As cloud computing continues to evolve, businesses are faced with critical decisions regarding the best way to harness its potential. Two common approaches, cloud-hosted and cloud-native, offer distinct advantages and challenges.
Below you will find the key differences between cloud-hosted vs cloud-native, along with some of their pros and cons.
Keep reading to learn more.
Cloud-Hosted vs Cloud-Native – What’s the Difference?
In short, cloud-hosted applications are those that were originally developed for on-premises environments and have been migrated to the cloud while cloud-native applications are specifically built to leverage the full potential of cloud environments.
Below you will find a complete definition of cloud-native, cloud-hosted, and other similar terms.
What is Cloud-Native?
Cloud-native refers to a modern approach to building and running applications. Cloud-native applications are designed to take advantage of the scalability, flexibility, and automation offered by cloud environments. The cloud-native approach provides a competitive advantage to businesses through increased efficiency, reduced costs, and application availability.
Here are some use cases and examples of cloud-native applications in the CAE space.
SimScale – Only offers their software as a SaaS over the internet through a web based application written for the cloud.
Luminary Cloud – A cloud native SaaS CFD solver that uses GPU and is delivered through their web based application.
Pros & Cons
Here’s a complete view of the pros and cons of the cloud-native approach.
Pros
- Increased Efficiency – Cloud-native development leverages automated tools and cloud services, promoting a modern design culture that enhances overall operational efficiency.
- No Physical Infrastructure – Organizations can avoid significant investments in physical infrastructure, leading to lower maintenance costs.
- High Availability – Cloud-native applications are designed to be resilient, ensuring minimal downtime.
Cons
- Lack of Control – All of your data along with data security is in the hands of a 3rd party without visibility into the operations.
- Stop Work Risk – If the cloud-native service experiences financial issues, geographic disruption, internet outages, or denial of service could stop users from working.
- Lock-in – Clients can’t easily move their data to another solution if business conditions warrant a change.
What is Cloud-Hosted?
Cloud-hosted refers to applications that have been migrated from on-premises environments to cloud infrastructure. These traditional applications run on cloud servers, leveraging remote resources for hosting, storage, and processing. However, they do not fully utilize cloud capabilities natively, such as auto-scaling, scalability, or resilience.
Pros & Cons
Here’s a complete view of the pros and cons of the cloud-hosted approach.
Pros
- Accessibility – Serves as a first step toward cloud adoption, allowing organizations to modernize their IT infrastructure without having to develop or find a cloud-native application from scratch, using the existing applications the user knows and uses.
- Increase Flexibility – Clients can incrementally use their applications like they are used to in both environments, and can easily change between applications and cloud vendors, while controlling their data and timing of changes.
- More Control – Clients have more control over the security and auditing of their data.
- Simple Integration – Cloud hosted tools behave and operate much like on-prem, which means using already existing IT security, data management, and backup tools, leveraging the existing on-premises and cloud integrations for a more tightly integrated solution.
Cons
- Limited Cloud Features – Migrating a legacy application does not automatically provide the full range of modern cloud benefits.
- Costs – A “lift and shift” approach does not always translate to lower costs compared to on-prem.
Other Cloud-Related Terms
Now you understand the key differences between cloud-hosted vs cloud-native applications. However, there are still a few important cloud-related terms that every business should know.
What is Cloud-Enabled?
Cloud-enabled can be used to reference the “cloud-hosted” approach. However, some organizations might provide a different definition.
What is Cloud-Based?
Cloud-based refers to applications that are developed to partially operate using cloud infrastructure, offering a middle ground between the cloud-hosted and cloud-native approaches. In cloud-based development, applications are designed or adapted to leverage some of the cloud’s core benefits, such as scalability, and availability without requiring a complete redesign of the application.
What is Cloud-Agnostic?
Cloud-agnostic refers to applications, systems, or services that are designed to operate on any cloud platform without being tied to a specific provider, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. This approach allows organizations to avoid vendor lock-in, giving them the flexibility to switch between cloud providers or use multiple clouds simultaneously based on their needs.
What is Cloud-First?
Cloud-first is an organizational strategy where cloud technologies are prioritized over traditional on-premise solutions when developing new applications, infrastructure, or services. In a cloud-first approach, the cloud is considered the default option for hosting, deploying, and managing resources, and organizations actively seek cloud-based solutions before evaluating other alternatives or their costs.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Cloud Model
When choosing between cloud-hosted vs cloud-native or any other cloud models, several key factors must be considered. Balancing these factors helps businesses select the best cloud model and development strategies based on their needs and resources.
1. Development Resources
For businesses with small cloud development teams or limited time, simpler and more affordable models like managed cloud-hosted are ideal. This model requires less expertise and effort to deploy compared to doing it yourself with complex cloud architectures.
2. Your Workflow
Hosted Cloud-native applications tend require a singular workflow in their environment and may require a radically different way to work than users may like or choose, this can make it more difficult to adopt and reduce some of the flexibility benefits of cloud by limiting the workflow, automation, and integration with existing processes and stable workflows.
3. Cloud Service Dependency
Deploying applications with platform-specific services can create vendor lock-in, making it difficult to migrate to a different cloud provider. Cloud-agnostic applications offer more flexibility and portability.
4. Integration & Orchestration Complexity
Hosted Cloud-native applications, while offering superior cloud integration and flexibility, are often more complex to integrate into existing processes with other services for complete end to end workflows.
The Bottom Line
Choosing between cloud-hosted and cloud-native solutions depends on a business’s specific needs, resources, and goals.
For organizations seeking cloud high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities, TotalCAE offers comprehensive solutions managed by a team of experts. Our cloud HPC solutions deliver the flexibility of the cloud without the complexity of IT management. TotalCAE’s cloud HPC solutions are entirely managed within your existing cloud subscription, ensuring seamless integration, high performance, and scalability.
Contact us today to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about the differences between cloud-hosted vs cloud-native and other cloud models.
What Is the Difference Between Cloud Computing and Cloud-Native?
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services (like storage, computing power, and databases) over the Internet, allowing on-demand access to resources without managing physical infrastructure. Cloud-native, on the other hand, is an approach to designing and building applications only for cloud environments, and is often delivered as a hosted SaaS.
Can a Traditional Application Be Migrated to a Cloud Environment?
Yes, a traditional application can be migrated to a cloud environment. While they can run in cloud environments, they may not be able to fully leverage the full potential of cloud computing as cloud-native apps do.
Are There Specific Business Sizes Better Suited for Cloud-Hosted vs Cloud-Native?
Cloud-native solutions can be a good fit for companies that do not have established tools and processes, that are looking to quickly adopt a solution without regard to existing tools, processes, or workflows. In contrast, medium to large enterprise businesses, especially those with existing on-premises applications, are better suited for cloud-hosted solutions to make the cloud transition simpler and easier with a more incremental approach.