IaaS render farm and SaaS render farm, which is better for you? 

More and more render farms are being born to respond to 3D artists’ and studios’ requests. Even so, render farms are born into almost two models: IaaS render farm and SaaS. Today we will help you better understand these two models and which render farm you should choose for your project.

Learn about render farm models

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) are the two most common models of render farms.

For you to have the best view of the two render farms, we have made a comparison table. This table will help you get an overview and easily distinguish between these two types of render farms.

Content	IaaS render farm	SaaS render farm
Definition	IaaS stands for “infrastructure as a service.” IaaS provides users with cloud computing services in the form of infrastructure (including servers, storage capacity, network resources, etc.). You will control and use those resources over the internet and pay for them. Subscription-based or pay-as-you-go. Vendors typically offer virtual machines hosted on shared hardware (the cloud service provider manages virtualization) or bare-metal servers on dedicated (non-shared) physical hardware.	SaaS is an acronym for “Software as a Service.” SaaS gives users access to their cloud computing resources through ready-to-use application software. All the basic infrastructure, such as servers, storage, networking, and application software, is managed by the SaaS provider. Because the 3D software and rendering engine are already installed on your local computer, you do not need to install them again as you would with the IaaS platform.
Workflow	When using an IaaS render farm, first, you need to install the software, plugins, and render engine that you use for the server. Because the IaaS render farm gives you the authority to administer and use their resources, like your personal computer. Then you transfer your file to their system and start the rendering process. And you are in control of your rendering until the end and the download of the results.	When you use a render farm as a SaaS model, you will just need to download their file transfer media, package the software, scenes, plugins, renderer, etc. into one file, and upload it to the system of the SaaS render farm. Then wait for the results to download.
Advantages	Have all control and modify when an error occurs so as not to affect the render result. It only takes one time to install software, and the next time you use it, you don’t need to install software or plugins anymore. No need to wait  Control work and time Some IaaS render farm support NVLink.	Does not take much time and money to download and install software and licenses.
Disadvantages	It is an expensive license, and you may have to buy additional software licenses to use it. Time-consuming software installation.	There is no control over the rendering process, which cannot be modified if any errors are encountered. It may take a long time to get your turn if the render farm has other customers. Unable to manage time as well as speed and machine configuration. An error may occur if the process of dividing the nodes is not the same. Affect the results.
Support software	All software, plugins and render engines.	It supports some familiar software such as 3Ds Max, Cinema 4D, Blender, and Maya. If you use specific software or plugins, or custom scripts. You should ask for advice before using it.

Note: For SaaS render farms, before rendering, you should ask for support for the software, plugins, and render engine versions they support. Because many times the software version you are using is not supported on the render farm. 

Should you choose an IaaS render farm or a SaaS render farm?

IaaS is suitable for all projects, especially large and complex projects that need to manage the rendering process to avoid display errors during rendering. For small projects where you are afraid to install software and have not reached the deadline, you can use SaaS render farms to experience the convenience.

In addition, to choose which render farm to use, you can also refer to the render farm reviews that customers have experienced and get advice on render farms.

Review iRender – IaaS render farm

Review Rebus and Ranch Computing – SaaS render farm