Fri. Jan 10th, 2025

Everything You Need To Know About VM vs Bare Metal

As one might see, the choice between a VPS server and bare metal is not easy. Bare metal is a great choice for users seeking consistent performance, whereas VM is unbeatable in terms of scalability and cost. Therefore, understanding what type of web hosting model is required is extremely important for smooth running and avoiding lags and security issues.

In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about VM vs. bare metal. Businesses looking for cheap domain hosting and web hosting must understand this difference. 

What is Bare Metal Web Hosting?

Bare metal web hosting typically involves a web server that works dedicatedly for one tenant. In this type of hosting, the owner enjoys dedicated power, storage resources, etc. That means unbeatable performance for targeted use cases. But if the user needs to host something else, like another application, then there might be a need for another OS.

What is VM Web Hosting?

VM web hosting is VPS hosting, where a physical server is divided into multiple servers using visualisation technology and a hypervisor. 

This partition ensures that each user enjoys its own dedicated space, independent of the others, regardless of being on the same server. Therefore, each user on the server has their own resources, such as disk space, RAM, CPU, etc.

Bare Metal Vs Virtual Machine

Points of Difference 

VM vs Bare Metal

Bare Metal VM
Performance With bare metal, you are using 100% hardware resources, which ensures the highest level of performance. With VM, you lose some processing resources, which may cause a performance drop.
Cost When it comes to bare metal servers vs virtual machines, both have quite different pricing models. With bare metal, you shall see billing with a fixed monthly amount, which is generally expensive but allows long-term benefits. On the other hand, the cost of a VM depends on resource usage during the billing period.
Resources Resource availability with a bare metal server is quite high compared to a VM. This is because all the resources are dedicated to a single tenant without any sharing. With VM, there is sharing of the same server, which can sometimes create resource conflict.
Customisation The scope for customisation is more with bare metal as dedicated. The user has complete root access, which lets you optimise the web server in depth. The customisation of the VM depends upon the web host you choose. The root access and control may vary depending on the web hosting provider you choose. Therefore, there are limitations when comparing the levels of customisation of bare metal virtual machines.
Deployment Speed Bare metal deployment is quite slower than VM deployment. Depending on the level of customisation, hardware configurations might take several minutes to hours. VMs are quick when it comes to deployment speed. They are a great option, especially if you have a frequently changing business environment. VMs are portable and can be moved easily between environments.

Conclusion

The choice between VM and bare metal depends on your needs and what you are hosting. A bare metal provides performance, customisation and security. 

A VM saves on cost and time while offering easy scalability. Therefore, carefully understand bare metal server Vs VM and make a suitable choice for your infrastructure.