Public Cloud vs Private Cloud: Compare

Originally published on April 1, 2020 on Steadfast Blog

Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Steadfast

Although cloud hosting has been around for well over a decade now, there still seems to be some confusion around some of the terminology. In this article, I will try to make the differences between Public Cloud and Private Cloud as simple as possible.

What is the Difference Between Public Cloud and Private Cloud?

Let’s keep it simple: Public Cloud is a “multi-tenant" environment where systems and resources are shared by many tenants, for instance where two or more companies are using the same server. And Private Cloud is where systems and resources are dedicated to the use of a single tenant.

See, isn’t that simple? Well, the core difference is simple, but some of the complication comes in then understanding how that makes the two solutions different.

When Should I Use Public Cloud?

Public Cloud is what most people think about when they think of hosted cloud services. This includes products such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Steadfast Public Cloud Hosting.

Benefits of Public Cloud Compared to Private Cloud:

• Ultimate Scalability - You can use Public Cloud if you just need a single Virtual Machine (VM). You can also add hundreds, if not thousands, of new virtual machines VMs in a short period of time. This is because you’re working with one, common platform shared by many tenants, so scaling resources up and down as needed is a key design element.
• Web Based Management and Control - Since the platform is used by many different users, a centralized control system must be maintained by the provider. This can be easier for some users to use.
• Geographic Availability - Different tenants will want to be in different geographic locations, so those multiple geographic options become a benefit to Public Cloud users.
• Cost Effective for Fluctuating Workloads - Due to the scalability of these platforms, if you need to scale up and down resources on a consistent basis, the Public Cloud will generally be more affordable for you. Note: This does add management overhead and is often not managed well by individual companies.

When Should I Use Private Cloud?

First, many people think that Private Cloud is internal to an organization, where they have setup and designed everything themselves. That is true sometimes, but Steadfast has been providing Hosted Private Cloud Services for over a decade. Overall, the advantages and negatives are largely the same in both scenarios.

Benefits of Private Cloud Compared to Public Cloud:

• Performance Flexibility - Since Private Cloud is dedicated to your specific needs, it can be fully designed and customized. While Public Cloud is good for general use, sometimes applications will require very specific latency, throughput, or similar needs. Additionally, since all resources are dedicated there is no resource contention with other users, thus delivering more consistent performance.
• Security - Public Cloud is generally more secure than hosting things yourself, but there are inherent dangers in sharing hypervisors and networks with other users. Private Clouds allow you full isolation and to design the network into your existing security policies as needed.
• Ease of Transition/Migration - If you currently have an on-premise installation, you can almost certainly easily migrate to a similar (but updated) Private Cloud environment without much trouble. With Public Cloud, a lot of networking concepts and hypervisor controls are substantially restricted or changed to support multi-tenancy, while with Private Cloud you have full control.
• Cost Control - With Public Cloud solutions, the web-based management and control can be easy to deploy new services, but make it difficult to manage the costs. Private Cloud solutions can often have fixed costs by putting in hard limits or controls on spending.
• Cost Effective for Stable Workloads - If you do not scale resource usage up and down on a regular basis, you can generally achieve lower costs per resource on Private Cloud as you are not planning for instant scaling.

Is Public Cloud or Private Cloud Better for Me?

As you can see from above, there are good scenarios for using both. In many cases, the right answer is to combine the two and build a hybrid cloud. There is really no simple way to determine what is right for you without understanding your specific needs and concerns. Instead of figuring this out on your own, just contact our team of engineers and we’ll help you figure out what is right for you.