Best IaaS and PaaS Providers

Cloud computing has come a long way since the early days, with several different service models to cover the needs of businesses. These include PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS, and providers offering a combination of these services.

PaaS (platform-as-a-service) and IaaS (infrastructure as a service) are both popular options for the practical benefits they offer to business owners and developers. In this article, you will get a detailed insight into PaaS and IaaS along with some information about the key providers of these cloud computing services.

Take a look. 

What is an IaaS?

Infrastructure as a service is a service method that provides outsourced computer infrastructure to users for a rental fee. It functions as a virtual data center that helps users access their application development, deployment, and management resources. IaaS users get access to storage, hardware, data center space, and servers. Some infrastructure-as-a-service providers also offer software to users.

An infrastructure-as-a-service provider offers policy-driven services that can be utilized for infrastructure operation, management, and maintenance. IaaS users generally have to pay per use or based on their computing requirements. 

An infrastructure-as-a-service setup has several features such as dynamic scaling, virtualization technology, API access, GUI access, Internet connectivity, and automated administrative operations. IaaS is among the main cloud computing types apart from the platform-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. 

What is a Paas?

Platform-as-a-service or PaaS is a cloud computing model under which a provider offers application software and hardware to users. Platform-as-a-service is geared towards programmers and developers, who can rely on the platform for running, managing, and developing applications without having to take care of infrastructure.

A platform-as-a-service company provides users with software and hardware hosted on its own infrastructure. It provides a platform to users to collect features, including a solution stack, integrated solution, or Internet service.

Working with a PaaS is convenient for developers and businesses around the world. It helps them get more done within a shorter amount of time. Once you possess the code needed for an application, working on it becomes easy with a reliable PaaS.

It helps them eliminate the need for on-premises hardware installation, server maintenance, software infrastructure update, and custom platform setup for app creation. Your PaaS provider hosts the platform so you can efficiently run code. 

Differences a PaaS and an IaaS

• IaaS provides server level access;
• PaaS does not provide server level access;
• IaaS is not a managed service;
• PaaS is a managed service;
• PaaS is usually more expensive than IaaS.

Top 10 IaaS and PaaS Providers

Here are the best ten IaaS and PaaS vendors.

Ready to know more? Please details of each provider below.

Back4app

Back4app is an open-source, cloud-based platform for developing apps and services. It provides features such as realtime databases, push notifications, analytics, user management, and custom coding.

With Back4app developers can quickly and easily build mobile applications for iOS, Android and Web using JavaScript or any of the popular programming languages — including JavaScript, Java, Swift, Objective-C and more.

Back4app also provides a comprehensive set of APIs that enable developers to integrate their applications with other services such as SalesForce, MailChimp and Stripe. Finally, Back4app includes an SDK that allows developers to quickly build mobile apps for iOS and Android devices using just one code base.

AWS

AWS or Amazon Web Services is a market-leading cloud computing services platform from e-commerce company Amazon. It is one of the most widely preferred infrastructure-as-a-service options for businesses today.

AWS also has several PaaS and SaaS offerings, with a wide range of features. Amazon Web Services offers various functionalities and features like artificial intelligence, analytics, and machine learning. AWS users can experience several benefits such as improved security, reliability, and optimal scalability.

The platform offers various convenient features compared to its competitors and facilitates high-performance cloud computing. Running applications and websites is easy with Amazon Web Services. They can easily access features like managed databases, CDN file delivery, high-security cloud storage, and more. 

Google Cloud

Google Cloud Platform from Google is another popular cloud computing service provider. It comes with several cloud services running on top of the same Google infrastructure that Gmail, YouTube, Search and file storage work on.

Users of the platform can access several management tools and modular cloud features like cloud computing, machine learning, data storage, and data analytics. Google Cloud is now one of the best computing options for businesses across different industry sectors.

Users gain access to serverless computing with SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS offerings.

Azure

The Azure mobile application service is a reputed app backend service for developing Android, iOS, and Windows applications. It can be used for implementing mobile features and utilized by C## and Node.js applications. Data resiliency is a key Azure feature for protecting data present across different data centers.

Users have the option of multiple data centers to users. Azure utilizes locally redundant storage to ensure that resources are available to users around the clock. Azure features Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery integration for facilitating effortless backup and recovery.

Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud or Aliyun is one of the most popular cloud backend and computing services from the renowned e-commerce company Alibaba Group. It offers a wide range of features that can help to solve the high-level computing needs of Chinese and international businesses.

