Top Cloud Computing Models

The use of the cloud computing approach is rapidly increasing among programmers and businesses because of its appealing benefits. Indeed, cloud computing is cost-efficient and improves development speed and innovation. However, companies and developers must be aware of the core cloud computing models to take advantage of this approach. 

Therefore, this article will present one of the top cloud computing models with their advantages and market size. Moreover, this guide will also share the leading CSPs under distinct models of cloud computing.

IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service, is a crucial cloud computing category responsible for providing virtualized resources. These IT resources basically consist of storage, networking, server, and computing tools. 

In simple words, IaaS solutions authorize businesses to pick a pay-as-you-go policy without holding and maintaining on-premises hardware and IT infrastructures. 

Market Size

IaaS is doing great among other cloud computing models, and its market shares are also snowballing. An Allied Market Research report claims that the global market value of IaaS will hit 481.8 billion USD by 2030 because of its advanced remote computing and storage properties. According to this research, the market size of IaaS was only 51.3 billion USD in 2020. 

It signifies that Infrastructure as a Service has the capability to enlarge at the compound annual growth rate of 25.3% in upcoming years. Correspondingly, a press release of Gartner shares that the IaaS market value expanded up to 41.4% only in 2021, and it has very bright chances to grow at more pace in the future. 

On the other hand, if we talk about the most significant shareholders of IaaS and PaaS, then AWS is at the top. According to Statista, AWS owns 32% shares of the cloud infrastructure market. Microsoft and Google hold 23% and 10% of market shares, respectively. 

Advantages

Here are the key advantages of Infrastructure as a Service:

Economical

Cost efficiency is the topmost advantage of using IaaS solutions. Undoubtedly, IaaS authorizes businesses to save the money that they invest in the purchase and maintenance of networking, storage, and computing hardware. Furthermore, companies need to consume money on operating expenses (OpEx) only and can avoid capital costs.

On the other hand, the majority of IaaS vendors enable development teams and businesses to pick a pay-as-you-go pricing model. This model allows the companies to only pay for used instances. 

Highly Scalable 

Infrastructure as a Service platform has the ability to project the workload demands of businesses and extend them according to required instances. Consequently, whether you are going to run a startup, large enterprise, or SME, IaaS vendors can offer you resources as per your requirements.

They allow businesses to vertically and horizontally increase and decrease computing and further resources anytime.

Less Time to Market

Faster time to market is an appealing advantage of using IaaS solutions. Businesses can utilize virtual machines (VMs) instead of the high physical hardware costs and launch MVPs in less time. Less time to market is not only beneficial for startups to release MVPs and get funds from investors, but it is also helpful to attract potential customers and take an edge over rivals.

Secure

IaaS is relatively safe compared to on-premises IT infrastructure. Indeed, disaster recovery solutions could be expensive for physical hardware. However, IaaS lets businesses get complete backups because it uses multiple data centers. In addition, fast encryption protocols and multifactor authentication also improve the security of your projects. 

Core Competencies

With IaaS, you can emphasize the core competencies of your business instead of investing all of your time in hardware maintenance tasks. In other words, you can run your core business operations with more innovation and productivity with IaaS because it takes care of IT infrastructure. 

Top IaaS Providers

Here are the leading IaaS providers:

1. Google Compute Engine

With the powerful support of GCP, Google Compute Engine is one of the best IaaS providers that commenced its journey in 2012. It enables the developers to fully customize their projects and pick suitable virtual machines (VMs) and serverless computing tools. 

With this IaaS solution, you can utilize optimal memory and overcome the cost of up to 92%. Twitter, PayPal, and Shopify are the notable customers of this IaaS vendor.

2. Linode

Linode is another IaaS provider that is famous among businesses because of its cloud infrastructure, Linux-based VMs, and Kubernetes. This fully managed CSP allows the coders to only deploy applications in a few clicks. In this regard, it also facilitates them with various databases, NodeBalancers, and frameworks support.

3. Vultr

With robust cloud computing, bare metal, and cloud GPU, Vultr is a reliable Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform that was launched in 2014. Its data centers are available in 31 locations across the globe to fully support applications with SSD storage. In addition, Vultr has deployed 45 million instances in past years, which is a big achievement.

