SaaS
The abbreviation SaaS stands for Software as a Service. This is also the most widely used form of it.
The use of Web Applications available under SaaS is very popular. As a result, the user can access the resources solely through their browser. Consequently, no separate software installation is required on the computer. The advantage of this is that you do not need to set up a separate workstation to use the application.
The second advantage may be that the user does not need to have knowledge of hardware, application management, storage, or networking. This is because all of this is handled by the vendor. In this way, SaaS is somewhat related to PaaS.
The following companies, among others, offer SaaS products:
Google (Gmail)
Dropbox
Google (Docs)
Microsoft (Office 365)
IaaS
The abbreviation IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a Service, which simply means that companies provide you with the infrastructure upon which you can build your services/products. This can include, for example, the rental of virtual servers, load balancers, operating systems, and the like. In this regard, you can consider IaaS a great alternative to buying expensive servers, insuring them, and, of course, electricity costs. Usually, this involves a pay-as-use pricing model, where you pay for what you use.
PaaS
This is another abbreviation and stands for Platform as a Service. It is generally seen as a more complex variant of delivering IT services.
The use of PaaS is characterized primarily by the fact that developers gain access to a framework upon which they can build their own services to provide customization for the end user. As a result, it is also much easier to set up beta environments, for example, without having to purchase additional hardware or software.
The major difference between PaaS and SaaS is that with PaaS, a platform is provided that you can configure further. Therefore, it is not necessary to purchase expensive hardware. This is because the provider offering the PaaS solution has already taken care of this. Consequently, you do not have to worry about downtime, updates, or the like.
