What is Software as a Service (SaaS)?

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a category of cloud computing in which software is provided as a product over the internet. With SaaS, users have access to software provided by third party vendors, though they are not in charge of the production, maintenance, or modification of that software. SaaS abstracts away the software application’s underlying infrastructure so that users are only exposed to the interface they interact with.

Examples of SaaS products include GitHub, Google Docs, Slack, and Adobe Creative Cloud. SaaS applications are popular among businesses and general users given that they’re often easy to adopt, accessible from any device, and offer free, premium, and enterprise versions of their applications.

For more educational resources related to SaaS, please visit:

• A General Introduction to Cloud Computing
• Introduction to the Cloud Curriculum
• An Introduction to Cloud Hosting

A complete list of our educational resources on cloud computing can be found on our Cloud Computing page.