What is a key difference between a public cloud and a private cloud?

Question

Options

• APublic clouds are owned by individual companies, while private clouds are owned by the
• BPublic clouds are hosted on-premises, while private clouds are hosted off-premises
• CPublic clouds are open to the general public, while private clouds are only accessible to specific
• DPublic clouds are designed for small-scale operations, while private clouds are designed for large-

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  6% (2)
• C
  92% (33)

Explanation

C is correct because the defining characteristic of a public cloud is that its infrastructure is shared and accessible to anyone (individuals, businesses, governments) over the internet - think AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud - while a private cloud restricts access to a single organization or authorized users only.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A is backwards - public clouds are owned by third-party providers (e.g., Amazon, Microsoft), not individual companies; private clouds are what organizations own or control themselves.
• B is the opposite of reality - private clouds are typically hosted on-premises (or in a dedicated facility), while public clouds are hosted off-premises by the provider.
• D is a misconception - public clouds actually excel at large-scale operations due to massive shared infrastructure; private clouds are often used by large enterprises needing control, not exclusively for scale.

Memory tip: Think of the words literally - public = open to the public (like a public park anyone can enter); private = restricted access (like a private club with membership required).

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