PaaS (Platform as a Service) is a cloud service model that provides a managed platform for building and running applications, handling servers, operating systems, runtimes and often scaling, so you only deploy code and configuration.
Why it matters
PaaS reduces operational work. Developers push code, and the platform builds it, runs it, restarts it on failure and often scales it. This speeds up delivery for small teams.
The trade-off is less control and some lock-in: you must follow the platform's supported runtimes, limits and deployment workflow. Debugging can also be harder because you cannot always log in to the underlying machine.
Example
A developer pushes a Node.js app to a PaaS with a single deploy command. The platform detects the language, builds a container, assigns a URL and TLS certificate, and restarts the process automatically if it crashes.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring platform limits such as request timeouts or ephemeral disk, which delete files on restart.
- Not monitoring the app externally, assuming the platform guarantees availability of your code.
- Building on proprietary features that make future migration costly.
Related
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