PaaS – Platform as a Service

A cloud computing style where a vendor takes responsibility for delivering both hardware and software instances to build an application is known as PaaS. Hereof, Platform as a Service consists of storage, servers, networking, operating systems, development tools, etc. 

In other words, PaaS vendors don’t only confer cloud-based IT infrastructure to businesses like IaaS, but they also offer software and middleware resources. Companies can avoid the cost of in-house installation, maintenance, and development tools with PaaS.  

Market Size

The market size of the Platform as a Service is growing at a rapid pace. According to Statista, the revenue of PaaS changed by about 35.4% in 2023. Yes, PaaS global revenue has hit the figure of $113.30 billion in 2023. This value was only $83.69 billion in 2022. The same report also claims that the global revenue of PaaS will reach up to $210.40 billion by 2027.

Correspondingly, another report by Allied Market Research shares that in 2030 Platform as a Service has the ability to cross the figure of 319 billion USD. Indeed, this research refers to the growing market size of PaaS. It also signifies that the PaaS market will grow with a compound annual growth rate of 22% from 2021 to 2030. 

Advantages 

The followings are the core advantages of PaaS:

Cost Efficient

Decreased development and deployment cost is the most significant advantage of using PaaS platforms. Companies can begin their project with minimum investment cost because they don’t need to bear the price of IT infrastructure and software resources. 

Also, with PaaS, businesses can avoid hidden charges, indirect fees, high capital costs, and lower stack maintenance and development expenses.

Time Efficient

Businesses can save the energy and time that they consume to set up and maintain on-premises infrastructure. By the same token, the availability of ready-to-use software tools and development environments also saves time for programming teams. In addition, it is quick to launch MVPs in the market with PaaS.

Secure & Scalable 

It is a misconception that cloud computing models are vulnerable compared to on-premises development. But in reality, they are considered highly secure. The teams of PaaS vendors focus on improving data and cybersecurity in this regard.

Similarly, you will find PaaS providers highly scalable where you can increase and reduce required instances and hardware resources anytime. The pay-as-you-go pricing model also plays an important role hereof.

Small Development Team

Whether it is about the technical staff that deals with infrastructure or software engineers, PaaS authorizes the companies to go with a small team. Indeed, PaaS vendors take responsibility for software, middleware, and hardware resources. So, your venture would require a minimum of engineers.

Regular Updates

Companies also prefer using PaaS platforms because they regularly update the infrastructure. With advanced and updated hardware and software tools, businesses can definitely achieve their prime goals.

Top PaaS Providers

These are the top Platform as a Service providers:

1. AWS Elastic Beanstalk

With the powerful backing of Amazon Web Services, Elastic Beanstalk is a credible PaaS product that was released in 2011. This platform lets the developers emphasize writing quality code, and it takes care of infrastructure and software management. 

In this regard, you will find Elastic Beanstalk console, S3 buckets, EC2 instances, CloudWatch, and CloudFormation to deploy applications. 

2. Heroku

If you are looking for a user-friendly interface to build and deploy your applications, then Heroku is an ideal PaaS platform. Although Heroku was famous among programmers because of its free tier, but it kept its popularity after switching to a wholly paid version.

Heroku Data Services, OpEx, Runtime, and Dynos are the most prominent features of this Platform as a Service. It also allows you to connect your code through GitHub and deploy it in minutes. 

3. DigitalOcean App Platform 

DigitalOcean is well-known among businesses and developers as an economical CSP. However, if you want a PaaS solution, consider using its App Platform. Indeed, this PaaS product enables the dev teams to publish scripts on servers without minding the infrastructure. 

In short, fully-managed infrastructure under the DigitalOcean App Platform category could be a reliable Platform as a Service to deploy applications. You will also find it highly scalable with numerous serverless components.

BaaS – Backend as a Service

BaaS or Backend as a Service is also an approach of cloud computing where vendors take responsibility for all server-side or behind the scene functionalities. In other words, BaaS solutions are low-code or no-code platforms that deal with backend tasks. These backend chores could be storage, database management, hosting, push notifications, user authentications, etc.

