Here is an extensive list of the most popular applications and companies and their categorization within three major categories: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.
To learn more about the differences between these major categories, read an article on SaaS vs. PaaS. vs. IaaS.
And if you're interested in the creative side, read this article on how to build a SaaS yourself.
Table Of Contents
0-9 - 8base
A - Adobe, ADP, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Asana, Atlassian, AWS, Azure
B-F - BitBucket, Calendly, Canva, DocuSign, Dropbox, Facebook
G - Gmail, Google, Google Analytics, Google Cloud Platform, Linode
H-N - Heroku, Hubspot, iCloud, Intercom, Intuit, Linkedin, Mailchimp, Microsoft, Netflix
O-R - Office 365, Oracle, PayPal, Photoshop, QuickBooks
S - Salesforce, SAP, Shopify, Slack, Snowflake, Splunk, Spotify, Square, Stripe
T-Z - Tableau, Trello, Twilio, Uber, Vimeo, Wix, Workday, Zendesk, Zoom
List of SaaS, PaaS, IaaS Companies And Products
Is 8base a SaaS?
Type: PaaS / iPaaS / LCAP (low-code application platform)
8base provides developers with 3X more productive SaaS development using low-code technology. It is built on top of existing technologies like JavaScript, MySQL, GraphQL, and AWS. Because of this, it has an extremely short learning curve (1-2 days).
Is Adobe a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Adobe is a SaaS company that offers several software solutions through a bundled subscription model named Adobe Creative Cloud. Some of the most popular applications in the bundle include:
- Acrobat
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- InDesign
- After Effects, etc.
Is ADP a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
ADP is a SaaS company that offers many software solutions through a subscription model. Its main customers are other businesses, and one of its most popular products is payroll software.
Is Airbnb a SaaS company?
Type: Marketplace
Airbnb is not a SaaS company - it's a marketplace. Users of Airbnb don't pay for the software. Instead, they pay fees whenever a successful booking is made between the owner and the guest.
Is Amazon a SaaS?
Type: SaaS / PaaS / IaaS / Marketplace
Amazon offers a wide variety of products that fall into different software categories. Here is the list of the most popular products and their categorization:
- AWS is a cloud platform that provides access to other PaaS/IaaS services and can fall into a SaaS category.
- AWS EC2 is an IaaS, also known as Elastic Compute Service. EC2 handles the physical part of the architecture while the user has to take care of the rest (for example, OS, etc.). This makes it an IaaS.
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS because the user only takes care of the application, and the platform handles the rest (making it a PaaS).
Is Apple a SaaS company?
Type: Hardware / Marketplace / SaaS
Apple is a big technology company and cannot be confined to a single category. Though we can categorize individual products and services that generate revenue for the company:
- Apple Music is probably best described as a marketplace, even though it has a subscription model. However, a subscription is just a way to simplify the complexities of a marketplace for their users.
- App Store is a clear example of a marketplace.
- iCloud is primarily a SaaS that provides storage space in exchange for a fee.
Is Asana SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Asana is a SaaS app that helps you with project management and task tracking. It has a freemium subscription model that is often used in SaaS projects. To learn more about different monetization models, check out this article on B2C SaaS pricing.
Is Atlassian a SaaS Company?
Type: SaaS
Atlassian is definitely a SaaS company with many individual SaaS products. The most widely-known tools they provide are:
- Jira is a planning and tracking SaaS tool designed for the software development industry.
- BitBucket is a remote cloud code repository with free and subscription models, so it certainly falls under SaaS.
- Trello is a task-tracking SaaS tool that also contains free and subscription models.
Is Calendly a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Calendly is a scheduling SaaS platform with a freemium subscription model. It is great for finding available time slots through a simple and intuitive interface.
Is Canva a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Canva is a SaaS platform that provides many free and premium tools necessary for graphic design. It has both a resource-based monetization model, as well as a standard subscription.
Is DocuSign a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
DocuSign is a SaaS company that provides a platform for electronic document signatures. This allows companies to quickly close deals and instantly resolve any "paperwork" online. Alternatively, they would have to wait until a piece of paper goes halfway around the world (and back) via physical mail. DocuSign monetizes through a simple subscription model.
Is Dropbox a SaaS?
