Competitive Analysis of Hosting Services: Where Does Spheron (previously ArgoApp) Fit in?
Cloud computing has changed the business and IT landscape. It introduced conveniences that prompted more services to migrate to digital services. As the cloud service grew, it became the basis for digital businesses. From streaming services such as Netflix to the global energy leader General Electric, its services cut across all industries.
Further cementing its significance in world business were the events of 2020. The global pandemic emphasized the need for digital solutions in the dynamic facets of life. The Zoom calls, working remotely, and all the flexibility through internet connection are all enabled by cloud computing.
The excellent performance of cloud computing stems from its three-core service:
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
- Platform as a service (PaaS)
These services are the reason why the cloud computing market value may hit $1 trillion by 2026.
Though not perfect, cloud computing is ever-evolving to meet the dynamic and growing demands of the world. There is constant innovation and upgrades to help cloud service providers supersede their market demand.
A comparison of Hosting Service providers
A derivative of cloud computing is the cloud hosting services that enable serverless web app deployment. This is the popular choice for most businesses and individuals who want their services on the web without knowing about the technical aspects of web development.
Netlify, Vercel, and an emerging platform, Spheron (previously ArgoApp), all offer cloud hosting services. The three platforms may provide similar services; however, their fundamentals are different. We compare the three platforms and see why Spheron (previously ArgoApp) may prove a more worthy selection.
Centralized vs. Decentralized
Most discussions on their differences will revolve around these two types of service deliveries. Netlify and Vercel both provide centralized web hosting services. Data hosted on these platforms build up from the bottom to a central point.
On the other hand, Spheron’s (previously ArgoApp) platform is based on a decentralized framework. The cloud hosting platform utilizes its vast network of support to store data immutably within the network but in multiple devices connected via a standard blockchain.
Ease of use
The three platforms are most accessibly used for front-end projects only. All allow their users to link to GitHub repositories and deploy their web apps. Spheron (previously ArgoApp) is catching up on Vercel and Netlify as it plans to add GitLab and Bitbucket to the list of repositories it allows users to link to.
Because of the infancy of decentralized cloud hosting, the UI on ArGoApp may be slightly challenging for some users. This will likely change as the platform evolves rapidly to achieve its vision.
Uptime
All three platforms provide 100% uptime. The difference between them comes in the potential for network disruption present.
For Vercel and Netlify, their centralized foundation puts them at risk by creating single points of failure, ultimately affecting their uptime. Unlike Vercel or Netlify, Spheron (previously ArgoApp) has no single point of failure. Its network is distributed over numerous devices on a shared blockchain protocol. Spheron (previously ArgoApp) can theoretically have 100% uptime without any single point of failure as long as it is in existence.
Pricing
Data from Vercel and Netlify websites.
There is a $1 difference between Vercel and Netlify pro charges that becomes significant once you consider the long-term price. Vercel charges 1$ lower per member per month. So, for a year, deploying on Vercel with a 5-member team will save you about $60, which is enough to pay over 60% of the monthly price.
The two platforms also have basic accounts where individuals can deploy web apps for free but with certain restrictions. For example, free users on Vercel are only allowed to run non-commercial web apps. Vercel and Netlify also offer enterprise options, but their prices are based on the customizations desired by their clients.
Some of the limitations of Vercel from their website.
Spheron (previously ArgoApp) trumps Vercel and Netlify on pricing due to its decentralized foundation. The platform can provide cloud hosting services with a one-time payment fee. Following the cost completion, users have unlimited access to the Spheron (previously ArgoApp) services. Users enjoy unlimited bandwidth, decentralized storage, and 100% uptime.
Furthermore, because Spheron (previously ArgoApp) is decentralized, users can virtually spend a net of $0 on Spheron (previously ArgoApp). The platform has incentives and rewards that are paid out in tokens. These tokens can be used to purchase Spheron (previously ArgoApp) services, thus enabling net-zero ($0) spend on Spheron (previously ArgoApp) products.
Censorship
On censorship resistance, all the platforms offer a degree of protection to their users such that they are not affected by censorship. Nevertheless, governments have proved that they can limit access to information on centralized networks. Please think of the Chinese government and how it successfully controls data flow into and out of the country. Even industry-leading cloud hosting service providers such as AWS could not stand up against them.
Therefore, Spheron (previously ArgoApp) arguably has the best censorship resistance of the three. Its decentralization means that anyone entity does not run the platform. Users of the platform govern the direction of the Spheron (previously ArgoApp) system. As long as members are connected to the blockchain, they will always have access to their data.
Reaching a global audience
From the four comparisons, it is clear that Spheron (previously ArgoApp) has a technological advantage over Vercel and Netlify. It also has an economic benefit through the incentives and rewards that it gives to its users. However, it may take some time before Spheron (previously ArgoApp) reaches a global audience of the same size as centralized platforms. Still, it is necessary that Spheron (previously ArgoApp) ruffles some feathers and reminds centralized cloud hosting services that their time is running out.
One key piece of information that is vital to elaborate on is the fact that Spheron (previously ArgoApp) -by nature- is fully decentralized. The process which allows for such fundamentals is the deployment happens through our worker node and anyone in the Community can run the node by staking ARGO tokens. These worker nodes are incentivized by the Spheron (previously ArgoApp) ecosystem for working trustfully. But we are not only focused on node development but user experience so our platform is connected with these nodes to help users deploy their web applications. In case our platform is down or the Spheron (previously ArgoApp) platform is no longer available, then other developers can also build their own platform using the node providers that are already running by the community. We also provide extensive open source tools to help developers build any innovative idea that can help the community as a whole. And governance takes a big role in deciding many things in the platform like price rate, maintaining nodes trustfully, etc. So with all these characteristics of a decentralized organization, we feel like we can grow faster than any hosting provider in the centralized space.
What Spheron (previously ArgoApp) does
Spheron (previously ArgoApp) makes front-end web deployment easy, effective, and efficient through its blockchain-based platform that takes your web app to the DSNs (Decentralized Storage Networks). Spheron (previously ArgoApp) removes the hurdles of centralization and censorship through blockchain, ensuring that your web app is permanently deployed and experiences 100% uptime throughout its life.
We are LIVE now on Uniswap.
You can check our market updates on CoinMarketCap.
We are available on Dextools as well.
Join our Telegram channel: https://t.me/argoofficial
Join our Discord group: https://discord.gg/46XgDjKzH2
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/argoapplive
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/argoapp
