Top 10 Examples of PaaS Vendors

With the proliferation of cloud computing services, more and more businesses are moving away from on-premise IT data centers and solutions.

Organizations are increasingly adopting the cloud because cloud computing enables them to access their resources from anywhere, with any device. Gartner predicts more than half of the enterprise IT spending in key market segments will shift to the cloud by 2025. 

The cloud computing service model generally comes in three broad categories, including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Each service model provides a different level of control depending on your choice of model. For instance, PaaS solutions enable you to control applications and data while the service provider manages the rest. 

IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS is a different discussion; Let’s keep it for another day. Here we will discuss Platform as a Service and the ten best PaaS examples.

PaaS Overview

PaaS is short for Platform as a Service, a cloud computing model where a PaaS provider delivers software and hardware tools to users over the internet.

Users need these tools for application development. A PaaS provider typically hosts the software and hardware in its infrastructure, eliminating the burden on software developers of having to install in-house hardware and software to develop or run apps. 

Customers buy virtual access to servers and infrastructures needed to design and deploy applications. PaaS can be provided through a public cloud, private or hybrid, and the users access the services through a web browser. It is a cost-effective way to develop and deploy applications and has several other benefits. Some of its benefits include: 

• PaaS is a time-efficient model as it helps build applications faster. 

• The pay-as-you-go model is cost-effective since you don’t have to buy development software and analytics tools.

• An easy-to-access solution. Users can access data centers, hardware, and operating systems from anywhere and on any device. 

• Easy to maintain since you don’t have to build, configure, or maintain the core stack. 

Keep reading to know ten of the best examples of PaaS cloud computing vendors.

Top 10 Examples of PaaS Providers

The use of PaaS services has significantly increased over time. According to Statista, revenue in the Platform as a Service segment is expected to show an annual growth of 19.71%, resulting in a market value of $188.50 billion by 2027. 

Due to the increasing demand for PaaS services, PaaS provider companies have also increased. Here is a list of the top ten examples of PaaS provides and their key features. 

Back4app

Back4app is an open-source cloud based solution that enables developers to build extensible web and mobile applications with rapid deployment.

This highly-scalable cloud infrastructure is fully managed and comes with automatic scaling and provisioning of applications.

With Back4app, you can build real-time apps, deploy and run server-side login, plus a smooth experience of app development using simple APIs and SDKs.

Furthermore, users can import or export their JSON/CSV files with one click using the dashboard, enabling control over data and easier management.

Key Features

• Open source
• Easy to use and low-learning curve
• Dedicated and enterprise plans
• Relational data, indexing, and aggregate functions.

Heroku

Heroku, a cloud application platform, is an example of PaaS that enables software developers to build, run, and operate applications in the cloud.

Developers can use Heroku to deploy, manage, and scale modern applications. Moreover, Heroku offers cost-effective plans for users to learn and get started with development. 

Being a part of Salesforce, Heroku is highly self-contained and deploys data services and an entire ecosystem of its own. 

Key Features

• Easy-to-use comprehensive PaaS platform
• Database services
• Several collaboration tools
• Helps build transformative apps
• Cost efficient

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is an example of PaaS and a service offered by Amazon Web Services to deploy applications that manage several AWS services, such as S3, EC2, Elastic Load Balancers, etc.

Users can use it to deploy and scale web apps and services. Thanks to Elastic Beanstalk’s automatic deployment, once you upload your code, it will automatically handle the deployment from capacity provisioning to application health monitoring.

Also, this PaaS platform requires minimal code changes to go from the development machine to the cloud. This managed platform supports running web apps developed for specific programming languages and web containers.

Key Features

• Supports web applications written in many popular languages and frameworks
• Several deployment options for deploying web apps, such as Java, Node.js, PHP, Docker, etc. 
• Wide selection of app platforms
• App health monitoring

Digitalocean App Platform

Digitalocean App Platform is a platform to build, deploy, and scale web apps quickly. It is a simple, fully managed solution offered by Digital Ocean that allows developers to publish code directly to DigitalOcean servers. The platform has a great user interface and zero-downtime deployments with automatic rollback. 