In short, BaaS authorizes companies to emphasize frontend functionalities or core competencies, and it takes charge of backend operations.

Market Size

Although the BaaS industry was doing good, but Covid-19 gave this cloud computing model a new boost. Yes, a Research and Markets report claims the global market size of BaaS was 3.2 billion USD in 2020, but it is projected to reach 31.1 billion USD by 2030. Indeed, this research report conveys BaaS market size has the ability to grow at a CAGR of 23.6% during these years.

On the contrary, MBaaS or Mobile Backend as a Service has excellent potential to grow. According to MarketsAndMarkets, the MBaaS market will hit 5.9 billion USD by 2025. This figure was only 2.0 billion USD in 2020. All in all, MBaaS and BaaS have the ability to fulfill the backend development needs of web and mobile applications. That is why its market size is snowballing day by day. 

Advantages

Here are the core advantages of BaaS:

Fast Development 

Server-side development is undoubtedly an arduous job where you need to hire backend developers. However, BaaS makes businesses capable of avoiding this hectic hiring process because it takes care of entire server-side operations. 

Similarly, numerous ready-to-use tools and APIs reduce the development duration, and you can skyrocket the development.

Less Cost 

With BaaS, businesses can’t only save the high fees of backend developers, but the operation cost is also low here. Companies don’t have to invest in infrastructure installation and maintenance because BaaS offers a cloud-based environment. 

On the other hand, reducing overhead is another advantage of using BaaS because you don’t need technical staff while using such platforms. The low-code or no-code nature of BaaS vendors also facilitates this regard. 

No Technical Expertise Required

The startup teams that have less technical expertise should prefer using no-code Backend as a Service provider. Undoubtedly, BaaS authorizes businesses to proceed in the absence of technical experts. 

Cross-Platform Development

With the help of software development kits or SDKs, it is seamless to connect web, Android, and iOS applications and launch them on different platforms. Hereof, you don’t need to create multiple server-side infrastructures to release applications for cross-platform development. 

Top BaaS Providers

Here are the leading BaaS providers:

1. Back4app

Back4app is a low-code Backend as a Service vendor that deals with 3.5 billion processing requests on a monthly basis. Around 190k development experts are using this BaaS platform from 100 countries of the world. Compared to other BaaS providers, signing up on this platform is entirely free.

Fortunately, you can use 250 MB data storage, 1 GB file storage and conduct 25k requests under its free tier. Moreover, its key properties are GraphQL & Rest APIs, SDKs, cloud functions, real-time databases, Blockchain storage, authentication, and push notifications. 

2. Parse

Parse is an open-source and tested BaaS platform that was released in 2011, and Meta acquired this platform in 2013.

With the help of this BaaS provider, it is rapid to build applications. Mainly, the file storage, open-source libraries, Parse server, user authentications, SDKs, repos, and adapters make it a credible platform. 

3. Backendless

If you are a startup and need a no-code CSP to build the backend of your applications, then consider using Backendless. Especially the UI builder and API services of Backendless will amaze you with the finest functionalities. In addition, caching, cloud code, real-time databases, and codeless environments also fascinate businesses. 

SaaS – Software as a Service

Software as a Service is a major cloud computing category comprising IaaS and PaaS, enabling users to utilize a cloud-hosted application. Through this approach, users don’t only get middleware, hardware, or software support but can also approach the app over the internet without installing it. 

By the way, SaaS solutions could be beneficial for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer ventures. Zoom, Google Workspace, Slack, Salesforce, and Outlook are prominent SaaS products. 

Market Size

SaaS holds a big share of the cloud computing market because of its enlarged features. Statista projects that the global market revenue of SaaS will hit 253.90 billion USD in 2023. This report also claims that the Software as a Service market has the ability to expand its revenues up to 344 billion USD by 2027. 

Surely, SaaS revenue can increase with a CAGR of 7.89% from 2023 to 2027. By the way, the revenue of SaaS was only 157.30 billion USD in 2020. Correspondingly, research by Fortune Business Insights estimates that the SaaS market size will reach 883.34 billion USD by 2029. In short, all of these market indicators are in favor of the SaaS model.