Alibaba Cloud provides advanced functionality to users along with the e-commerce products of the company. Users of the service get access to several leading features such as Data Storage, Elastic Compute, Content Delivery Network, Relational Databases, Big-Data Processing, and more. 

Alibaba Cloud users get access to memory-based and disk storage for businesses. They get access to features such as agile reading and writing and preserved data persistence. Alibaba Cloud facilitates efficient backup and recovery for users by offering multiple instance recovery options. This sharply reduces the chances of errors and data loss.

Digital Ocean

Digital Ocean is one of the most popular cloud computing solutions today with various convenient infrastructure as a service features. Featuring a fast setup, it is considered a top option for affordable website and app hosting.

Digital Ocean is recognized for the scalability and reliability it offers to users and improves application deployment results. The platform offers Linux virtual machines called Droplets and lets users opt for any number of them.

Heroku

Heroku is a market-leading platform-as-a-service company that enables users to achieve efficient application deployment, scaling, and management. This cloud platform comes with support for a wide variety of programming languages such as Java, Ruby, PHP, Python, Scala, Node.js, Clojure, and Go. It provides virtual containers or Dynos that users can rely on for running applications.

Heroku offers monthly plans for users who have to pay based on the number of virtual computers or Dynos they need for their applications. This PaaS platform and its apps are Amazon Web Services deployed. It facilitates effortless and convenient application development and is remarkably easy to use. Users can enjoy comprehensive application security with the platform, thereby reducing the need for frequent security patching.

They can also get full-fledged app assets security regardless of their development requirements. Heroku containers, known as Dynos, are pretty easy to use and can be replicated instantly based on resources in use. A single button click facilitates horizontal scaling, and any number of apps can be created.

 Engine Yard

Engine Yard is another popular service for application developers. It has an independent architecture and provides a high level of control to users. The Engine Yard platform-as-a-service offering is used by independently contained applications that are not required to share infrastructure and virtual machines. Users will barely face any issues due to other users within the server setup. 

Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure are infrastructures on which Engine Yard applications function. As a result, it can handle events of platform outages, allowing applications to run with optimal efficiency. Engine Yard users can customize their application deployment and platform environment efficiently.

Engine Yard users can utilize PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, alongside popular options such as AWS Simple Storage Service and AWS Elastic Block. Users can effortlessly perform app update control and scheduling and utilize customizable application configuration recipes.

 Red Hat OpenShift

Red Hat OpenShift refers to several containerization products from Red Hat. The OpenShift Container Platform, an on-premises platform-as-a-service solution, is the main offering of this range. The product is powered up by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux base managed by Kubernetes. The OpenShift Online platform is offered to users as software-as-a-service, and the company also has a managed service called OpenShift Dedicated.

The OpenShift Console offers purpose-specific views for developers and administrators. Administrator views enable container health and resource monitoring, facilitate better user management, and improve functionality. Developer views of the platform are geared towards providing namespace-encased app resources. OpenShift also comes with a command-line interface and offers support for action presets of the Kubernetes CLI. 

 Google App Engine

Google App Engine is a renowned platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud computing option for creating Google Cloud platform apps. It lets developers produce and host web applications by relying on a serverless platform.

It is one of the top platform-as-a-service options for businesses of all sizes and facilitates effortless application management through built-in Google data centers. Users rely on this popular platform for serverless development and hosting of web applications.

The Google App Engine enables developers to get total freedom from all aspects of infrastructure management. It enables them to concentrate on creating applications using the company’s feature-rich cloud platform. App Engine is a suitable choice for easy application development and management. Despite the arrival of many new players, App Engine still has a loyal base of users.

Dokku

Dokku is a widely popular platform-as-a-service offering that enables users to deploy and manage applications across environments on other servers. It relies on the Linux container system Docker for managing deployment and facilitates effortless remote server deployments for users. 

Dokku is convenient due to its open-source nature, meaning that it can run on any preferred user server. The minimum requirements for running this platform include 1 Gb memory, along with an installation of CentOS 7 x64, Debian 9+ x64, or Ubuntu. Dokku users also have the option of host IP domain name direction for using the platform.

Dokku is used on top of a fresh VM installation in an ideal scenario, and a bootstrap installation is enough for fetching all necessary dependencies.

Conclusion

Choosing between infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings can be vital for your business. Both these models offer many features and functionality worth exploring and are utilized by companies around the world.

Please read about the top cloud computing service options given above, compare their features, and choose the right one for your needs.

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