Key Features

• Build & deploy static assets as well as dynamic apps
• Continuous deployment from the GitHub repository
• Automatic SSL/TLS certificates
• DDoS mitigation
• Auto OS patching

Engine Yard

Engine Yard is another example of a PaaS provider that provides solutions for developers to create, test, and deploy web applications.

It is a reliable solution for developers utilizing Node.js, PHP, and Ruby on Rails for management and deployment. This service supports Ruby on Rails, Node.js, and PHP to get apps running on AWS quickly.

Key Features

• Automatic code analysis
• load balancing, backups, cloning, and database replications capabilities
• Good for small and large-scale cloud deployment
• No fees for the setup or the environment

Google App Engine

Google App Engine is an application platform that enables developers to build scalable web and mobile apps in any programming language on a fully managed platform.

It intends to be a highly scalable serverless PaaS provider used for quick deployment. Moreover, you can choose from multiple popular languages, libraries, and frameworks to develop your applications. 

This fully managed PaaS platform ensures the security of your web apps running and protects them against malware and threats by enabling the firewall.

Key Features

• Several built-in APIs, including GAE cloud storage, URL fetch service, Blobstore, and more.
• Managed infrastructure
• support for several programming languages
• Applications diagnostics
• Support for legacy runtimes

Render

Render is a PaaS platform to build and run apps and websites with auto-deployment from Git. You get not only auto deployment but also free global CDN, TLS certificates, DDoS protection, and private networks.

Its cloud platform runs on AWS and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You can run internal services easily on a private network with Render.

Render intends to provide security to its users with its built-in security features, including encryption, continuous security, and secure infrastructure.

Key Features

• Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
• Test Management
• Web frameworks
• Software development analytic tools
• Fully managed databases with automated backups.

Fly.io

Fly.io utilizes a different approach to putting workloads into the public cloud. This PaaS platform provides a platform to run full-stack apps all over the world.

It is a global distribution platform that runs your code in Firecracker microVMs around the globe. Whether it is a simple web service or a database-backed opus with several supporting services, Fly.io enables you to run your full stack close to users. 

Key Features

• Zero configurations with private networking and global load balancing
• Add SSL at any scale
• PostgreSQL cluster available
• Postgres available as a regular Fly app

Railway.app

Railway.app intends to enable easy development for developers with access to several app development tools.

You can select your choice of database, including Redis, Postgres, or MySQL. With several templates available, you can either build your app from scratch or use a template. Additionally, it offers features like deploy previews, bulk importing environmental variables, etc. 

Key Features

• Deployed apps run indefinitely 
• Automatically scales the application according to user demands
• Cost-efficient solution
• Improved speed to market

Dokku

Dokku is an example of PaaS, powered by Docker, that lets you build and manage the application development from building to scaling.

Users can deploy and configure apps to a production environment on a separate server. Dokku uses a Linux container system to manage app deployments. Moreover, it is lightweight and highly scalable.

Key Features

• Open-source PaaS solution
• Easy to use and deploy applications 
• Scalable hosting using Docker containers and continuous deployment with Git
• Customizable PaaS using plugins
• Accelerate time to market

Conclusion

Today, the use of PaaS platforms is significantly increasing, and so does PaaS providers. The above-mentioned examples of PaaS platforms provide highly scalable app development as well as other development capabilities. 

While the PaaS solutions came up as a means to simplify and streamline developmental tasks, modern PaaS platforms today go beyond providing a straightforward collection of tools to develop and integrate web applications. In fact, modern solutions focus on developmental capabilities, efficient orchestrations, and automation.

Moreover, these solutions offer built-in security features to enhance the security of your cloud-hosted applications. Take advantage of modern, sophisticated PaaS and streamline your app development process with useful tools and high-scalable solutions.

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