Comparing infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service strictly by how much operational responsibility the customer carries, which one places the least operational burden on the customer?
- AInfrastructure as a service (IaaS)
- BPlatform as a service (PaaS)
- CSoftware as a service (SaaS) Correct
- DAll three carry equal burden
Why A is wrong: IaaS leaves the customer responsible for the operating system, networking, and storage configuration, so it carries the largest operational burden of the three rather than the least.
Why B is wrong: PaaS reduces the customer's load by having the provider maintain the OS and tools, but the customer still develops and operates its own application, so it is not the lightest of the three.
Why C is correct: Correct. Along the control-versus-overhead axis, responsibility falls as you move from IaaS to PaaS to SaaS, so SaaS leaves the provider managing nearly the whole stack while the customer mainly handles its data and access, giving the lowest operational overhead.
Why D is wrong: The three models deliberately differ along a control-versus-overhead axis, so claiming equal burden ignores the defining distinction between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.