Blog/Article
Bare Metal vs. VM for Long-Term Web3 Projects
You might be running your Web3 workloads on the wrong infrastructure, and by every hour that passes, you’re overspending on compute and bandwidth.
Public clouds promise flexibility, private clouds boast control, and hybrid setups claim to offer the best of both worlds. But which option really makes sense for long-term blockchain and decentralized applications?
Summary
In this article, we’ll break down the benefits and downsides of each so you can maximize performance, security, and budget efficiency.
What Is Bare Metal?
Bare metal refers to servers dedicated entirely to a single tenant. Unlike virtual machines, which share resources with other users on a host system, bare metal servers give full access to the underlying hardware.
This means no hypervisor layer, resulting in lower latency, higher performance, and more predictable resource availability, ideal for compute-intensive or latency-sensitive Web3 applications.
Key characteristics:
No resource sharing — 100% of the hardware is yours.
Consistent performance, especially under heavy workloads.
Better suited for applications requiring strict compliance or hardware-level control.
Longer provisioning time than VMs, but more control over configuration.
Often more cost-effective over the long term when running 24/7 workloads.
What Is a Virtual Machine (VM)?
A virtual machine is a software-based emulation of a physical computer, running on a host server via a hypervisor. Multiple VMs can share the same physical hardware, each with its own operating system and resources.
While VMs offer flexibility and scalability, their performance can vary due to resource sharing and virtualization overhead, important factors to consider for long-term, high-performance Web3 projects.
Key characteristics:
Quick and easy to scale.
Cost-effective for short-term or fluctuating workloads.
Shares CPU, memory, and disk with other VMs on the same host server.
May suffer from "noisy neighbor" issues under high load.
Typically includes built-in snapshots, migrations, and failover options.
Why Web3 Demands High-Performance Infrastructure
Web3, decentralized applications and protocols built on blockchain networks, is all about real-time, trustless interactions. Whether you’re mining, staking, or serving smart contracts, your infrastructure must deliver:
Low Latency: Fast consensus and block propagation to keep your network stable and reduce orphaned blocks.
High Availability: Wallets, dApps, and node APIs need near-100% uptime to maintain user trust.
Predictable Throughput: Consistent compute and network performance ensure validators and miners don’t miss opportunities or incur penalties.
Choosing the right hosting model will directly impact your network’s performance, security, and the user experience.
Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud vs. Hybrid
Choosing between the public cloud, a private cloud, or a hybrid infrastructure isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a strategic one that will shape the future of your Web3 project.
Each model reflects a different philosophy on how compute should be delivered, optimized, and secured. And while all three options have their place in the broader tech landscape, only one will best match the unique demands of decentralized networks and long-term scalability.
The public cloud has become popular because of its speed and flexibility. It is ideal for startups and experimental projects that must move quickly and scale easily.
However, as workloads mature and decentralization grows in complexity, its limitations become clearer: variable performance, hidden costs, and less control over core infrastructure.
Private clouds, especially when powered by bare metal servers, offer the opposite: unmatched control, predictable performance, and a pricing structure that rewards long-term planning. Yet it may feel rigid to those used to cloud-native tools and automation.
Then there’s the hybrid approach, an increasingly popular model that promises the best of both worlds. By placing performance-critical tasks on bare metal and using VMs for less sensitive operations, teams can optimize around both technical needs and budget constraints.
Understanding the nuances of each model is critical if you're building for the long haul. So, before committing to more infrastructure spending or migrating to a new architecture, let’s walk through how each model stacks up in the areas that matter most for Web3.
Performance
Public Cloud (VM): Virtual machines share resources across tenants. They are a good fit for variable, bursty workloads, but are prone to “noisy neighbor” interference and unpredictable network jitter.
Private Cloud (Bare Metal): Dedicated hardware yields ultra-low latency (microsecond-level), stable throughput, and complete hardware control, ideal for consensus-heavy tasks like PoW hashing or PoS validation on high-throughput networks.
