Multi-Cloud vs. Hybrid Cloud Computing: Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Business

These days, the cloud ecosystem offers a bunch of different strategies tailored to meet organizations’ needs when it comes to infrastructure, workloads, security, and beyond. People often mix up the terms hybrid cloud and multi-cloud. So, what’s the difference between a multi-cloud deployment and a hybrid cloud? What’s the distinction between the two? Are these just more IT buzzwords? Let’s dive in and explore the differences between hybrid cloud and multi-cloud.

Understanding the Basics

Although hybrid cloud computing and multi-cloud computing are similar, their IT architecture approaches differ.

Let’s dive into what Hybrid and Multi-cloud really mean and explore the benefits these cloud strategies offer. Next, we’ll take a closer look at the differences and compare hybrid and multi-cloud options.

1. Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid cloud offers users a great deal of flexibility by combining both public and private cloud infrastructures. It’s no wonder that around 80% of companies making the switch to the cloud have opted for this model. Typically, people set up the public cloud for everyday tasks and data, while they move mission-critical and regulated data over to the private cloud.

1. Multi-cloud

Multi-cloud brings together different cloud systems from various vendors to create a broad and complete infrastructure. So, in this situation, the cloud environment is made up of different cloud platforms, and each one has its own specific infrastructure types and goals. Recent data shows that 90% of large companies are already using multi-cloud architecture.

What is Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid Cloud is a cloud deployment model that brings together the best of both private and public cloud services, along with on-premise infrastructure. This setup allows for better management, orchestration, and application portability. 76 % of IT leaders consider hybrid cloud essential for success, and the hybrid cloud market will reach USD 92.8 billion in 2025 with a CAGR of 12.4 % through 2033. 

This flexible model of distributed computing lets companies run and expand both their old and cloud-native applications. A hybrid cloud approach lets a company keep sensitive information safe in a private cloud or on-premises, all while enjoying the cost savings and scalability that come with the public cloud.

What is Multi-Cloud?

A multi-cloud environment brings together services from different cloud vendors instead of mixing public and private cloud services. Back in 2021, a whopping 90% of folks from big companies said they were jumping on the multi-cloud bandwagon, while smaller businesses were still trying to catch up. 

Multi-cloud solutions can easily move between different cloud providers and are designed using open-source, cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes, which all public cloud providers support. This way, companies can take advantage of what different cloud providers offer and steer clear of being tied down to just one vendor.

Comparing Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud: Similarities & Differences

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups have their own unique purposes and architectural designs, but they also share some important similarities and differences. When people were asked about the key uses of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud setups, the top answer they gave was to speed up development.

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud are similar in the following ways:

1. Keep Sensitive Data Safe

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups involve a mix of various cloud types, including private, on-premises, and public clouds. When it comes to both setups, how sensitive data is stored really hinges on the design and the specific needs of the business. In a multi-cloud or hybrid setup, you can keep important data on-site, in private or public clouds, or even on your own servers.

2. Architecture Security

When it comes to security in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups, it really depends on how the system is designed. When using different public clouds, it’s really important to consider all the vendor security protocols to keep everything secure. It’s really important to team up with reliable vendors and keep an eye on security settings to boost safety, no matter what kind of architecture you’re using.

3. Handle Data Specific to Regulations

When setting up a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environment, it’s important for companies to make sure that if they’re not using a private cloud, their public cloud storage meets regulations and protocols like HIPAA and GDPR. In both setups, you can keep regulatory-specific data in a more secure and isolated environment.

4. Moving to the Cloud Can Be Tricky

Moving data and applications to the cloud can be quite a challenge and takes a lot of resources. Moving data between different clouds takes a lot of time and effort in both situations. So, cloud migration can be a bit tricky for both multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups.

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups

1. Help companies spread their workloads across different clouds, giving them the flexibility and backup they need to boost performance, enhance security, and ensure better disaster recovery.
2. Enable businesses to implement highly specialized infrastructure that is tailored to their unique requirements.
3. Help businesses shift from spending on capital investments to covering operational costs by letting them pay only for the resources they actually use.

