“Running a small-scale business and juggling your thoughts on whether to opt for cloud or on-prem for hosting data?” This post is for you then.
The IT sector has not only opened doors to budding entrepreneurs in bringing innovation to the world but also has reshaped the way data can be handled – with the launch of cloud and on-prem deployments.
Deciding on which of the two to go ahead is a tedious task and is no one-day journey to pick. As it needs strategic planning with a lot to consider, like security, privacy, control, ownership, and more.
Therefore, to help you with this, we will dive into the basics and the differences between the two. So that it will be easy for you to pick the best one for your business.
Table of Contents
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a technology of hosting computing services like apps, storage, and processing power over the internet, rather than relying on a business’s local servers. Examples of cloud services include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
With cloud deployment or hosting data in the cloud, users can access the resources remotely via a network. And gives businesses increased scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency.
How does it help in managing costs?
Because businesses pay only for the services they use. That is why, in short, cloud models are also called pay-as-you-go solutions.
What are the pros of cloud hosting?
- Easy to use and comes at a reduced cost
- Users can access services anywhere and at any time
- Offers higher levels of uptime or SLA
- Quick scaling based on increased demands
What are the cons of cloud computing?
- Cloud services may experience downtimes occasionally.
- Limited customization options
- No control over privacy or security
- Users may not have complete ownership of the data
- Security-related concerns depended on the internet.
And that is why many businesses try going for on-prem solutions despite their high prices.
What does on-premise mean?
On-premise deployment is a model that allows data to be stored on your own physical servers or company’s premises, rather than hosting it on the internet.
With this type of solution, you can manage the software application, networking, databases, and others on your own, and on-premises. Thus giving businesses complete control of security over the infrastructure.
What are the pros of on-premises hosting?
- Enterprises get full control of hardware, software, and database
- Complete customizations
- Robust security and compliance standards
- Renders high-level of performance
What are the cons of on-premises hosting?
- The upfront cost is high
- Scalability can be an issue when demand increases
- Need tremendous lookout on maintenance
- Businesses must allocate resources correctly to manage on-prem infrastructure or servers.
Now that we saw these two individually, let us see below, a clear difference between the two in tabular format.
Cloud vs On-premise Hosting: Differences
Below is a detailed yet simplified comparison between Cloud and On-Premise hosting:
| Feature | Cloud | On-premise Hosting |
| Cost | Pay-as-you-go | One-time license fee/ upfront cost |
| Customization | No customizations | Limitless customizations |
| Control | Limited | Full control or ownership |
| Scalability | Highly scalable | Scalable with additional cost |
| Maintenance | Managed by cloud providers or third-party services | Managed by in-house staff |
| Security | Secured | Can add any security mechanisms on own |
| Uptime | Higher uptime levels | Uptime based on business infra |
| Branding | Not possible | Can add branding elements like logos, fonts,themes |
How do I choose between On-Premises vs Cloud?
Choosing between on-premises vs cloud greatly deals with some of the key factors like cost, compliance, security, scalability, and customization. And deciding whether these align well with your business requirements. So, to help you, we have drafted below some of the highlights under each deployment option.
Is cloud computing the best fit for SMBs?
To some extent yes, it is the best fit, because the upfront cost to host apps on the premises can be daunting, and hence SMBs can move to public clouds. Other reasons include:
- Lower CapEX: If your business is running under budget constraints, then once you’re set, rework your requirements and see where you can save to host onto the cloud.
- Management: SMBs can relax from the resource allocation difficulty as cloud providers take care of these based on budget.
- Deployment: Cloud services are faster to deploy and integrate sooner.
- Scale: IT admins can scale cloud services based on growing business needs without disrupting daily operations.
Is On-premise best for large enterprises?
Below are a few reasons that sight why on-prem servers stand the best option:
- Compliance: Businesses can add any security mechanisms or comply with industry standards like GDPR, and HIPAA to boost their privacy using on-prem solutions.
- Long-term archiving: As data gets archived in the physical servers, retrievals on the later end will not be a problem.
- Low latency: On-prem infrastructure stands the best for handling workloads, databases, and other operations. Hence, businesses host secure messaging apps or in-app chats on their servers to reduce latency and improve experience.
Thus, both models have their pros and cons, so choose the right solution based on your budget. And if you are doubtful on which to choose or finalized the solution type, but in search of a third-party self-hosted SDK provider, then the next section is for you.
MirrorFly’s self-hosted solution: Discover the true potential of on-premise model
MirrorFly is the industry’s best and #1 rated enterprise chat and call SDK provider that offers both cloud and self-hosted solutions to deploy chat apps.
Plus, with us (Yes, MirrorFly), you can avail 500+ customizable in-app communication features and build a robust and secure chat infrastructure just the way you need.
Just not these, our on-premise chat solution also offers full source-code ownership, topic-based chat features, custom security, and unlimited customization, and caters these services to multiple use cases.
Let us see below some of the compelling use cases along with the benefits each offers:
Enterprise Chat
Improve team collaboration experiences by connecting employees and other stakeholders in real time. Add direct and group chats, responsive UI elements, and other collaborative tools for elevated communication.Plus, customize these features that best suit your team.
Social and Communities
Bring users from different parts of the globe with instant messaging features, social channels, and other capabilities.
Telecom
The on-premise solution ensures businesses build a secure and real-time messaging solution with video, voice, and chat capabilities.
CRM
Our on-prem solution helps businesses enhance customer support by adding real-time features, ChatGPT-aided responses, chatbots, and more
Banking:
By using our on-prem solution in your banking domain, you can create an encrypted communication channel for transactions and support.
Make The Right Choice
By now you would have come to know the real benefits and downfalls of each of the deployment options – cloud and on-premise. So it is up to you to do your homework on which to opt that best suits your IT infrastructure, scalability requirements, and budget.
But if you need a sense of control, an on-prem server can be the solution. Whereas if scalability matters, go ahead with the cloud without having to spend extra.
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