With the evolution and advancement in Cloud technology, the terminology related to the cloud also increases. Every new day cloud computing services spread their wings within organizations by virtue of their several benefits such as instant provisioning, scalability, utility model, etc.

But one question that seems to come up regularly is the difference between a private cloud and a virtual private cloud (VPC). 

Mainly, both models offer secure environments, allowing organizations to focus on core business units rather than worrying about security requirements

Let’s dive in and understand the difference between a private cloud and virtual private cloud (VPC).

Private cloud vs Virtual private cloud (VPC)

When we talk about private cloud and virtual private cloud (VPC) both terms are used interchangeably—but in reality, they shouldn’t be.

What is a Private Cloud?

A Private cloud is a cloud service that deploy specifically for one organization. This type of cloud deployment model is solely control, monitor, and manage by the enterprise. Private cloud can experience the advantages of cloud computing without sharing resources with other organizations.

A private cloud can either be inside an organization or remotely managed by a third party and accessed over the Internet but it is not shared with anyone.

What is Virtual Private Cloud?

A virtual private cloud (VPC) is an isolated, secure private cloud hosted within a public cloud. The businesses that use VPC can run code, store data, host websites, and do anything else they could do in an ordinary private cloud, but the private cloud is hosted remotely by a public cloud provider.
VPCs is the combination of scalability and convenience of public cloud computing with the data isolation of private cloud hosting providers.

Advantages of Private Cloud

• Allows customization
• Ensures data privacy
• Promotes security
• Provides complete control
• Supports legacy systems

Advantages of Virtual Private Cloud

• Affordable deployment 
• Agile system
• 24×7 availability
• Complete security

Difference between private cloud and virtual private cloud

Parameter	Private Cloud	Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
Setup convenience	Private cloud setup is actually a challenge. Since it is a single organization-owned deployment, therefore the in-house team of that particular organization is completely responsible for setting up the system. This conveys that the technical team should possess the proficiency to implement and manage the private cloud infrastructure.	On the contrary, VPC is easy to set up. As the responsibility lies on the cloud provider to manage most of the work related to the VPC layout, including cloud infrastructure and configuring & installing software. Additionally, VPC also has a dedicated technical team to take care of the architecture throughout its lifecycle. Also, while setting up VPC connecting to a public cloud or an on premise model via a VPN link is comparatively easy.
Usability	As a private cloud is handled and controlled by in-house team of the owner organization, a good usability factor is complex as it calls for an internal team to work on the ‘ease of use’ parameter.	In term of usability factor, VPC performs far better, as everything is taking care of by the cloud provider instead of an in-house team.
Reliability and availability	This model is very reliable as its services are easily available when the right team manages the cloud environment.	Although VPC architecture is available 24×7, it is more susceptible to failures and outages than a private cloud setting.
Economical	It is quite expensive to set up, monitor, and manage amongst all cloud deployments.	On the other hand, VPC is affordable. It is affordable as compare to the private cloud.
Maintenance and performance	This cloud deployment model is held on-site, the burden of maintenance needs to be borne by the cloud-hosting enterprise. A typical maintenance regime calls for appropriate cooling and power along with 24×7 support by an in-house maintenance team. The deployment of private clouds takes place within the firewall configuration of the intranet of the organization. Such an environment gives private clouds better security and efficiency, thereby ensuring optimum network performance.	VPC, on contrary, needs less and maintenance. It is more desirable on the performance front as the cloud-hosted websites and applications showcase better performance.

Take away 

A private cloud provides better control over IT resources whereas Virtual Private cloud (VPC) gives organizations extra security. Hence, both private cloud and virtual private cloud models are unique and important in their own way. Each has its own parameters of pros and cons. 

Hence, organizations need to decide between a VPC and private cloud that which one is intend to accomplish their goal or objective.