Cloud models

While cloud computing is enabled strongly by the virtualization technology, and the ability to flexibly create and manage different resources as needed, but cloud offers different control over those resources. How cloud services are provided categorized in 3 types called service models.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Provides virtualized computing resources like servers, storage, and networks. Users manage the operating systems and applications. This gives users strong control to build whatever they want on top of this infrastructure. Example: AWS EC2, Microsoft Azure VMs.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Offers a platform for developers to build, test, and deploy applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. PaaS vendors provide all necessary resources for building an application. Example: Google App Engine, AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

This model offers a ready to use software over the internet. Users access these services without worrying about installation or maintenance. Example: Gmail, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, MailChimp, Shopify …etc.

Function-as-a-Service (FaaS)

Function as a Service (FaaS) is an additional cloud service model where developers run individual pieces of code (functions) without managing servers or infrastructure and pay only for amount of their application running. FaaS is often associated with serverless computing. Examples: AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions.