Best Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Best Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software At A Glance
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Learn More About Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
What is Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software?
The advent of cloud computing brought with it a slew of “as a service" (aaS) offerings. These solutions aim to simplify aspects of the business infrastructure by offering complete cloud platforms to handle databases, IT infrastructure, disaster recovery, and more.
Platform as a service (PaaS) may sound generic—especially since most cloud service offerings are platforms—but in reality, PaaS solutions serve a very specific purpose: they enable companies to develop, deploy, and maintain software and applications from the cloud. By building in the cloud, companies don’t need to possess their own infrastructure. Instead, they rely on the PaaS provider’s infrastructure or public, distributed cloud. PaaS software is built to bring equal or greater power than their on-premises counterparts, while also supplying convenient accessibility and better overall cost management for the development lifecycle. These products are ideal for companies who either lack the immediate infrastructure to build and deploy applications or anticipate significant scaling for their developed products.
What are the Common Features of Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software?
The following are some core features within PaaS software that can help users save money and time:
Prebuilt backend infrastructure: A key part of what makes PaaS solutions popular is that they significantly cut the setup time and cost needed for building software and applications. PaaS software takes care of all the prebuilt infrastructure requirements, empowering users to start coding right away.
Development tools: This can involve a wide array of features, including but not limited to text editors, code libraries, code snippets, frameworks, and more. When looking for a PaaS solution, it’s important to ensure the software in question can handle the company’s language requirements.
Diverse development capabilities: PaaS solutions can be used to create diverse products, ranging from solutions to databases to applications and beyond. Regardless of what the buyer is developing, PaaS software needs to be able to handle it.
Management: PaaS software needs to provide high-level management capabilities for pre-, mid-, and post-development stages. These might include reporting, code management, tracking, and other functions.
Deployment: The software that is developed with a PaaS solution is only useful if the user can actually deploy it. PaaS software gives companies the capability to deploy their software where they need it and then maintain that software with management features once deployed.
What are the Benefits of Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software?
Development speed: PaaS solutions allow developers to build software more quickly since they provide developers with prebuilt backend infrastructure. Developers spend less time setting up the framework for their software or applications, so they can use that saved time to strengthen the software’s performance and features. PaaS software typically includes staging and testing tools as well, which also improves development speed by consolidating these functions into one platform.
Scalability: PaaS software is designed to scale with a company’s needs. Reaching larger, or even international audiences can put a lot of strain on companies that might not have the necessary infrastructure in place to handle such growth. PaaS solutions, because they are cloud-based, can scale development and hosting according to a business’ needs without putting the infrastructure burden on the business itself.
Reduced costs: Most PaaS solutions will offer pay-as-you-grow pricing options based on usage levels, making them particularly beneficial for companies that might not be able to afford extensive development solutions. This gives companies a huge opportunity to build at a low cost and then scale as the need or demand rises.
Who Uses Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software?
Developers: Software and application developers will be the primary users of PaaS software in a company. Since these solutions are built for helping specifically to build, deploy, and maintain software and applications, these personas find the most value in this software.
Security professionals: Security professionals won’t typically be utilizing PaaS software to perform their day-to-day tasks. However, many PaaS solutions integrate with a company’s security systems, meaning security teams may need to access PaaS software to ensure a high quality of security throughout the company.
Software Related to Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Related solutions that can be used together with PaaS software include:
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): As the name may suggest, infrastructure as a service software offers companies virtual infrastructure (e.g., servers, networks, and desktops) necessary for a company’s computing goals. What IaaS offers in general virtual infrastructure, it tends to lack in software development capabilities.
Software as a service (SaaS): SaaS is the cloud offering of a completed software solution. SaaS products are convenient for companies who would like remote access to that software and the information contained in it. PaaS software has the capability of developing such solutions.
Mobile backend as a service (mBaaS): Focused distinctly on backend functionality, mBaaS software provides companies with the ability to connect their application’s cloud storage and other cloud resources with the application’s backend resources. These solutions, as the name suggests, specialize with mobile platforms, gaining an advantage on PaaS products specifically in that domain.
