Introduction
Imagine you’re developing a revolutionary SaaS product for one of your clients. One of the most critical technical aspects you’re facing in structuring your application for different customers.
Here comes the overwhelming point- will you develop multiple architectures or build a single instance that caters to multiple customers?
Although single-tenant architecture provides high-grade security, easy migration, and full control options, it has a few drawbacks, such as fewer updates, less scalability, and a higher cost option.
That is where multi-tenant SaaS architecture fits in!
Due to the exponential growth of SaaS business models and cloud computing, Multitenancy has gained huge prominence. From resource sharing for efficient scaling to optimizing public cloud usage, the use of multi-tenant SaaS architecture is going to bring you value for your clients and, of course, for you.
In this guide, we will discuss multi-tenant SaaS architecture, its advantages and disadvantages, and best practices for incorporating a multi-tenant system.
Without further ado, let’s begin.
What is Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture?
According to IBM, a multi-tenant SaaS architecture is an architecture where a single software application instance serves multiple tenants or users. Each user’s data is isolated, ensuring enterprise-grade security and privacy. Multi-tenant architecture enables optimized resource utilization. This reduces the overall costs while improving scalability.
In this model, users or tenants can offer customized features, such as user roles, business roles, or display options. However, the application code will remain the same. Picture a coworking space where multiple brands work within shared walls, electricity, and internet, but the owner has their own private units. That’s what multi-tenancy does for SaaS software applications- shared infrastructure with individual spaces.
“Multi-tenancy is really the future of our industry,” stated the CEO of Salesforce after seeing the rapid growth of SaaS based applications post-COVID. Additionally, Treb Rayan, the CEO of OpSource, put on the same shoes and said, “It’s impossible to be successful in SaaS without multi-tenancy.”
According to Statista, the revenue of SaaS-based applications is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.54% by 2030. Interestingly, a significant number of these applications were made with multi-tenant architecture. This begs the next question- “Why is multi-tenant architecture getting popular recently?”. Read the next paragraphs to get your answer.
What are the Key Advantages of a Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture Model?
As a software architect or tech entrepreneur, you’ve already got the idea about a multi-Tenant SaaS architecture model. Now, we will unravel the advantages of it. Here you go-
1. Cost-Effectiveness
Multi-tenant architecture reduces overall software costs, including software licenses and maintenance expenses, by distributing resources, infrastructure, and application instances among multiple users. Therefore, the client will get a cost-efficient SaaS application for his/her business through cutting-edge SaaS development services.
2. Flexibility & Scalability
A SaaS application built with a multi-tenant architecture can support a vast number of customers without adding additional infrastructure for each user. This architecture helps brands scale effectively and efficiently according to demand, ensuring optimal performance even as the tenant base expands.
3. Streamlined Updates
Multi-tenant environment architecture requires a single application that benefits all users simultaneously. As a result, this enhances the process efficiency and overall process. Additionally, it minimizes downtime, ensuring users can utilize the latest features of the respective SaaS applications.
4. Optimized Resources
Multi-tenancy enables SaaS providers to optimize resources by accumulating and allocating them as required. This results in greater resource utilization, including storage, memory, and processing power. Ultimately, it bolsters the overall efficacy of the system.
5. Data Security Improvement
With multi-tenant SaaS architecture applications, you’re ready to enforce strict data isolation with security protocols. This ensures that each tenant’s data is secure and private. Moving forward, multi-tenant architecture fosters compliance with data protection regulations, as the providers may need to implement controls.
6. Quick & Safe Market Launch
Once your team employs the multi-tenant architecture in a SaaS application, the next steps of developing and deploying cutting-edge features will be easier because the implementation only happens once across the system. This will enable the clients to provide innovative solutions to the customers of all generations, including Gen Z.
What are the Disadvantages of a Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture Model?
Picture this- David is developing a multi-tenant SaaS application with his team for one of his clients. However, the team wasn’t aware of the disadvantages of the multi-tenant SaaS architecture model, although they are a renowned SaaS development company. As a result, they faced some bottlenecks during the iteration process. Moving forward, the deliverables were delayed, and the client wasn’t happy!
Definitely, you don’t want this kind of scenario!
To avoid any untoward situation during the iteration process, you must know the disadvantages of the multi-tenant SaaS architecture model. Here you go-
1. Performance Issues – As this architecture works on shared resources, a demand from one tenant may affect the performance of others. You must implement the resource allocation to ensure all the tenants maintain consistent performance levels.
2. Vulnerability – This multi-tenant environment enables multiple access points for users. This increases the security breach threat.
3. Extra Level of Complexity – Serving multiple clients of an application adds more complexity to the database maintenance and codebase.
4. Less Customization – The multi-tenant environment model offers a few customization options. Therefore, the users have limited control over quality. Additionally, there may be pressure to add separate customizations for individual tenants.
When to Use Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture to Yield Maximum Results?
Since its inception, multi-tenant architecture has been a powerful approach in maximizing the customer app browsing experience. Here are some popular examples of when you need to incorporate multi-tenant SaaS architecture-
- Serving Multiple Customers– If the client has IaaS or PaaS platforms like Azure, AWS, and GCP, incorporating multi-tenancy will help them cater to multiple customers.
- Businesses Want to Share a Single Application Instance – If a business has an ERP, CRM, or accounting software, using a multi-tenant architecture will help the respective client share a single application instance while ensuring data isolation and security for each customer.
- Great for Startups– It’s more than convenient for startups, when the priority is to scale quickly yet cost-effectively to yield maximum results.
- Businesses Using Analytics Platforms– You can incorporate a multi-tenant SaaS architecture for those businesses using analytics platforms. This enables different organizations to share only one analytics engine while safeguarding data confidentiality.
Final Say
Multi-tenant SaaS architecture is designed to meet the unique demands of B2B and B2C software development service-based companies, offering secure, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. If you want your clients to focus on growth, not managing infrastructure, multi-tenant SaaS based applications would be the perfect choice to start and scale thereafter!
