Cloud-Native vs. Cloud-Based Applications: What’s the Difference?

Cloud-native? Cloud-based? They're the same thing, right? Not quite, actually, and it makes a big difference to development. Here's why.

A game-changer in the era of sharing and exchanging information, cloud computing created an entirely new dimension of the internet.

Removing the limitations of a physical device allows the use of digital resources stored in the virtual space, delivering computing services that include storage, servers, databases, software, analytics, networking, and even intelligence.

As this is still a new modern technology, things can become confusing. Two frequently misunderstood terms are "cloud-native" and "cloud-based" applications. So, how do they work, and what makes them different?

Cloud Applications: Getting Down to Basics

Before understanding the key differences and the pros and cons of cloud-native and cloud-based apps, and before understanding how they can be more or less efficient for companies, let's take a look at the basics first.

Essentially, the term "cloud" refers to a virtual location that exists on the internet and is used to store files, applications, databases, servers, or software.

As a result, a cloud application is a software designed for end-users, which can be accessed via the cloud for various purposes and stores or processes data online.

While the application's front end may appear in a web browser or as an app, data storage, and other key elements are all processed online. Independent of location or computer, these cloud applications have quickly become very attractive and interesting for companies from the private sector.

Depending on the approach to their development, these cloud applications are classified into more types or categories. And today, we're discussing two of these main categories, which are often confused: cloud-native and cloud-based.

What Are Cloud-Native Applications?

Cloud-native describes an approach focused on how applications are built, designed, managed, and made available by exploiting the advantages of cloud computing and using microservice architecture. This type of architecture makes the application highly flexible and easy to adapt to a cloud architecture by efficiently allocating resources to every service used.

Cloud-native applications, therefore, are designed specifically for the cloud. They are architected to use cloud-based technologies to run in a public cloud such as Amazon Web Service (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Furthermore, run and hosted in the cloud, these applications are developed for use on a specific device or platform and are designed to take full advantage of the inherent characteristics of cloud computing. At the same time, the development of cloud-native applications is adaptable to the dynamic environment of the cloud.

What Are Cloud-Based Applications?

Although similar to the cloud-native applications, cloud-based applications are not designed with the same focus as the cloud-native ones. They are built to use the cloud and the cloud platforms, but they are not designed to take full advantage of the cloud even though they use dynamic cloud infrastructure.

Cloud-based infrastructure becomes an option for those who already have an application that they don't want to completely redesign for cloud services but still want to get some advantages of cloud tech, including higher scalability and availability.

In that case, moving an application to a public cloud server will make it become a cloud-based application.

So, a cloud-based application refers to an existing application moved to a cloud provider so that local components and cloud-based components get to work together. This means that it appears to work similarly to a web-based app and a native desktop app.

The user interaction will be made from a browser or mobile app, but the processing and storage of the data will take place in the cloud.

The Main Differences Between Cloud-Native and Cloud-Based

The main and major difference between cloud-native and cloud-based applications is how they benefit from the characteristics of the cloud (broad network access, resource pooling, on-demand self–service, measured service, and rapid elasticity). While the cloud-native technology is designed to take full advantage of them, the cloud-based isn't.

Comparing the main differences between cloud-based and cloud-native applications, there are some important areas where the latter appears far more advantageous than the former:

• Design: Cloud-based apps are designed for availability, whereas cloud-native apps are designed to handle various failure domains using microservice architecture.
• Price: Cloud-based apps are more costly as owning the whole stack is required, and purchasing additional hardware before the application can be deployed may also be necessary. In contrast, cloud-native apps are cheaper, as the license and storage costs applied by the cloud provider are the only payments required.
• Implementation and maintenance: Cloud-based application implementation is slowed down by the software setup or hardware acquisition and by the potential interruptions caused by specialized software configuration or hardware migration. Cloud-native applications are typically deployed faster as there is no need for additional hardware or software, and interruptions are unlikely to occur thanks to the microservice architecture.

So, while cloud-native applications use microservice architecture and are all about flexibility and adaptability, cloud-based apps are built on traditional servers and are all about scalability and availability.

Cloud-Native vs. Cloud-Based: Advantages and Disadvantages

Considering the differences between both infrastructures, let's now take a brief look at the main advantages and disadvantages.

Cloud-Native Applications

The development is optimized for the cloud characteristics and adaptable to its dynamic environment. They are cost-effective (payments are only required for what is needed and used while running the app), independently scalable, reliable, and easy to manage. They also have high portability and visibility.

The main disadvantage of this type of application is related to the fact that it's completely internet-based. As a result, service outages can occur anytime for any reason, and the resulting downtime is a major disadvantage. In addition, potential attacks and breaches, along with limited user control over the service execution owned and monitored by the service providers, are also potential disadvantages.

Cloud-Based Applications

Accessibility from anywhere and anytime and scalability are the main advantages of a cloud-based application. The two other important advantages of the cloud-based approach are the reduced need for infrastructure and backup maintenance and not having to completely redesign the application to exploit cloud services and capabilities.

The disadvantages, however, are a higher cost, potential interruptions, and potential downtime created by the upgrades needed for the entire stack because the applications are tightly integrated.

Which One Should You Choose?

First and foremost, no matter which approach you choose, whether cloud-native or cloud-based, switching to a cloud app will quickly result in reduced costs, higher scalability, availability, and performance.

But there is no universal answer to this question, as the most efficient solution depends on each organization's situation and goals.

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