A traditional application is monolithic in design with application architecture which generally consists of database, web servers and application that are tightly coupled with the infrastructure with limited flexibility and relies on it for providing availability.

A cloud-native application, such as public cloud, is one that uses open, common standards that is dynamic in nature and highly scalable with no dependencies on the underlying infrastructure.

Data is spread across many different servers in one central location (with alternative backup locations). Generally, there are at least a couple of main datacentres which are protected against outside interference and are highly secured, both physical and virtual. Even if there was a catastrophic failure at multiple datacentres, your data would be able to be recovered from all the smaller servers around the world.

Cloud services are subscribed to on a monthly basis, and are rented instead of purchased. This means you shift your spending from capital expenditure to operational expenditure, meaning you can keep track of how much you are spending on IT without any unexpected costs such as upgrading your server.