SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS: What’s The Difference?

The cloud is a popular topic for small companies all the way to multinational companies, but it becomes a broad concept that covers a lot of online area. As you start to consider moving your company to the cloud, whether for application or network delivery, knowing the drawbacks and advantages of the different cloud providers is more important than ever.

Cloud service typically has three models to compare: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Each one has its own advantages as well as variances, and the variations between SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS have to be understood to know how to choose the best one for your company.

SaaS: Software as a Service

The most widely used alternative for companies in the cloud industry is software as a service, also defined as cloud application services. SaaS uses the Internet to deliver applications to its users which are managed by a third-party vendor. A lot of SaaS applications run directly through your web browser, ensuring that no updates or installations on the client side are needed.

SaaS Delivery

SaaS eliminates the need for downloads and installation of applications by IT management on each single computer because of its web delivery model. With SaaS, providers handle all possible technical problems, including data, middleware, servers and storage, thereby simplifying business service and support.

SaaS Advantages

It offers various benefits to people and businesses by decreasing the time and money spent on repetitive tasks such as installing, managing and upgrading software, thereby giving technical staff plenty of time to spend on more pressing problems and issues within the company.

SaaS Characteristics

There are a few ways to help you determine when SaaS is being utilized:

Managed from a central location
Hosted on a remote server
Accessible over the internet
Users not responsible for hardware or software updates

When to Use SaaS

SaaS may be the most beneficial option in several situations, including:

Startups or small companies that need to launch ecommerce quickly and don’t have time for server issues or software
Short-term projects that require quick, easy, and affordable collaboration
Applications that aren’t needed too often, such as tax software
Applications that need both web and mobile access

SaaS Limitations and Concerns

Vendor lock-in. Providers can make joining a company easy and it’s hard to get out of that. For example, data might not be portable–technically or cost-effectively–over other vendors ‘ SaaS apps without incurring significant cost or rework in-house engineering.
Lack of integration support. Deep integration with on-site apps, data, and services is required by many companies. In this way, the SaaS provider will offer limited assistance, requiring companies to invest internal resources in the design and management of integrations.
Data security. Large volumes of data may need to be exchanged to SaaS apps ‘ backend data centers to perform the software functionality required. In addition to significant costs for migrating large data workloads, the transfer of sensitive business information to a public cloud-based SaaS service may result in compromised security and compliance.
Lack of control. SaaS solutions involve granting third party service provider access. Such controls are not limited to the software–related to version, changes, or appearance–but also to data and management. Therefore, customers may need to redefine their data security and governance models to fit the SaaS service’s features and functionality.
Feature limitations. Since SaaS applications frequently come in a standardized way, the selection of features can compromise safety, cost, performance and other organizational policies. Alternatively, vendor lock-in, cost or security concerns could mean that it is not feasible to move vendors or services in the future to meet new feature requirements.
Performance and downtime. As the manufacturer manages and administers the SaaS program, the clients now rely on vendors to ensure the protection and efficiency of the service. Despite appropriate Service Level Agreement (SLA) protections in place, planned and unplanned maintenance, cyber-attacks or network problems can impact the performance of the SaaS app.

Examples of SaaS

These are several popular examples of SaaS, including: Google GSuite (Apps), Dropbox, Salesforce, Cisco WebEx, SAP Concur, and GoToMeeting.

PaaS: Platform as a Service

Cloud platform services, also known as Platform as a Service (PaaS), give some good software with cloud components, when being used primarily for applications. PaaS provides developers with a system that they can build on and utilize to produce custom apps. The company or a third-party vendor can handle all servers, storage and networking while the developers can maintain program management.

PaaS Delivery

The PaaS delivery model is similar to SaaS, except for when PaaS offers a software platform for creation rather than providing the software over the Internet. This system is distributed over the internet, giving developers the ability to focus on developing the app without thinking about operating systems, software updates, storage or infrastructure.

PaaS enables companies to design and create applications that have special software components built into the PaaS. These applications, sometimes referred to as middleware, are scalable and highly available since they take on certain cloud features.

PaaS Advantages

No matter the size of your company, using PaaS offers numerous advantages, including:

Simple, cost-effective development and deployment of apps
Scalable
Highly available
Developers can customize apps without the headache of maintaining the software
Significant reduction in the amount of coding needed
Automation of business policy
Easy migration to the hybrid model

PaaS Characteristics

PaaS has many characteristics that define it as a cloud service, including:

Builds on virtualization technology, so resources can easily be scale up or down as your business changes
Provides a variety of services to assist with the development, testing, and deployment of apps
Accessible to numerous users via the same development application
Integrates web services and databases

When to Use PaaS

The use of PaaS in several situations is useful, sometimes necessary. For example, if multiple developers work on the same development project, PaaS can streamline workflows. PaaS can offer a high rate and flexibility for the entire process if other vendors are to be include. PaaS is particularly helpful if custom applications must be built. This cloud service can also significantly reduce costs and eliminate other problems if you quickly develop or deploy an app.

