On-Prem vs Colocation vs Bare Metal Cloud

Back in the early days, running infrastructure meant owning everything. Companies built server rooms (or closets), bought hardware outright, and managed every cable, rack, and switch in-house. This was on-prem, and for a long time, it was the only option.

But as infrastructure needs grew, many realized they didn't need to own the building — just the gear. This led to colocation (colo) — moving servers into shared data centers with better power, cooling, and connectivity, while still managing the hardware themselves.

Later came the rise of cloud providers — but for teams that needed raw performance or hardware control, public cloud VMs weren't a perfect fit. Enter bare metal cloud — combining the performance of dedicated servers with the convenience and speed of cloud provisioning.

Today, teams have options. And choosing between on-prem, colo, or bare metal cloud isn't about following a trend — it's about matching infrastructure to your workload, budget, and scale goals.

On-Premises: Total Control, Total Responsibility

Running on-premises means hosting everything in your own facility — servers, networking, storage, power, cooling — all of it. This gives you full control over hardware, data, and security.

It's ideal when you have long-term, stable workloads, strict compliance requirements, or custom infrastructure needs (e.g., specialized hardware or air-gapped environments).

But control comes with cost: high upfront investment, ongoing hardware lifecycle management, and limited ability to scale quickly. You'll need dedicated staff, space, and time to keep it running — and refresh cycles are on you.

Colocation: Your Hardware, Their Data Center

Colocation (colo) lets you run your own gear in someone else's facility. You lease rack space, power, cooling, and bandwidth, but retain full control of the servers and software stack.

It's a step up from on-prem when you want better infrastructure (redundant power, cooling, bandwidth), geographic flexibility, or disaster recovery options — without the cost of building your own data center.

However, you still have to manage the hardware: deploy it, replace it, troubleshoot it — often remotely. Scaling requires logistics and lead time (shipping gear, scheduling installs), which can slow things down.

Bare Metal Cloud: Speed and Scale, Without the Overhead

Bare metal cloud gives you dedicated servers provisioned on demand — no hardware to buy or manage. Providers like Cycle.io let you deploy, network, and manage bare metal via API or portal, with cloud-like speed and flexibility.

This is ideal for dynamic workloads, rapid scaling, or teams that want bare metal performance without the management burden. You can scale up or down quickly, only pay for what you use, and focus on your applications — not the hardware.

Tradeoff? You have less customization, ongoing operational costs, and depend on the provider's SLA, hardware offerings, and performance consistency.

Comparison Table