Advantages

Here are the key advantages of using Software as a Service:

Cost-Efficient

SaaS plans usually come with a monthly subscription and affordable pricing. So, with Software as a Service, users can’t only avoid the infrastructure and maintenance costs but can also proceed with reasonable monthly fees. 

Easy to Integrate & Scale

It is smooth to connect distinct SaaS offerings with each other to make your application more appealing. By the same token, businesses can extend and reduce required SaaS instances within a few clicks only. 

Robust Deployment

Software as a Service is considered one of the most rapid approaches when it comes to deployment. Mainly, it has the power of IaaS and PaaS products with hosting offers. Therefore, it is seamless for teams to deploy their applications. 

Automated Updates

Automated updates are also engaging highlights of using SaaS. Customers don’t need to buy new SaaS offerings to access an upgraded environment. Yes, SaaS has the potential to systematically update the current plans according to the modern needs of applications and operating systems. 

Top SaaS Providers

Although there are several SaaS providers available in the market, but we are referring to the most reliable ones here:

1. Salesforce

Salesforce is one of the finest SaaS providers that commenced its journey in 1999. This California-headquartered SaaS platform grants various cloud offerings, but it is famous because of its CRM and data solutions among businesses. Around 150k companies are using credible SaaS products of Salesforce.

2. Adobe

Adobe is another reputed SaaS provider that was initially launched in 1982. This platform has been mainly developed for designers. You can find cloud libraries and further accessories that are needed to support your video editing or graphic designing projects on this platform.  

3. Google Workspace

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is also a SaaS platform. Google released this cloud service provider in 2006. Users can find one of the best Google’s products like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Meet, and Google Calendar under this category. 

Furthermore, the use of an Admin dashboard could be beneficial to manage all Workspace products smoothly. Nielsen Holdings, Colgate-Palmolive, and Broadcom are featured customers of Google Workspace. 

FaaS – Function as a Service

A cloud computing offering that lets programmers create, run, administrate, and compute app packages in the form of functions is known as FaaS. Moreover, Function as a Service permits the developers to execute the script as reactions to events. 

With FaaS, it is the responsibility of service providers to deal automatically with VM operating systems, IT infrastructure, servers, and software. 

Market Size

The use of FaaS products is rapidly increasing among developers and businesses. Market Data Forecast projects that the global market size of FaaS will cross 25.14 billion USD by 2027. This figure was only 8.9 billion USD in 2020. 

Similarly, another research by Reports and Data claims the FaaS market will reach 53.08 billion USD by 2028. According to this report, Function as a Service will flourish with a CAGR of 30.90% from 2019 to 2028. In simple words, like other computing solutions, the use of FaaS is also rapidly growing among businesses globally. 

Advantages

The followings are the core advantages of using FaaS:

Highly Scalable 

FaaS platforms can automatically scale up and reduce the instances according to the needs of your project. Yes, FaaS solutions are entirely independent of extending and decreasing resources, and dev teams don’t have to administer the VMs and infrastructure in this regard.

Cost-Efficient

Like other cloud computing solutions, FaaS is also cost-efficient. Additionally, businesses can pay for only consumed instances while using FaaS platforms. Even, FaaS vendors don’t charge for idle computation hours from customers.

Robust Development

Developers don’t need to mind infrastructure and further deployment tasks with FaaS. Therefore, they can emphasize producing quality code within less time. High uptime and availability of data centers in numerous geographical zones also speed up the development process. 

Top FaaS Providers

Here are the major FaaS providers:

1. AWS Lambda

With the robust support of Amazon, AWS Lambda is one of the ideal FaaS providers that was launched in 2014. This serverless computing platform enables the dev teams to run their script without handling infrastructure, software, and provisioning. Stedi, Fender, and The Coca-Cola Company are renowned customers of AWS Lambda. 

2. Google Cloud Functions

Google Cloud Functions is another reliable FaaS provider initially released in 2016 under the Alpha products of GCP. With this FaaS vendor, businesses just need to work on their code, and this platform will deal with operational infrastructure. 

HomeAway, Semios, and Smart Parking are featured clients of Google Cloud Functions. 

3. Netlify Functions

If you are looking for a user-friendly interface and are willing to deploy functions with great simplicity, consider Netlify Functions. It lets the developers write the script in languages like JavaScript, Go, or TypeScript and deploy it in the form of API endpoints. 

Nike, TunnelBear, and Backlinko use Netlify Functions for different tech stacks. 

CaaS – Container as a Service

CaaS is a cloud service category that lets the developers administer and deploy applications and clusters utilizing a containerized abstraction. This model also belongs to PaaS, enabling businesses to build cloud-based and on-premises containerized applications. However, PaaS depends on programming language stacks, but CaaS is based on containers. 

A container typically consists of dependencies like system libraries, configuration, script, and runtime. These tools are essential to run this software package on a hosting platform. 

Market Size

CaaS market size has gradually increased over the past few years and has a bright future. MarketsandMarkets projects that the global market size of Container as a Service will be 5.6 billion USD by 2027. This value was only 2.0 billion USD in 2022. It signifies the CaaS market will expand at the compound annual growth rate of 22.7% from 2022 to 2027.

Another report by Research and Markets anticipates that the market value of CaaS will be around 16.9 billion USD by the end of 2030. Indeed, this research claims that CaaS will expand at a CAGR of 32.6% from 2022 to 2030.   

Advantages

These are the primary advantages of using CaaS:

Resource-Friendly

The majority of businesses and dev teams prefer using CaaS because it consumes limited resources compared to VMs. Indeed, with less computing power, developers can handle more containers through this cloud service. Moreover, companies don’t have to pay capital expenses with this computing practice.

Rapid Functioning

Containers are not only robust when it comes to testing and functioning, but you can also create and commence them within seconds. This property of CaaS is not only helpful for fast development, but developers can also efficiently fix bugs and release updated versions of applications.

Secure 

CaaS overcomes the security risk by isolating the containers. Surely, applications are being run separately from the operating systems. So, if any security breach happens with one app, it doesn’t affect the other containers. 

Portable

CaaS is popular among users because of its portable nature. It is seamless to move containers from one environment or platform to another. Indeed, it efficiently works in the cloud, on-premises infrastructure, or virtual servers.  

Top CaaS Providers

Here are the leading CaaS providers:

1. Back4app Container Platform

Back4app Container Platform is one of the finest open-source and highly scalable Container as a Service providers. Developers just need to come up with their script here, and it will smoothly deploy your applications through its highly interactive interface. You can also connect your GitHub repository to deploy container applications on this platform.

2. AWS Container Service

AWS Container Service is also popular with the name of Amazon ECS and is considered a reliable CaaS provider. This platform enables businesses to deploy their containerized applications quickly with effective serverless computing resources. 

If we talk about its major customers, then Snoop, Polyverse, and Volkswagen Group are at the top.

3. Google Kubernetes Engine 

GKE is also a powerful CaaS provider where you can use autopilot mode to deploy your containerized applications. Serverless Kubernetes, container-native networking, and pod autoscaling are major highlights of this platform. 

DaaS – Desktop as a Service

A cloud computing offering that facilitates the end users with virtual desktops through internet means is known as Desktop as a Service. These virtual desktop environments typically consist of files, operating systems, user predilections, and applications. 

CSPs administer the computing, network, and storage resources that are required to host virtual machines. It is significant to know VMs deal with virtual desktop environments in this regard. 

Market Size

Verified Market Research shares in its recent publication that the DaaS market value would be around 18.7 billion USD by 2030. This research report also shares that the market size of Desktop as a Service was 4.2 billion USD in 2021. It means the DaaS market is expanding with a compound annual growth rate of 20.6%.

On the contrary, a report by FMI projects the market size of Desktop as a Service will reach 17.8 billion USD by 2029. The same research shares the value of DaaS was 5.5 billion USD in 2022. This report signifies DaaS has the ability to grow at a CAGR of 18.1% during this period. 