PaaS Limitations and Concerns

Data security. Organizations can use PaaS software to manage their apps and services, but data from third-party cloud servers with supplier-control raise security risks and concerns. Your security choices may be limit because customers cannot enforce special hosting policies.
Vendor lock-in. In the future, business and technical requirements which drive decisions for a particular PaaS solution may not apply. Where the vendor has not provided convenient migration policies, it may not be possible to switch to alternative PaaS options without affecting the business.
Customization of legacy systems. PaaS might not be a plug-and-play solution for outdated mobile apps and services. Instead, some customizations and configuration changes may be necessary to work with the PaaS service for the legacy systems. The resulting customisation will lead to a complex IT system that can totally restrict the value of the PaaS investment.
Runtime issues. In relation to limitations associate with specific apps and services, PaaS solutions might not be optimize to suit your choice of language and frameworks. With the PaaS service, particular framework versions may not be available or perform optimally. With the platform, clients may not be able to develop customized dependencies.
Operational limitation. With PaaS applications, personalized cloud operations with management automation workflows may not apply, as the application appears to restrict end-user operating capacities. While this is design to reduce the operational burden on end users, the loss of operational control can affect how PaaS solutions are controll, supply, and operate.

Examples of PaaS

Popular examples of PaaS include AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine, and OpenShift.

IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), are compose of highly scalable, automate computing resources. For computers, networking, storage and other service access and monitoring, IaaS is fully self-service IaaS enables businesses to buy on-demand and as-needed resources instead of purchasing hardware outright.

IaaS Delivery

IaaS provides the cloud computing infrastructure through virtualization technology, including servers, network, operating systems, and storage. Usually, these cloud services are delivere to the enterprise via a dashboard or an API, allowing IaaS clients full control over the entire infrastructure.
IaaS offers the same technology and functionality as a conventional data center without the need to operate or handle all of it physically. IaaS clients still have direct access to their servers and storage, but everything is outsource in the cloud via a “virtual data center”.
Unlike SaaS or PaaS, IaaS clients are responsible for the management of things such as programs, runtime, operating systems, middleware, and results. But, IaaS companies handle the servers, hard drives, networking, virtualizing, and processing. Some providers even provide more services beyond the virtualization layer, such as databases or queuing messages.

IaaS Advantages

IaaS offers many advantages, including:

The most flexible cloud computing model
Easy to automate deployment of storage, networking, servers, and processing power
Hardware purchases can be based on consumption
Clients retain complete control of their infrastructure
Resources can be purchase as-needed
Highly scalable

IaaS Characteristics

Characteristics that define IaaS include:

Resources are available as a service
Cost varies depending on consumption
Services are highly scalable
Multiple users on a single piece of hardware
Organization retain complete control of the infrastructure
Dynamic and flexible

When to Use IaaS

Just like with SaaS and PaaS, when IaaS is most useful there are specific situations.
Startups and small businesses that prefer IaaS to avoid spending time and money on hardware and software purchases and creations. Larger companies may want to retain full control of their software and infrastructure, but they only want to purchase what they actually consume or need. Organizations experiencing rapid growth need IaaS scalability, and as their requirements expand, they can easily change new hardware and software. Whenever you’re unsure of the demands of a new application, IaaS offers plenty of flexibility and scalability.

IaaS Limitations and Concerns

Many limitations associated with SaaS and PaaS models – such as data security, cost overruns, and vendor lock-in and customization issues – also apply to the IaaS model. Particular limitations to IaaS include:

While the customer controls the software, files, middleware, and OS layer, the host or other virtual machines (VMs) may still provide security threats. Insider threat or device vulnerabilities can expose unauthorized entities to data communication between the host infrastructure and VMs.
Legacy systems operating in the cloud. Although customers can run legacy cloud apps, the infrastructure may not be design to provide specific controls to secure the legacy apps. Minor enhancement of legacy apps may be necessary before migrating to the cloud, possibly leading to new security issues unless adequately tested for safety and performance in IaaS systems.
Internal resources and training. For the workforce, additional resources and training may be need to learn how to manage the infrastructure effectively. Data security, recovery, and business continuity will be the responsibility of clients. Nonetheless, due to inadequate oversight of the infrastructure, it can be difficult to monitor and manage the resources without sufficient in-house training and resources.
Multi-tenant security. Additional resources and training may be need for the work force to learn how to effectively manage the infrastructure. Clients will be responsible for data security, recuperation and business continuity. Nonetheless, due to inadequate infrastructure oversight, it can be difficult to monitor. It manage resources without sufficient in-house training and resources.

Examples of IaaS

Popular examples of IaaS include DigitalOcean, Linode, Rackspace, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco Metacloud, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine (GCE).