Type: SaaS / PaaS
Dropbox is a clear example of a SaaS application for regular users. It provides cloud storage space in exchange for a monthly subscription. But advanced users or software developers can use its API to store application data. Using Dropbox this way would make it a PaaS.
Is Facebook SaaS?
Type: Communication Platform
Facebook is not a SaaS. There is no payment involved for end users in using a platform. The closest thing Facebook has to a SaaS is its Ads Manager, which works in the backend, and business users can access it. You basically pay to display your ad to other FB users. But Facebook, on its own, is not a SaaS.
Is Google a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS / PaaS / IaaS
Google (today known as Alphabet) is a huge company with many different software products and services that fall under various categories. Here are some of the most popular ones:
- Gmail is an email SaaS provider that operates under a freemium model. The free tier is enough for the majority of people, but additional storage space can be purchased through a subscription.
- Google Workspace (previously known as G Suite) is a set of SaaS tools (including Gmail) intended for business users. It offers custom domain emails and much more. No free plan is available, only paid subscription.
- Google Analytics is a SaaS tool that allows website and app owners to track the traffic and behavior of their visitors. It is free to use but offers premium paid features within their Google Marketing Platform.
- Google Cloud Platform products fall mostly under PaaS because their infrastructure is mostly managed. For example, Google Cloud Storage and Google Kubernetes Engine.
Is Linode a SaaS?
Type: IaaS
Linode offers IaaS (infrastructure as a service) type of products. Basically, they give you raw servers you can set up however you want. Linode only manages physical architecture.
Is Heroku a SaaS?
Type: PaaS
Heroku is a PaaS platform. It offers a cloud environment where you can deploy your finished app codebase. Heroku then automatically deploys it, and the developer has very little management work after that.
Is Hubspot a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Hubspot is a SaaS platform for professional and enterprise users. It offers software solutions that cover different parts of the business: Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub.
Is Intercom a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Intercom is a typical example of a SaaS product. It offers live chat and support that can be integrated with any website. But it also offers AI chatbot capabilities. Intercom has a free trial, but its service is subscription based.
Is Intuit a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Intuit is a company that features several SaaS products for companies and individuals. All products can be categorized as financial software. Two of the most popular solutions are:
- Mailchimp is an automated email marketing SaaS solution.
- QuickBooks is an accounting SaaS software for small businesses.
Is Linkedin a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Even though it may look similar to Facebook, Linkedin is actually a SaaS company. It has a paid subscription model that gives additional business features to professional users. For example, the ability to find and message more users, info on people who visited your profile, etc.
Is Microsoft a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS / Other
Microsoft today has many SaaS products, so we can put it in this category as a whole. It started as a regular technology company selling perpetual software licenses for products like Windows and Microsoft Office. Today, its most popular products include:
- Office 365 is a SaaS software that includes an entire suite of products like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
- Windows is not a SaaS, as it monetizes through the sale of perpetual software licenses. However, there were attempts to switch to a SaaS business model with Windows 10 Enterprise E3, which had a monthly subscription.
- Azure is a PaaS that lets you quickly deploy your finished app without worrying about the infrastructure.
Is Netflix SaaS?
Type: Marketplace
Netflix is considered a SaaS by many people because it lives in the cloud, is delivered through the browser, and has a paid subscription model. However, the service Netflix provides is content and not software. It is more of a "Movies-as-a-Service" than a SaaS.
Is Oracle SaaS?
Type: SaaS / PaaS / IaaS
Oracle is a vast tech company with a plethora of software solutions. It covers everything from SaaS to IaaS-level products. Their most popular SaaS solutions cover customer experience (CX), human capital management (HCM), supply chain & manufacturing (SCM), and many more.
Is PayPal a SaaS company?
Type: PSP (payment service provider)
PayPal is primarily a payment service provider (PSP) that charges a fee every time a transaction is made. It is tempting to fit it into a SaaS category because the software enables these transactions to happen and can be accessed through the Internet. But users are paying for the processed transactions - not the software.
Is Salesforce SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Salesforce has many SaaS products in its offering. The most popular and feature-rich SaaS solution is their CRM software (Sales Cloud). It monetizes through a paid subscription model.
Is SAP a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
SAP is a SaaS company that features numerous products. SaaS solutions include enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial management software, CRM and customer experience (CX) software, and others.
