Cloud computing provides on-demand computing resources over the internet, allowing organizations to avoid the cost and complexity of owning and maintaining physical infrastructure.
IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the internet. Users manage operating systems, storage, and deployed applications, while the provider manages the physical infrastructure.
Examples: Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, Google Compute Engine.
PaaS provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without worrying about underlying infrastructure like servers, storage, or networking.
Examples: Heroku, Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure App Service.
SaaS delivers software applications over the internet, accessible through a web browser. Users don’t manage infrastructure or platforms.
Examples: Google Workspace, Salesforce, Dropbox.
To learn more, visit the NIST Cloud Computing Definition.