Understanding IaaS/PaaS/SaaS

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS in detail

🚗 Real-Life Analogy: Owning vs. Renting a Car

Think of running a software application like getting from Point A to B. There are different ways to do it:

🧱 1. IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

✅ What You Get:

• Virtual machines
• Storage
• Networking
• Operating System (you install)
• Full control over the environment

🔧 Who Manages What:

• You manage OS, applications, runtime, data
• Provider manages hardware, virtualization, networking

📦 Example:

Microsoft Azure VMs, AWS EC2, Google Compute Engine

💡 Real-life example:
You rent a raw apartment (VM). You bring in furniture (OS/apps), arrange it (configs), and clean it (security/patches).

🛠️ 2. PaaS – Platform as a Service

✅ What You Get:

• Runtime environment
• Pre-installed OS and libraries
• Scaling and patching handled
• Focus on code and deployment

🔧 Who Manages What:

• You manage code and data
• Provider manages infrastructure, OS, middleware, scaling

📦 Example:

Heroku, Google App Engine, Azure App Service, Vercel (Next.js Hosting)

💡 Real-life example:
You book a food truck kitchen. It's stocked and ready. You bring your recipe (code), cook, and serve. No cleaning or buying equipment.

📥 3. SaaS – Software as a Service

✅ What You Get:

• Fully functional software
• No installation or maintenance
• Access via browser or app

🔧 Who Manages What:

• Provider manages everything
• You just use it

📦 Example:

Gmail, Google Docs, Salesforce, ChatGPT, Figma

💡 Real-life example:
You eat at a restaurant. Everything is ready – food, service, cleanup. You just enjoy the meal.

🧠 Summary Table