Public cloud, private cloud, hybrid — for many boards these words simply mean "expensive and complicated". In reality a well-designed cloud reduces TCO and strengthens business resilience. Here we break Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose down into simple decision steps.
There's no single answer. Check the selection criteria.
Public cloud
This section frames the topic "Public cloud" in the context of Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose. We approach it from the business side — what concrete value or risk it brings to the company.
What you gain
- Scalability — you pay for what you actually use.
- High availability without investing in your own HA infrastructure.
- Faster rollout of new applications and test environments.
Most common mistakes
- Lift-and-shift migration without optimisation — the cloud ends up more expensive than the on-prem room.
- No resource tagging — after six months nobody knows what belongs to whom.
- Publicly open storage buckets — the most common source of leaks.
Private cloud
This section frames the topic "Private cloud" in the context of Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose. We approach it from the business side — what concrete value or risk it brings to the company.
What you gain
- Scalability — you pay for what you actually use.
- High availability without investing in your own HA infrastructure.
- Faster rollout of new applications and test environments.
Most common mistakes
- Lift-and-shift migration without optimisation — the cloud ends up more expensive than the on-prem room.
- No resource tagging — after six months nobody knows what belongs to whom.
- Publicly open storage buckets — the most common source of leaks.
Hybrid
This section frames the topic "Hybrid" in the context of Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose. We approach it from the business side — what concrete value or risk it brings to the company.
What you gain
- Scalability — you pay for what you actually use.
- High availability without investing in your own HA infrastructure.
- Faster rollout of new applications and test environments.
Most common mistakes
- Lift-and-shift migration without optimisation — the cloud ends up more expensive than the on-prem room.
- No resource tagging — after six months nobody knows what belongs to whom.
- Publicly open storage buckets — the most common source of leaks.
Selection criteria
There is no single "best" answer — there is the answer that is best for your company. Selection criteria for Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose come down to four questions:
- Scale — how many users and what workloads will the solution handle in 2–3 years?
- Compliance — which regulations must you meet (GDPR, NIS2, industry-specific)?
- Skills — who will run it afterwards and how much of their time will it take?
- Ecosystem — does it integrate with what you already have?
In practice, solutions that win on paper but require a team the company simply does not have get eliminated. Maintainability beats functionality in 8 out of 10 SME rollouts.
Key takeaways
- Scalability — you pay for what you actually use.
- Lift-and-shift migration without optimisation — the cloud ends up more expensive than the on-prem room.
- Treat the topic of "Public cloud or private cloud — how to choose" as a project, not a one-off purchase — the best results come from a step-by-step approach.
Frequently asked questions
Planning a cloud migration?
Book a free cloud consultation. We will do a quick assessment of your current infrastructure, estimate cloud TCO and present a migration plan tuned to your budget.