Hybrid: Mix of both critical nodes on bare metal for core consensus, backups, and non‑sensitive workloads on VMs. Balances flexibility with performance.
Case study: BTCS doubled its node performance and cut cloud spend by 30% after migrating from AWS VMs to dedicated bare metal servers on Latitude.sh.
Although VMs excel at rapid scaling, their shared nature can bottleneck critical consensus operations at scale. Bare metal’s dedicated resources guarantee the consistent performance that Web3 nodes demand, and a hybrid model can help contain costs without sacrificing core throughput.
Security
Public Cloud: Robust tenant isolation, but shared hypervisors introduce an extra attack surface.
Private Cloud: Single-tenant isolation with direct hardware access eliminates hypervisor risks and reduces susceptibility to side‑channel attacks.
Hybrid: Sensitive operations on bare metal and non‑critical services on public cloud under strict network segmentation. It requires on-ramps to fully secure the communication between different cloud providers.
Cloud hypervisors are hardened, but shared infrastructures still carry inherent risks. Bare metal reduces those risks by removing layers of abstraction, and hybrid architectures let you apply cloud agility without exposing critical processes to multi‑tenant environments.
Speed & Latency
Public Cloud: Average network hops and virtualization layers add milliseconds of latency, enough to slow down consensus rounds.
Private Cloud: Direct NIC access, optimized network stacks, and faster I/O dramatically reduce latency for block propagation and data retrieval.
Hybrid: Use dedicated links (e.g., private peering) between cloud and bare metal to minimize cross‑platform lag.
When consensus windows and block intervals are tight, every millisecond counts. Bare metal’s predictability in latency ensures validators and miners act swiftly, while hybrid private peering can extend that low latency across mixed environments.
Uptime & Reliability
Public Cloud: SLA-backed, multi-region redundancy, but VMs can still suffer noisy-neighbor slowdowns or unplanned maintenance.
Private Cloud: SLAs, redundant power and networking, and no competing workloads guarantee stable performance and predictable failover.
Hybrid: Leverage cloud redundancy while keeping mission-critical consensus nodes on robust bare metal hardware.
Although public clouds provide broad failover options, VM maintenance and neighbor traffic can still impact your node’s responsiveness. Bare metal’s dedicated infrastructure delivers true isolation and reliability, and a hybrid approach can leverage the best of both for non‑critical layers.
Pricing Over the Long Term
Public Cloud: Pay‑as‑you‑go is attractive in the short term, but can spiral as you scale, especially with data ingress and egress costs, reserved instance lock‑ins, and hidden fees.
Private Cloud: Higher base cost per full server but transparent flat-rate billing, generous free egress, and no hidden surcharges. Over 12–24 months, the total cost of ownership (TCO) often drops by 30–80%.
Hybrid: Capitalize on spot instances and burstable VMs for non‑critical tasks, and handle the core workload on flat‑rate dedicated servers. On-ramp costs and managing the network architecture will increase the total cost of the infrastructure.
Case study: Hashgraph moved its CI/CD and test workloads from GCP to bare metal, cutting compute costs by 86% and saving $50–65K per month.
Unanticipated cloud fees and variable pricing erode VM cost advantages in the long run. Bare metal’s stable billing model protects your budget as your Web3 project grows, and a hybrid mix lets you fine‑tune costs across different workload tiers.
Sign Up For Latitude.sh — The Best Bare Metal Solution for Web3
Infrastructure decisions aren’t just about today’s needs. They shape your project’s scalability, security, and budget for years to come.
For long-term Web3 workloads, a strategic mix of bare metal and VMs, or even an all-in bare metal approach, can deliver predictable performance, rock‑solid reliability, and significant cost savings.
Latitude.sh is a DevOps heaven for blockchain teams. It offers the low latency, complete isolation, and transparent pricing that your network deserves.
Sign up for free and see how much you can save while supercharging your Web3 infrastructure.