Between 2010 and 2020, the value of the cloud computing market skyrocketed from $24.63 billion to $156.4 billion, a staggering 635% increase. It’s clear that cloud adoption is no longer optional but is now essential for staying competitive.
Yet cloud adoption comes with a critical decision: Should you build on a public or private cloud? This choice impacts cost, performance, compliance, security, and scalability.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between public and private cloud models and provide use cases and best practices to help you choose the best cloud strategy for your business.
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What is Public cloud?
Public cloud platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud continue to dominate the infrastructure market. These services operate on a multi-tenant architecture, where computing resources are shared across users and centrally managed by the provider. This eliminates the need for capital-intensive hardware, offering businesses a low barrier to entry and a fast route to deployment.
This is especially advantageous for startups and SaaS providers because public cloud platforms offer autoscaling and global infrastructure to meet unpredictable growth. These features make a public cloud ideal for modern cloud operating models that prioritize agility and global reach.
But with flexibility comes complexity. Organizations using public clouds must maintain a robust cloud security strategy. Tools like CSPM help monitor for misconfigurations, and CNAPP solutions provide end-to-end protection for applications deployed across cloud environments.
What is Private cloud?
In contrast, private clouds operate on dedicated infrastructure. In other words, the computing environment is reserved for a single organization, either hosted on-premises within an enterprise data center or provisioned through a third-party service provider offering, such as VMware Cloud Foundation. This architecture gives you full control and customization of the environment to meet specific business needs.
Private cloud adoption is common in highly regulated sectors like healthcare, finance, and government, where regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and FedRAMP require strict data isolation, auditability, and localized control. A 2023 Nutanix survey found that 38% of enterprises run business-critical workloads in private cloud environments, particularly those handling sensitive patient, financial, or government data.
Evaluating cloud models for your organization
Now that we’ve seen some advantages of public and private clouds, we’ll look at criteria for choosing the right model. (The factors listed below aren’t comprehensive but can provide a solid foundation to get you started!)
1. Security & compliance
If you're handling sensitive data, security should be your top priority. You need to know who controls security, where your data is stored, and what compliance regulations apply.
| Cloud strategy | Public cloud | Private cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Who is responsible for security? | The cloud provider secures the underlying infrastructure (e.g., compute, storage, networking), while you’re responsible for securing your configurations, access controls, data, and applications. | You control the full stack—including infrastructure, access policies, configurations, and compliance measures—whether hosted on-prem or via a third-party private cloud provider. |
| Pros | Security responsibilities are shared between the cloud provider and you, reducing the burden of security | Private cloud adoption is a must-have for industries that need strict data governance, like finance, healthcare, or government |
| Cons | Misconfigurations are a big risk: leaving storage/access permissions open is a top reason for breaches | You manage security patches, access control, and infrastructure monitoring |
2. Budget & total cost of ownership
Cloud pricing isn’t always as simple as it looks. Public cloud adoption seems cheaper upfront, but costs can add up fast if you're not careful.
| Cloud strategy | Public cloud | Private cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Payment model | Pay-as-you-go, where you only pay for what you use | Upfront costs are high; you’re paying for hardware, networking, and security |
| Long-term cost considerations | Hidden costs, such as data transfer fees, storage, and underutilized resources | Costs are more predictable than fluctuating public cloud pricing |
| Best for… | Startups and businesses that need flexibility without huge capital investments | Enterprises with stable workloads that don’t need frequent scaling |
If your workloads are unpredictable, a public cloud is the way to go. If you need fixed costs and long-term stability, a private cloud could make more sense.
3. Scalability & performance
How fast do you need to scale, and how important is performance consistency?
| Cloud strategy | Public cloud | Private cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Pros | Instant scalability: Increase or decrease resources based on demandAuto-scaling helps you avoid overpaying for unused resources | Resources are dedicated: You get consistent, predictable performanceIdeal for workloads that need low latency and high compute power |
| Cons | Performance can fluctuate since you’re sharing resources with others | Friction in scaling as you have to buy and set up new hardware before expanding |
If you expect rapid growth or fluctuating traffic, public cloud adoption makes sense. If you need stable, high-performance computing, private cloud adoption is the better choice.
