Hosting Models
SaaS
Software as a Service is a finished application you access over the web and pay for by subscription, with all infrastructure hidden.
SaaS is the top of the stack: a finished app you log into and use, with every server, database, and deployment detail hidden. Gmail, Notion, Shopify, and Slack are SaaS. You don't host anything, you subscribe.
It's worth defining here because the line between hosting a thing and buying it as SaaS is a real decision. Running your own store on a VPS with WooCommerce is self-hosting. Paying Shopify a monthly fee is SaaS, and the total cost often lands closer than the sticker prices suggest once you count your own time.
For a hosting-comparison context, SaaS is mostly the boundary of what we cover: below it (PaaS, IaaS, VPS) you rent infrastructure and run software. At the SaaS layer, someone else has already done both.
Go deeper
- Shopify vs WooCommerce: The Real Cost ComparisonThe sticker prices are misleading in both directions. What each platform actually costs at small, medium, and growing scale, including the fees nobody puts on the pricing page.