Public Cloud
Definition
Public Cloud refers to cloud services available over the internet to anyone, shared among multiple organizations, enhancing accessibility and scalability.
Use Cases
- Netflix: Global video streaming platform that needs elastic scaling for variable viewer demand — Runs the majority of its streaming and backend workloads on Amazon Web Services, using cloud compute, storage, and managed services to scale across regions and improve resilience (Able to scale capacity up and down with demand and operate a globally distributed service with high availability)
- Spotify: Music streaming and personalization that requires large-scale data processing and reliable global delivery — Uses Google Cloud for parts of its infrastructure, including data processing and analytics capabilities to support recommendations and operational needs (Improved ability to run data workloads at scale and support global service delivery)
- Zoom: Video conferencing with rapid growth and unpredictable traffic spikes — Uses a mix of its own infrastructure and public cloud capacity (including AWS and Oracle Cloud) to expand capacity and support service reliability (Expanded capacity more quickly than relying on owned data centers alone and improved ability to handle demand surges)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between public cloud and private cloud?
- Public cloud runs on shared infrastructure owned by a cloud provider and delivered over the internet to many customers (multi-tenant). Private cloud is dedicated to a single organization (single-tenant), often for tighter control, specific compliance needs, or predictable workloads.
- When should I use a public cloud?
- Use public cloud when you want fast setup, global reach, and the ability to scale up or down without buying hardware. It’s a strong fit for web and mobile apps, dev/test environments, analytics, backup and disaster recovery, and startups or teams that want to pay only for what they use.
- How much does public cloud cost?
- Costs are typically pay-as-you-go and depend on what you consume: compute time (VMs/containers/serverless), storage amount and type, data transfer (especially outbound), managed services (databases, analytics), and support plans. Pricing also varies by region and can be reduced with committed-use discounts/reserved instances, autoscaling, and turning off unused resources.
Category: cloud
Difficulty: basic
Related Terms
See Also