AI Vocabulary · 02 AI Infrastructure

What is IaaS, PaaS and SaaS?

The three standard ways to rent cloud computing: raw infrastructure, a platform for your own code, or finished software.

Basic

The US standards institute NIST defined cloud computing in 2011 with three service models. With Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) you rent processing, storage and networks and manage everything above them yourself. With Platform as a Service (PaaS) you deploy your own applications with the provider's tools. With Software as a Service (SaaS) you use the provider's finished application, such as a chat assistant.

AI adds two common forms. Renting GPUs by the hour, often called GPU as a service, is a kind of IaaS. Calling a model through an API and paying per token is often called model as a service. Neither term has an official definition.

Why it matters for you

The higher up you rent, the more the provider runs for you, and the more you depend on its choices. That shapes cost, control and vendor lock-in.

Own it

Note for each part of your AI product which model you use. Prototype on APIs and move to IaaS or self-hosting when you need control over models, data or hardware.

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