What does PaaS provide that IaaS does not?

Platform as a Service (PaaS) offers a robust development environment that supports the building, testing, and deployment of applications, which includes providing middleware. Middleware in a PaaS framework serves as the bridge between different software applications or components, facilitating communication and data management. It typically includes services such as database management, messaging, authentication, and API management, which are essential for developing modern applications efficiently without needing to manage the underlying infrastructure.

In contrast, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) primarily provides fundamental hardware resources like servers, storage, and networking capabilities. While IaaS allows users to manage various computing resources and virtualization aspects for their workloads, it does not inherently include the middleware that enables application development and integration.

The focus of PaaS is on streamlining the application lifecycle by offering additional layers of tools and services, which are specifically designed to simplify the development process. This distinction is significant because PaaS users can concentrate on writing code and developing applications, rather than managing hardware and software resources that would typically fall under the purview of IaaS.