Cloud vs dedicated server: flexibility or raw hardware

This is the choice between growing fast and in pieces or having a whole physical machine. Both serve large projects; they just serve large projects of different shapes.

Side by side

	Cloud	Dedicated server
Resources	Reserved, with a higher ceiling: up to 16 vCPU and 60 GB of RAM. Public network plus a private network between your machines.	The whole physical machine: Xeon or i7 processor, 16 to 64 GB of RAM, its own disks in RAID 1.
Administration	Yours, same as a VPS: delivered with the OS and root access.	Yours. Delivered with the operating system installed.
Control panel	Not included, bought separately.	Not included, bought separately.
Growing	Scales higher, and links several machines over the private network.	Changing machine means a migration and a maintenance window.
Backups	Not included, bought separately.	Not included, bought separately.
Built for	Projects that grow in layers — application on one machine, database on another.	High, constant load, full isolation requirements, lots of disk.

The short answer

Choose Cloud if the load varies, if you want to add machines as demand grows, and if the private network between them matters to you. Choose dedicated if the load is constant, if you need a lot of disk, and if you prefer a fixed price for performance that depends on nobody else.

See Cloud plans

See Dedicated server plans

Signs it is time to move

1	Demand has sharp peaks — campaigns, seasons, launches — and you would rather not pay for the peak all year.

2	You want to add a machine without migrating what you already have.

3	Conversely, if the load is the same every day, dedicated usually works out better.

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