Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a higher level of abstraction than IaaS. It offers a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, allowing developers to create, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the underlying infrastructure. The cloud provider manages the servers, storage, networking, operating systems, middleware (like database management systems), and development tools. The developer only needs to manage their own application code. This model is incredibly efficient for software development, as it streamlines workflows and allows development teams to focus purely on writing code and innovating. PaaS offerings typically include tools for source code control, testing, and deployment, as well as application hosting and scaling capabilities. If an application's traffic suddenly surges, the PaaS can automatically scale the underlying resources to handle the load. This makes PaaS an excellent choice for agile development, cloud-native application building, and API development and management. It significantly reduces the time-to-market for new applications. Popular PaaS providers include Heroku, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, and Microsoft Azure App Service. These platforms support various programming languages and frameworks, giving developers flexibility while abstracting away infrastructure concerns.