Why Developers Are Embracing PaaS & What That Means for Your Cloud Strategy

As more and more organizations embrace the cloud, Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions for application deployment and management are becoming more popular among development and DevOps teams. The promise of faster deployments, simpler maintenance, and more time for innovation is hard to ignore for teams of any size. But what are professionals really saying about PaaS and how can you make the most of it for your next project? 

We dug through candid insights from engineers, CTOs and founders and summarized our key findings in this blog post.

Why PaaS for Cloud Deployment & Management

What is PaaS?

PaaS is a cloud computing model where a third-party provider delivers both the hardware and software tools needed for application development over the internet. Typically, a PaaS environment includes infrastructure, development tools, middleware, operating systems, database management and analytics. Most of these services have management consoles accessible via the browser, and secure tunnels accessible via SSH.

This means that organizations can access a ready-made platform to build, deploy and manage applications without the burden of maintaining underlying infrastructure. In fact, the PaaS provider manages these foundational elements. As a result, developers leveraging PaaS can focus on coding, testing and launching their applications. 

Because of its nature, PaaS offers several compelling advantages for organizations looking to modernize and accelerate their application development and deployment processes. Let's have a look at what real users and industry leaders think of PaaS.

The Benefits of PaaS

PaaS Accelerates Development while Reducing Headaches

When it comes to the key benefits offered by PaaS, one of the most common aspect that users highlight is the acceleration that such solutions bring to the table. AsPeter Bajwa, Director of Technical Developmentat App-scoop Solutions Inc., puts it:

 "(...) PaaS smooths the development cycle because it handles the infrastructure management for you, allowing you to concentrate your resources on being more innovative and doing rapid prototyping. I've seen it reduce deployment times and operational complexity, making it ideal for companies that are looking for acceleration in time-to-market for next-generation applications. PaaS empowers the acceleration of ideas to market-ready products by removing the friction in infrastructure management."

This sentiment is echoed by teams who have measured the impact. Harman Singh, Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn shares:

“(...) Our teams saw a 67% reduction in deployment time after moving certain microservices to PaaS. Development velocity increased by 3.2x as engineers focused more on business logic rather than infrastructure management. (...)”

Quicker deployment can help, in turn, support rapid prototyping within development teams, whether they are part of a startup launching a new application or an enterprise validating a product idea. And it’s not just about speed, it’s about reclaiming engineering time and enabling developers to focus on what brings real value to their organizations. This is especially important for small teams, as the benefits can be even more pronounced. AsPavlo Tkhir, CTO at Euristiqpoints out:

“(...) They basically take the weight off of developers’ shoulders since developers no longer have to worry about managing the infrastructure at large, but can focus on perfecting specific features. This is indispensable for small businesses with limited resources. They need to keep up with larger competitors but also be mindful about their spending. So, here, PAAS can be an excellent option. (...)”

Sergiy Fitsak, Managing Director atSoftjourn, adds:

"(...) We've found PaaS particularly useful for rapid prototyping and MVP development. The speed at which you can spin up environments and deploy new services accelerates time-to-market, making it invaluable for startups and product teams working with tight deadlines. For smaller projects or microservices, PaaS reduces overhead and allows teams to allocate more resources toward innovation and development. (...)"

PaaS Can Drive Better Development & DevOps Practices

It’s not just about getting code and applications into the cloud faster. PaaS can also improve the way teams build and operate software. For example,Vishal Shah, Sr. Technical Consultant, WPWeb Infotech, comments:

“One often-overlooked benefit of PaaS is how it forces better development practices. (...)”

However, it's important to avoid a disposable environment mentality or an ineffective culture shift:

Here's a perspective most folks don't talk about: PaaS can actually encourage a "disposable environment" mindset that spurs rapid experimentation and innovation—but it can also lull teams into overlooking deeper architectural understanding. (...) Overall, I'm a believer in PaaS as a secret weapon for hyper-focused teams aiming to innovate quickly—with a caveat: you need to proactively preserve engineering expertise around architecture and ops, so you're ready when your application inevitably outgrows the "paint by numbers" approach,"Derek Pankaew, CEO & Founder, Listening.com, explains.

The Real-World Trade-Offs

Of course, no technology is a silver bullet. Several contributors pointed out the potential downsides, especially as applications grow. According to Max Shak, Founder and CEO at nerDigital:

"(...) One issue we've noticed is the potential for vendor lock-in. Once you're deeply invested in a specific PaaS, migrating to another platform or infrastructure can be complex and costly. This has made us cautious when committing mission-critical applications to a PaaS, especially if there's a chance our needs will evolve beyond what the platform can easily accommodate.

Cost is another consideration. While PaaS can save time, the pricing models often become less favorable as your application scales. (...)"

Ensuring PaaS implementations are well planned and monitored, however, can help address them:

“(...) We initially had concerns about cost, but the time saved on infrastructure management and increased developer productivity more than justified the investment. From my experience managing market data applications, I'd recommend starting with a small, non-critical application to test the waters - that's how we gained confidence before migrating our core services,” saysAdam Garcia, Founder at The Stock Dork

Many teams are leveraging a hybrid approach. This consists of using PaaS for rapid prototyping in development and testing environments or non-critical systems, while maintaining more traditional solutions for larger, mission-critical applications. For many, this combination strikes the right balance between speed and control.

Payara's Perspective: Payara Cloud PaaS

At Payara, we are always listening to our customers and users to address their concerns and deliver valuable solutions. We designed Payara Cloud to offer the speed and simplicity of PaaS, with the flexibility, compatibility, portability, monitoring and control developers need as their applications grow. Whether you’re building a proof-of-concept, deploying microservices, or scaling up for production, Payara Cloud is built to help you focus on your code and manage it effectively to optimize cloud expenditure and resource utilization.

If you’re exploring cloud options and PaaS solutions for your Jakarta EE and MicroProfile applications, why not try a small project on Payara Cloud? Experience the streamlined workflows, robust monitoring and rapid deployment that so many teams are already benefiting from-without the headaches.

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Use our Payara Starter automated code generation tool to create your first Jakarta EE/MicroProfile application! Check it out here or learn more about it in this blog post.