Single- vs. multi-tenant SaaS

Single-tenant and multi-tenant refer to how a software-as-a-service application is built. In a single-tenant architecture, each customer has their own dedicated Writer application. This means that their Writer is completely isolated from other customers, and the customer has full control over their own instance of the software (it is self-managed). In our case, these deployment options fall in this category:

  • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), customer-managed (GCP only)
  • AI Platform, Writer-managed (GCP only)

In a multi-tenant SaaS architecture, multiple customers share a single instance of the Writer application, running on a shared infrastructure. This means that the customers do not have their own dedicated instance of the software, and their data and operations are potentially stored and running alongside other customers, while still being isolated through various security controls.

This is what our Writer Managed Cloud offers.

In a Writer context, multi-tenant SaaS is a single core Writer app (app.writer.com), a core set of instances/nodes. All customers are using the same job queue & resources pool.

In single-tenant, we instead run a custom environment for each user & connect to them with a private connection. This means that resources are dedicated to a single customer and allows for more restriction of access AND more customizability.

  • Single-tenant = We manage a cloud install for one customer.
  • Multi-tenant = We manage multiple customers on one instance—this is https://app.writer.com/

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Note

The main difference between Enterprise — Single-tenant and Managed is who owns the underlying account. With Managed, Writer is deployed the app to Writer own AWS/GCP account. With customer-managed — Single-tenant, customer owns and manages the account.