Multi-tenancy is an architecture in which a single instance of an application or infrastructure serves many customers, called tenants, while keeping each tenant's data and configuration logically separated.
Why it matters
It is how most SaaS and cloud platforms keep costs low: resources are pooled and one deployment is updated for everyone. Shared hosting and VPS platforms are multi-tenant at the infrastructure level.
The main risks are isolation failures, where one tenant sees another's data, and noisy neighbors, where one tenant's heavy use slows others.
Example
A SaaS app stores all customers in one database, and every table has a tenant_id column. Every query must filter by it, and a missing filter could expose another customer's records.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting a tenant filter in a query, causing data leaks.
- Not setting per-tenant limits, so one customer can use all resources.
- Assuming multi-tenant is always less secure; good isolation can be strong.
Related
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