Glossary

What is PaaS?

Last updated June 15, 2026
Reviewed by Better-PaaS team

Platform as a Service software that builds, runs, and manages applications. Learn what PaaS means in self-hosted deployment and Better-PaaS workflows.

Overview

Platform as a Service software that builds, runs, and manages applications.

Definition

Platform as a Service software that builds, runs, and manages applications.

Real-world example

A team pushes a Rails API to Git; the PaaS builds a container, attaches Postgres, routes api.example.com over HTTPS, and streams logs - without SSHing to edit nginx configs.

Common mistake

Treating PaaS as "no ops." You still own patching, backups, capacity planning, and incident response on self-hosted PaaS.

Better-PaaS in practice

Better-PaaS installs as a control plane on your VPS. Apps deploy as Docker containers; Caddy terminates TLS and routes hostnames to the right container.

FAQ

Is PaaS only relevant to Better-PaaS?

No. PaaS appears across Docker, cloud platforms, and self-hosted tooling. Better-PaaS exposes the concept in deploy logs, dashboard fields, or docs when it affects your app.