situations, traditional SSD hosting will appeal more to businesses than cloud VPS services. 

Let’s explore its major benefits.

• Fixed costs — If you have fairly steady server resource needs and want predictable costs, SSD VPS hosting might be your best bet. This hosting plan requires you to pay a fixed monthly fee for your dedicated resources. What’s more, you can gain discounts by purchasing an annual or biennial plan.
• Low skill requirements — Traditional VPS hosting, like SSD VPS, is easier to manage than complex cloud solutions. This makes it a good option for IT teams with limited technical expertise or resources. 
• Several management options — Most web hosts offer SSD VPS hosting in a range of management options, such as self-managed, semi-managed, and fully managed. With Liquid Web, fully managed hosting comes as standard, letting you focus on other IT tasks while growing your business.

Disadvantages of SSD VPS

If you opt for standard SSD VPS, you’ll be at a disadvantage compared with your cloud-powered counterparts.

Here’s how: 

• Limited customization — Some providers offer VPS hosting with just a handful of plan options, leaving you limited scope to get the best plan for your needs. 
  
  For example, if you want more CPU cores than the basic plan, you’ll need to pay for extra RAM, disk space, and bandwidth. But Liquid Web stands out by providing a wide range of VPS customization options to suit your needs.   
  
• Resource wastage — With SSD VPS, you pay a set amount for server resources you may or may not use. This leads to resource underutilization if you purchase a higher-tier plan during periods of low demand. If you’re set on SSD VPS, choose a hosting solution that offers monthly payment plans, like Liquid Web. 
• Limited availability — Although SSD web servers have less chance of mechanical failure than HDD servers, you might still experience server downtime due to scheduled maintenance, equipment malfunction, or a security breach. Whatever type of VPS you choose, ensure your hosting provider prioritizes availability.
• Scalability challenges — SSD VPS offers some scalability, but not as much as cloud VPS plans. If you anticipate changing resource needs, choose a web host with a more adaptive environment that allows you to scale resources easily, like Liquid Web. 
• Performance limitations — Although SSD VPSs are much quicker than shared hosting, they don’t outperform cloud VPSs. That’s because cloud VPS has all the performance advantages of SSD VPS but with additional cloud perks. Furthermore, our cloud VPS plans allow you to optimize your VPS for peak performance.

Advantages of cloud VPS

With a cloud VPS plan, you’ll get many benefits SSD hosting provides. 

Here are its additional perks: 

• Customization — Cloud hosting is highly customizable by design. Liquid Web’s Cloud VPS allows you to customize your hosting environment in terms of data center location, RAM, bandwidth, operating system (Linux or Windows), control panel, cloud storage space, and number of CPUs. 
• Quick provisioning — Web hosts can leverage the cloud to provide unparalleled provisioning speed. At Liquid Web, we’ll provision your Cloud VPS within minutes of purchase. 
• Scalability and resource efficiency — It’s much easier to scale your business with cloud VPS than with traditional SSD VPS. Whether your business grows in size or complexity or needs to scale down during quiet periods, cloud hosting allows you to adjust resources based on dynamic needs. 
• Pay-what-you-use pricing — Businesses with dynamic IT needs can benefit from resource-based pricing. At Liquid Web, we offer flexible pricing based on resource priorities, such as memory requirements and the number of CPUs. 
• Availability — Cloud servers are known for their high availability, which is important for companies with mission-critical resources that depend on always-on servers. That said, Liquid Web’s SSD VPS hosting is backed by a service-level agreement of 100 percent power and network uptime, ensuring uninterrupted availability. 
• Backup and disaster recovery — Cloud hosting plans often feature redundancy, meaning your data is backed up on multiple servers. However, some SSD VPS hosts provide the means to back up your data, offering an additional layer of security. 

Disadvantages of cloud VPS

If you’re looking for reasons not to choose cloud VPS over SSD VPS, you won’t find many. 

Here are a few:

• Cloud computing expertise required — If you choose cloud VPS hosting, your IT team should have good knowledge of cloud computing. If they aren’t well-versed in all things cloud, fully managed SSD VPS hosting might be a better option for you. 
• Limited management options — Public cloud services, especially from large providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), are often unmanaged, leaving IT teams to manage and secure the cloud environment.

Cloud VPS from Liquid Web’s Cloud Studio is unmanaged by default. However, we can provide core-managed or fully-managed cloud VPS support based on your needs.