# Types of Cloud Services: Deep Dive

> Chapter 60 of the Courseiva AZ-900 curriculum — https://courseiva.com/learn/az-900/cloud-computing-types

**Official objective:** 1.2 — Cloud Concepts

## Introduction

This is a side-by-side comparison of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS (each covered fully in the dedicated Cloud Service Models chapter earlier in this guide), useful as a quick-reference recap before moving into Azure's specific architecture chapters. AZ-900 tests this under objective 1.2.

## A Side-by-Side Comparison Table

A cooking book sometimes includes a comparison table summarizing techniques covered across several earlier chapters, side by side, for quick reference — not re-teaching each one from scratch. This chapter is that kind of comparison table for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.

## Core explanation

### Quick-reference comparison
| | IaaS | PaaS | SaaS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer manages | OS, apps, data | App, data | Data/settings only |
| Azure manages | Physical infra | Physical infra, OS, runtime | Everything else |
| Azure example | Virtual Machines | App Service | Microsoft 365 |
| Control level | Highest | Medium | Lowest |
| Management burden | Highest | Medium | Lowest |

See the dedicated Cloud Service Models chapter earlier in this guide for the full explanation, examples, and exam-focus detail behind each of these three models.

### Why this recap is here
As this guide moves into specific Azure services (compute, storage, networking), it's useful to keep this spectrum in mind — many of those services map directly onto one of these three models, and recognizing which one helps predict what Azure manages versus what you manage for that specific service.

## Real-world context

See the dedicated Cloud Service Models chapter for full real-world examples — this recap exists purely as a quick-reference comparison before the Azure-specific service chapters that follow.

## Exam focus

This recap doesn't introduce new exam-focus content beyond what's covered in the dedicated Cloud Service Models chapter — refer there for the full exam-relevant detail, common wrong answers, and memory tricks.

## Step by step

1. **Use the table as a quick lookup** — When a later chapter introduces a specific Azure service, this comparison helps quickly place it on the IaaS/PaaS/SaaS spectrum.

## Comparisons

### IaaS / PaaS vs SaaS

**IaaS / PaaS:**
- Customer manages some or all of OS/app/data
- Building blocks or a platform for building

**SaaS:**
- Customer manages only their data/settings
- A finished, ready-to-use application

## Key takeaways

- This is a quick-reference recap — see the dedicated Cloud Service Models chapter for full detail.
- IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS represent a spectrum of decreasing customer management burden and control.
- Recognizing which model a specific Azure service fits helps predict what Azure manages versus what you manage.

## FAQ

**Is this different from the earlier Cloud Service Models chapter?**

No — this is a quick-reference comparison of that same content, included here to anchor it before the Azure-specific architecture chapters that follow. See the dedicated chapter for the complete explanation.

---

Interactive version with quiz and diagrams: https://courseiva.com/learn/az-900/cloud-computing-types