Is Shopify a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Shopify is a SaaS platform that allows businesses to create their website together with their online shop. It includes payment processing and inventory tracking. With Shopify, business owners can quickly set up their stores without programming knowledge.
Is Slack a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Slack is a cloud-based SaaS collaboration platform. It offers real-time messaging and integrates with a vast number of external applications, making it a really powerful tool. Slack offers a freemium monetization model with a paid subscription that unlocks additional features.
Is Snowflake SaaS or PaaS?
Type: PaaS
Snowflake's leading product (Data Cloud) is a PaaS - specifically a Data PaaS. It includes many different data-related services, like sharing, warehousing, etc.
Is Splunk a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Splunk offers a wide variety of SaaS products related to data analysis. Most popular SaaS solutions include Splunk Cloud Platform, Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Mission Control, etc.
Is Spotify a SaaS?
Type: Marketplace
Spotify can be easily mistaken for a SaaS. However, this is not the case even though it contains all the elements of a SaaS (cloud-based, accessible via the Internet, and has a freemium business model). Spotify doesn't sell access to the software but music. Making it more "Music-as-a-Service" rather than a SaaS.
Is Square a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Square is very much a SaaS company. It offers a full suite of business-oriented SaaS products. Some of them include the Square Online store builder, POS (point of sale) system, Square Invoices, and many more.
Is Stripe a SaaS company?
Type: PSP (payment service provider)
Stripe can mostly be considered a PSP (payment service provider). Payment fees are the primary way of monetization. Since it's cloud-based and software is the key component that makes everything work, we can be tempted to categorize it as a SaaS. However, let's not forget that users pay for the processed transactions, not the software.
Is Tableau SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Tableau offers a wide range of SaaS solutions related to data analysis. Their SaaS products include:
- Tableau Cloud (cloud-based analytics platform)
- Tableau Desktop (visualization)
- Tableau Prep (data cleanup and wrangling)
Tableau was acquired by Salesforce in 2019.
Is Twilio a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Twilio is a clear example of a SaaS company. Its most popular SaaS product is Twilio SendGrid Email API, enabling developers to send their users messages. Other products include SMS message sending and account verification services.
Is Uber a SaaS?
Type: Marketplace
Uber is not a SaaS company. It is a marketplace connecting passengers and drivers through an online platform. Their monetization strategy is based on taking a fee on each transaction that the passenger pays to the driver.
Is Vimeo a SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Vimeo is a SaaS video platform aimed at businesses and professionals. It offers a freemium monetization model with paid subscription for additional features like password protection, player customization, geo-restrictions, email capture, and more.
Is Wix SaaS?
Type: SaaS
Wix is a SaaS website builder and CMS (content management system). It is a more beginner-friendly alternative to more advanced CSM solutions like WordPress. It monetizes through a freemium model with a paid subscription that offers additional features like a custom domain name, removal of Wix branding, increased storage space, and more.
Is Workday a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Workdays is an AI-powered SaaS company. It features various enterprise SaaS solutions that help with business organization and management. For example, areas like financial management, human capital management (HCM), adaptive planning, etc.
Is Zendesk SaaS?
Type: Zendesk
Zendesk is a SaaS help desk system. It provides ease of communication between the end users and customer support agents. It monetizes through a paid subscription model and has a free trial.
Is Zoom a SaaS company?
Type: SaaS
Zoom is a B2B SaaS company that offers cloud-based conferencing software. It has a freemium pricing model with a paid subscription that offers extra features like webinars, translated captions, and cloud storage for recorded sessions.
To Sum It Up
SaaS is the most popular way of building apps today because it offers maximum convenience to end users and developers.
End users can access the app through their browser without installation. And developers can push all changes, features, and improvements without the need for any updates from the user's side. Plus, users can access an entire app for a fraction of the price it would take them to purchase the whole software.
Low-code technology allows developers to create SaaS apps 3X more cost-effectively compared to traditional programming. At the same time, it offers programmers uninhibited development and an extremely short learning curve.
To Learn More About 8base Low-Code Technology
- Try it out for Free
- Read about the 8base Backend
- Read about the 8base Frontend
- Visit the Community or Documentation
- Contact sales and partnerships
