What is Cloud Computing?

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing means using computing resources (servers, storage, databases) over the internet instead of owning physical hardware. You rent what you need and pay only for usage.

The Three Service Models

Model	You manage	Example
IaaS	OS, apps	AWS EC2
PaaS	Just apps	Heroku
SaaS	Nothing	Gmail

Deployment Types

• Public cloud — shared (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Private cloud — dedicated to one org.
• Hybrid — mix of both.

Benefits

• No upfront hardware cost.
• Scale up/down instantly.
• Access from anywhere.
• Automatic backups and reliability.

Major Providers

AWS (largest), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform lead the market.

FAQs

Is the cloud secure?

Major providers offer strong security — often better than on-premise. More in our What Is guides and AWS section.

What is "serverless"?

Running code without managing servers — like AWS Lambda.