The biggest difference between cloud and bare-metal is scalability. If you have a clear idea of the specifications you need to keep your service running smoothly, then bare-metal can be cheaper in the long run.

Cloud usually seems more affordable at first, but that changes quickly especially once you start adding additional services. The bill can add up fast.

I haven’t run a large operation on either the cloud or bare-metal, so this is mostly speculation, but the cost difference becomes obvious when you compare long-term usage with growth.