SaaS or PaaS

expected time	requirements
30 minutes	none.

Goal: Make a conscious, balanced decision when using Saas services

Explanation

Most cloud providers offer lots of services that can be used to compose your infrastructure. Think of these services:

• Database as a service.
• Kubernetes cluster as a service.
• DNS as a service.

It’s typically easy to use these service, sometimes it’s even cheaper, although mostly it’s more expensive.

You can also build these services yourself.

Advantage of PAAS	Disadvantage of PAAS
Works on any cloud.	Requires more technical expertise.
Can be cheaper.	You’re responsible yourself.

If you build services yourself, think about these potential issues:

• Needs to be coded and maintained yourself.
• Because there is no clear provider-consumer model, the interface can be unclear.
• Tests need to be created, and run frequently.
• Compliance is you yourself to fix. (Can be an advantage.)

Questions

1. What’s your preference?
2. Can you prevent cloud-lock-in?
3. Would a hybrid model work?