Advantages

DaaS confers many benefits, but the following are the core ones:

Cost-Efficient

DaaS vendors usually offer monthly subscription plans to users with reasonable price tags. By the same token, businesses also don’t have to pay for licensing, storage, servers, and desktop hardware, so they can definitely lower capital costs. By the way, operating cost is also minimum when you choose DaaS solutions.

Fast & Responsive

Development teams can access the virtual desktops through their devices anytime, anywhere. The availability of desktop environments surely improves development speed. Also, it is agile to run applications on cloud-hosted virtual desktops.

Reliable

With 99.99% uptime and enterprise-level IT infrastructure, DaaS solutions are considered very reliable. DaaS has the ability to grant business continuity in all kinds of situations. 

Top DaaS Providers

Probably, you will be familiar with a few DaaS providers, but we are sharing the most reliable vendors here:

1. Amazon WorkSpaces

If you want a renowned DaaS provider with an entirely secure environment, you can choose Amazon WorkSpaces. This platform enables software engineers to approach powerful desktops for Linux and Windows. Luckily, you only have to pay for consumed instances while using this DaaS platform.

2. Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop is another big name if you want to access desktops remotely. Especially if you need virtual desktops for Windows 11, then you should go with Azure. Ready-to-use security intelligence and robust deployment are appealing features of Azure Virtual Desktop.

3. Citrix

Citrix is a Texas-based cloud service provider that is known because of its DaaS solutions. This DaaS provider promises a highly flexible and safe digital workspace to deploy applications quickly. This platform also claims that you can save 70% within 3 years when you pick Citrix.

MaaS – Monitoring as a Service

A cloud computing offering promises to protect a business’s IT infrastructure and assets, known as Monitoring as a Service. This solution confers complete security to a particular enterprise and its clients from all cyber threats for 24/7. 

Fortunately, with MaaS, you only need to pay for used resources because it follows a subscription pricing model. 

Market Size

The demand for cloud monitoring is snowballing day by day. That is why the market value of MaaS is also expanding. According to a report by Verified Market Research, the market value of MaaS will hit 6.47 billion USD by 2028. The same report also shares that the market size of cloud monitoring was only 1.52 billion USD in 2020.

Advantages

Here are the primary advantages of MaaS:

Minimize IT Concerns

Whether your IT assets are facing big security threats or dealing with small bugs, MaaS has the potential to handle them. Therefore, your team can emphasize the core tasks, and all security-related problems are dealt with by Monitoring as a Service provider.

Highly Flexible & Productive

Large enterprises are adopting cloud service at a fast pace, due to which their security needs are also increasing. With MaaS platforms, they can easily extend their monitoring resources, and their teams can work with great productivity.

Cost-Efficient

When businesses employ MaaS solutions, they have more chances to run their ventures without any networking errors, bugs, downtime, and further technical glitches. So they can easily avoid technological and cyber disasters and save lots of money. 

Top MaaS Providers

The followings are the leading Monitoring as a Service providers:

1. Datadog

Datadog is one of the most modern Monitoring as a Service providers that began its journey in 2010. Companies can find different networking, infrastructure, container, and device monitoring services on this platform. Samsung, HashiCorp, and Peloton are featured clients of Datadog.

2. Zabbix

Zabbix is another open-source cloud monitoring tool on our list. Businesses can seamlessly monitor servers, applications, networks, and services with the help of this MaaS provider. Nexon, Dell, and ICANN are prominent companies that use Zabbix for distinct tech stacks.

3. Dynatrace

Dynatrace is a company that was launched in 2005. Although this CSP offers diverse products to businesses, but its AI-backed infrastructure monitoring services are very classy. Especially it permits large enterprises to analyze all infrastructural components through a single dashboard. 

Conclusion

The cloud computing industry is flourishing at an incredible pace. It generated 400 billion USD through its services in 2021. Indeed, different cloud computing models are aiding this industry to earn significant revenues. 

However, businesses still need clarification about different cloud computing categories. Hopefully, they will better understand multiple cloud computing models, their advantages, market size, and service providers with the help of this comprehensive guide. 

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