Cloud servers are now at the peak of their popularity. They have completely changed the way modern business is done, and today many companies have already moved their business activities to the Internet, taking the most out of cloud servers and cloud computing. There are many reasons for this, but the critical fact they all share is the ability to expand your business. Cloud computing comes in various technology stacks, allowing companies to choose what fits their budget and capabilities; the key is to know what options are best for you. This article will discuss PaaS vs. IaaS vs. SaaS, their main characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages.
Cloud computing is an umbrella term for providing hosted services on the Internet. There are basic categories of services, such as PaaS vs. Iaas vs. SaaS, and to decide which type of cloud is right for you, you should become well acquainted with these terms. But first, let’s break down why cloud computing is profitable for businesses.
It used to be impossible to scale the internet environment of your business because companies were compressed within fixed sizes and insufficient hardware capacity. But now, with the cloud, scaling your business is possible and can be done quickly and easily.
Using the cloud positively impacts all aspects of your business; they help increase productivity and flexibility and reduce costs. Cloud computing makes it easy for companies to experiment and innovate their business; you can be sure you won’t run into performance issues.
Moving your business to the cloud may require investment, but supporting this service will cost you many times less than other IT services. The cost calculation will depend on which type of cloud model you choose.
Very often, companies are faced with a lack of resources for research and development of new solutions because, on top of that, they need to manage and protect the IT infrastructure of their business. At the same time, cloud service providers themselves ensure the security of their infrastructure and its management, and therefore the company has more time and opportunities to focus on other areas of their business.
Cloud computing offers several deployment types: public, private, and hybrid. The public cloud is delivered by a third-party provider over the Internet. Private – delivered from a company’s data center to internal users. And hybrid combines the quality of a public and personal type of deployment. Most companies choose the hybrid kind of cloud deployment.
In addition, as mentioned, there are three main cloud computing models. Below we will briefly summarize IaaS PaaS SaaS definition and highlight their main characteristics and examples.
The key difference between all the proposed cloud computing options is that each has a different level of control.
Accordingly, in different use cases, your company will have different levels of responsibility. So, with IaaS, you have complete control over all the processes. With PaaS, you are only responsible for managing the applications and data, and with SaaS, the service provider is in charge, and you can only change some configurations.
Starting with what does IaaS stand for – it’s a cloud computing service that provides services on demand and takes a pay-as-you-use basis. It means you only pay for what you need, rather than buying the whole package at once and only using a few tools.
Even though the cloud provides you with storage, disks, IP addresses, and more, you’re still responsible for managing the infrastructure and have all the settings and APIs to do so. IaaS is suitable because it gives you more flexibility and choice; just decide what features you need and scale them.
Infrastructure as a service examples includes Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine (GCE), and others. All of them have the following advantages in common:
Nevertheless, like any service, IaaS has its drawbacks, such as:
The IaaS cloud service type is suitable for companies of all sizes and budgets of all sizes because it is very flexible and gives you complete control over management. You don’t depend on the provider’s decision, the size, or capacity of the system, and you can scale whenever you want. It’s also logical to assume that this type of cloud computing is only suitable for companies with the technical expertise to build an application.
Moving on to the next computing model, we will define what does PaaS stand for. So Platform as a Service offers your business a framework for creating and deploying applications.
That way, the whole technical part of the application has already been preconfigured, and you’re left to focus on the creative aspect of building the application. You don’t have to worry about updates, OS installation, storage, infrastructure, etc. This way, developers can get their applications up and running faster and efficiently manage them.
The best-known PaaS solutions include AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Red Hat OpenShift, and Google App Engine. The main advantages of such solutions are:
Speaking of the disadvantages of the platform as a service, the following can be highlighted:
PaaS is excellent for those who want to spend a minimum of time developing and deploying their application. If controlling the technical side of your application is not crucial to you but rather focusing on its interface, design, and primary purpose (what your application will serve), then a PaaS solution is right for you.
SaaS is a software deployment model available to you through a web browser. For the user of SaaS, it doesn’t matter where it’s hosted or what programming language and OS it uses. This cloud computing model is accessible from any device; you don’t invest your resources, time, or capital in it; you only subscribe and connect to the application.
The primary SaaS examples in cloud computing are Microsoft Office 365, Intuit, Salesforce CRM, and Zoom. Among them, we can highlight the following list of advantages:
But as with anything, SaaS has its drawbacks, namely:
The SaaS application will be your ideal option if you want a minimum liability and a seamless application. The provider handles all the technical aspects, and you just pay in the meantime – that’s all you have to do. If you don’t have the knowledge and experience in IT development, SaaS is your solution; it’s suitable for companies of all sizes and industries.
In summary, SaaS and PaaS offer services with different levels of access and responsibility. To understand which cloud provisioning model suits you, you must first understand how responsible you want to be for your application. Do you have the resources, staff, and time to do so? How much work are you willing to do yourself, and how much to trust your vendor? You can only determine which cloud computing option is right for you through your unique situation.
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