Horizontal scaling means adding more machines or nodes to a system to handle increased load. Vertical scaling involves increasing the resources (like CPU and RAM) of an existing machine to handle more load.

If your traffic spikes or your needs are unpredictable, horizontal scaling is ideal. It also offers better fault tolerance (if one server fails, others can handle the load).

Vertical scaling is simpler and works well for predictable workloads with steady resource needs. It might also be initially cheaper for small businesses.

Absolutely! You can start with a vertically scaled server for your base and add horizontal scaling as your business grows for better flexibility.