Challenges with Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Software solutions can come with their own set of challenges.
Lack of control: As is the common concern with other cloud service software, anything offered as a service is vulnerable to outages or downtime from the provider. While downtime might be helpful to improve the service platform, it still puts a blip in the PaaS tool functionality, which can be painful for developers. If the service goes down unexpectedly, a business doesn’t have the power to help bring it back online either—that responsibility falls to the platform provider.
Vendor lock-in: What if, after building the software and platform through a PaaS solution, the company needs to switch solution providers? This isn’t an easy task. Switching providers from one PaaS software to another involves a huge amount of work and expense, requiring the coordination of data migration, security changes, configuration changes, and more. It’s important to spend a lot of time researching before choosing PaaS software to avoid potentially significant costs and time consumption.
Which Companies Should Buy Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software?
Any company with a development team can benefit from PaaS software. Below are a few major examples.
SaaS companies: SaaS companies build and maintain one or multiple SaaS products. As these companies scale, they can reuse existing APIs and components in the cloud to streamline their development process.
Tech startups: Tech startups tend to develop and sell great software, but may be lacking the budget and resources necessary to maintain a development infrastructure. These companies benefit greatly from the pay-as-you-go nature of many PaaS offerings, which eases the burden of infrastructure maintenance without breaking the bank.
Mature enterprise companies: Many enterprise companies looking to replace a tangled web of legacy software can do so with PaaS offerings. PaaS software offers an all-in-one package that can replace multiple disparate software tools in one swoop.
How to Buy Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Companies looking for PaaS software, whether for the first time or to replace existing tools, can move forward with confidence using g2.com reviews as a guide.
When searching for PaaS software, buyers must consider their “must-haves” when it comes to things like pricing structure, feature set, and integrations. For example, a company may be looking for a straightforward cloud-hosted development environment rather than paying for a robust, multifaceted platform to handle everything from deployment to performance monitoring. Buyers should zero-in on the features they need to begin developing on a hosted platform, then reference G2 reviews to find the right fit and ensure proper integration with their other tools.
Narrowing down the pool of PaaS solutions by clearly defining a company’s needs allows decision making teams to then perform more direct comparisons to find the best tool for their needs. G2 reviews can make this process even easier by providing authentic insights from similar buyers.
Compare Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software Products
Create a long list
At first, buyers should keep their options open to consider the full range of PaaS tools available to them. Using their predefined must-have features, buyers can explore the many offerings on the market to get a feel for what might be viable.
Create a short list
Along with a company’s must-have features and pricing matrix, G2 reviews can help to narrow in on a short three to five product list. At that point, buyers can begin to make more granular comparisons and reference specific pros and cons to make an informed decision.
Conduct demos
All of the products that wind up on a company’s short list should be demoed. During demos, buyers should seek out specific information related to their must-haves; for example, one might ask to be walked through the ease of integration between the PaaS product and a security solution.
Selection of Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software
Choose a selection team
Companies of all sizes should involve any relevant personas when conducting the PaaS software selection process. Large companies might have the resources to assign individual team members to fill roles such as decision maker, project manager, system owner, and developers. Smaller companies with fewer employees might overlap roles make the best assessment.
Negotiation
Many companies offer PaaS solutions that go beyond certain companies’ needs to include application performance monitoring, monetization tools, and more. While some companies will not budge on the configurations of their packages, buyers looking to trim costs should try to negotiate down to the specific functions that matter to them in order to get the best price. For example, a vendor’s pricing page might indicate that the buyer’s desired functionality is only included with a robust all-in-one package, whereas a sales conversation may prove otherwise.
Final decision
After this stage, it is important to perform a trial run if possible with a small selection of developers. This will help to ensure that the PaaS software of choice integrates well with a developers’ day-to-day work. If the PaaS tool is well liked and well utilized, the buyer can take that as a sign that their selection is the right one. If not, reevaluation of the options may be necessary.