4. In-house expertise & management
Who’s going to manage the cloud? If you don’t have the right people, the wrong choice can create a big operational headache.
| Cloud strategy | Public cloud | Private cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Who manages it? | Fully managed by the provider—no need to worry about hardware, networking, or maintenance | You’re responsible for everything, and this includes security, networking, and infrastructure |
| Effect on IT | Reduces IT overhead so you can focus on applications | Requires dedicated IT teams with cloud expertise |
| Best for… | Teams using DevOps, automation, and cloud-native tools | Organizations that already have a data center and an experienced team |
If you want hands-off infrastructure, go with a public cloud. If you need total control, private cloud adoption is better—but you’ll need the right people to manage it.
Hybrid & multi-cloud: The middle ground
Most businesses use a hybrid model and multi-cloud strategies to help balance security, scalability, and cost.
Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are popular because they give organizations flexibility to keep sensitive workloads on private infrastructure while leveraging the scale and cost-efficiency of public clouds. But they also introduce fragmented visibility and inconsistent policy enforcement, which can complicate security operations.
| Cloud strategy | Hybrid cloud | Multi-cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Benefits | Lets you keep sensitive workloads in a private cloud Enables scalability in a public cloud | Uses multiple cloud providers to reduce vendor lock-inIncreases resilience (but makes security management more complex) |
A hybrid cloud approach is useful if you need a mix of security and scalability. Multi-cloud helps avoid vendor dependency but requires strong security management.
Best practices for cloud security
After choosing a cloud model, focus on secure and sustainable adoption:
1. Continuously monitor vulnerabilities and access
Misconfigured storage buckets, overly permissive IAM roles, and exposed credentials remain top cloud risks. That’s why it’s essential to set up automated scans for publicly accessible resources and identity risks. Whether you’re operating in a public, private, or hybrid cloud, tools like Wiz can surface identity-to-internet exposure chains, misconfigured storage, exposed credentials, and privilege escalation risks—without requiring agents or complex integrations.
Prioritize monitoring high-risk resources, such as databases, storage, and external-facing workloads, and ensure logging is enabled across all accounts.
2. Automate policy enforcement
Security policies should be programmatically enforced from development to production. Use policy-as-code tools like Open Policy Agent (OPA) or Azure Policy to block risky deployments before they go live.
In CI/CD pipelines, integrate checks to prevent configurations like unencrypted S3 buckets or exposed SSH ports. Remember: The end goal is to shift left to stop misconfigurations at the source, rather than relying on alerts that come in after the fact.
3. Audit regularly and test defenses
Regular automated audits can catch configuration drift, security risks, and compliance issues early. Complement them with penetration testing to simulate real-world attacks and uncover flaws that scanners might miss, such as privilege escalation or lateral movement. Tools like Wiz help map your environment’s controls directly to compliance frameworks (think NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and more) and alert your team when changes introduce risk or non-compliance.
4. Review and optimize cloud spend
It’s a hard truth: Cloud waste is real, and it’s often invisible. Luckily, scheduled resource reviews lead to big savings. Look for idle compute instances, oversized VMs, outdated snapshots, and unattached volumes. Consider tagging resources by owner or project to identify what can be safely shut down.
Conclusion
Regardless of the cloud model you choose, securing cloud environments is a continuous, evolving challenge. Visibility, risk prioritization, and the speed of remediation are critical, especially as environments scale across teams and regions.
That’s where Wiz comes in. An industry-leading CNAPP, Wiz offers CSPM, DSPM, CIEM, and IaC scanning through an agentless architecture, providing immediate visibility without requiring installation or maintenance.
As cloud complexity grows, so does your attack surface. Wiz empowers security and DevOps teams with complete visibility, real-time risk prioritization, and automated remediation—without drowning in alerts or managing multiple tools. Whether you’re running public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud environments, Wiz helps you protect everything you build and run in the cloud. See how Wiz can protect everything you build and run in the cloud: Schedule a demo today.