Differences Between Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Computing

Based on a number of characteristics, including architecture, inter-cloud workload, vendor lock-in, availability, and cost, this section examines the distinctions between multi-cloud and hybrid cloud computing.

Hybrid Cloud vs. Multi Cloud

• Architecture

Multi-cloud architecture involves using two or more of the same kind of cloud, but they don’t really talk to each other. Also, managing multiple clouds can be tricky since there isn’t a central way to handle things like identity, logging, monitoring, alerts, and networks. In multi-cloud setups, you can store all kinds of data across various public clouds. By 2025, 80 % of enterprises are projected to embrace multi-cloud, driven by goals like agility, cost optimization, and vendor flexibility.

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So, hybrid cloud architecture is all about mixing things up! It brings together at least one private cloud or on-premises data center with a public cloud. Hybrid cloud infrastructure components provide a way to manage identity, logging, monitoring, alerting, and networking all in one place. This makes it easier to manage and bring together different components.

• Intercloud workloads

Cloud environments each handle their own tasks, data, and processes independently. In hybrid cloud setups, multiple components team up to operate one IT solution. So, data and processes work together smoothly.

• Vendor Lock-in

Multi-cloud environments give organizations the freedom to choose their vendors, helping them steer clear of being tied down to one provider and keeping up with the ever-changing market needs. But you know, hybrid cloud setups can really complicate things when it comes to switching to a new vendor since the whole cloud environment is tailored to work together seamlessly. Also, there might be some downtime while we handle the vendor migration.

• Availability

One of the great things about multi-cloud environments is their high availability. They offer businesses a dependable cloud backup system along with standby options. So, basically, if a vendor runs into some temporary problems, we can just shift the workload to another vendor’s cloud. This way, the end user won’t experience any downtime at all.

In hybrid cloud setups, most workloads are either on-premises or in private clouds, which means that keeping everything running smoothly really relies on the internal team.

• Price

When companies go for multi-cloud services, they can skip the whole on-premises infrastructure investment. However, it’s super important for their teams to keep an eye on cloud expenses to avoid any overspending surprises.

Using a single public cloud in private cloud hybrid infrastructures can help cut down on costs. But, you know, companies that are using this kind of system really need to put some thought into hiring the right people to handle the mix of private and public cloud properly.

Choosing the Best Cloud Environment for Your Business

When should you go for a hybrid cloud?

Hybrid cloud works great for organizations looking to enjoy the perks of cloud resources and services while still needing to keep certain data and workloads on-premises due to legal or operational reasons. So, you might be looking to create a cloud-native app but still want to keep certain workloads on-premises.

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When to Choose a Multi-Cloud?

A multi-cloud strategy works great for businesses that need particular services and resources from various cloud providers. So, one provider might focus on virtual machines and storage, while another could be all about AI and machine learning services. Plus, there are several SaaS providers out there that offer various business applications.

Choosing between hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategies really comes down to a few important factors, like how much control and ownership you want to have. Making this decision can be a bit tricky, but it really needs to fit with what the business specifically needs and aims to achieve.

Conclusion

Deciding whether to go with a hybrid or multi-cloud solution can be tough, but having the right partner really changes the game. At Zrafted, we’re all about providing tailored strategies that fit your business’s unique needs. You can count on us as your trusted partner! 

FAQs

Q1: So, what’s the main difference between hybrid and multi-cloud?

Hybrid cloud is all about blending private and public clouds together, making sure that on-premises infrastructure works seamlessly with cloud services. Multi-cloud means using various cloud services from different providers, but it doesn’t always involve integrating them together.

Q2: Is it possible for a business to implement both hybrid and multi-cloud strategies?

Absolutely, businesses can totally go for a hybrid multi-cloud approach. This means they can mix and match different cloud providers along with their on-premises setup to really cater to their various needs.

Q3: So, how does using multi-cloud really help when it comes to disaster recovery?

Using multiple cloud providers helps spread out workloads, which adds a layer of redundancy. So, if one provider runs into issues, the others can keep things running smoothly.