Types of Cloud Computing

What are the types of cloud computing?

Cloud computing is providing developers and IT departments with the ability to focus on what matters most and avoid undifferentiated work like procurement, maintenance, and capacity planning. As cloud computing has grown in popularity, several different models and deployment strategies have emerged to help meet the specific needs of different users. Each type of cloud service, and deployment method, provides you with different levels of control, flexibility, and management. Understanding the differences between traditional cloud computing models—Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)—and what deployment strategies you can use can help you decide what set of services is right for your needs.

While the industry has traditionally used terms like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS to group cloud services, at AWS we focus on solutions to your needs, which can span many service types. This page uses the traditional service grouping of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS to help you decide which set is right for your needs and the deployment strategy that works best for you.

Cloud computing models

Although definitions vary from company to company, traditionally there have been three main models for cloud computing. Each model represents a different aspect of cloud computing.

IaaS contains the basic building blocks for cloud IT and typically provides access to networking features, computers (virtual or on dedicated hardware), and data storage space. IaaS vendors can help you with the highest level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources and is the type most similar to existing IT resources that many IT departments and developers are familiar with.

Learn more about IaaS

PaaS vendors remove the need for organizations to manage the underlying infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems), and this integration allows you to focus on the deployment and management of your applications. This helps you be more efficient, as you don’t need to worry about resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance, patching, or any of the other undifferentiated heavy lifting involved in running your application.

Learn more about PaaS

SaaS vendors provide you with software applications that are run and managed by the vendor. In most cases, people referring to SaaS are referring to third-party end-user applications. With a SaaS offering you do not have to worry about how the service is maintained or how the underlying infrastructure is managed; you only need think about how you will use that particular piece of software. A common example of a SaaS application is web-based email where you can send and receive email without having to manage feature additions or maintain the servers and operating systems that the email program is running on.

Learn more about SaaS

IT deployment models

A cloud-based application is fully deployed in the cloud and all parts of the application run in the cloud. Applications in the cloud have either been created in the cloud or have been migrated from an existing infrastructure to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing. Cloud-based applications can be built on low-level infrastructure pieces or can use higher-level services that provide abstraction from the management, architecting, and scaling requirements of core infrastructure.

Learn more about cloud computing

A hybrid deployment is a way to connect infrastructure and applications between cloud-based resources and existing resources that are not located in the cloud. The most common method of hybrid deployment is between the cloud and existing on-premises infrastructure, to extend and grow an organization's infrastructure into the cloud while connecting cloud resources to internal system. For more information on how AWS can help you with your hybrid deployment, visit Hybrid Cloud with AWS.

Learn more about hybrid cloud

Deploying resources on premises using virtualization and resource management tools does not provide many of the benefits of cloud computing, but it is sometimes sought for its ability to provide dedicated resources. In most cases this deployment model is the same as legacy IT infrastructure while using application management and virtualization technologies to try and increase resource utilization.

Learn more about on premises