Adobe is moving Commerce toward a SaaS future without abandoning the PaaS present. Understanding both architectures — and what’s actually different between them — is essential for any platform decision in 2025 and beyond.
Adobe Commerce Cloud (PaaS)
Adobe Commerce Cloud is offered as Platform as a Service with infrastructure hosted on either AWS or Azure. The Adobe Commerce code set runs equally well on Cloud or on-prem — no changes required to port between the two hosting options.
- You write and own your application code.
- Adobe manages servers, databases, caching, CDN, and CI/CD.
- Customizations and extensions run inside your environment.
- You’re responsible for upgrades (with Adobe’s tooling).
Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS)
The newer SaaS offering takes a different approach: Adobe runs a shared, multi-tenant version of Commerce. You configure rather than customize, and extensibility happens through Adobe’s App Builder rather than core code modifications.
- Adobe runs everything, including the application.
- Customization is through configuration and Adobe App Builder.
- Upgrades happen automatically on Adobe’s schedule.
- Operational responsibility shifts almost entirely to Adobe.
Key differences
The trade-off is classic SaaS versus PaaS: control versus convenience. PaaS lets you change anything; SaaS asks you to fit your business into the platform’s model. For some merchants — particularly those with highly customized B2B requirements — PaaS will remain the right answer for years. For others, SaaS removes operational burden and lets them focus on commerce rather than commerce platforms.
Reference
Adapted from the Adobe Commerce Primer, slides 17–19. Last reviewed May 2026.