Introduction

In cloud computing, there are two common designs: single-tenant and multi-tenant. They meet different business and technical needs.

What is Tenant Architecture?

Before getting into details, let's explain what "tenant" means here. A tenant is a group of users, like a company or a single customer, who share access to a software instance or environment with certain permissions.

Single Tenant Architecture

In a single-tenant architecture, a single instance of software and its underlying infrastructure serves one customer.

Privacy and Security: Provides better security and privacy because data isn't shared with other tenants.

Customization and Control: This setup allows you to change the environment and have more control over the infrastructure.

Cost and Complexity: Usually, it's more costly and complicated to handle because of the dedicated resources.

Multi Tenant Architecture

On the other hand, a multi-tenant architecture has many customers using one software instance, keeping data separate at the application level.

Cost Efficiency: It's cheaper for both providers and customers because they share resources.

Scalability: It's simpler to grow, as new users can be added by increasing resources in the shared system.

Less Customization: There's not much room for changes because resources are shared.

Comparing Single Tenant and Multi Tenant

Security and Privacy: Single tenant is better because it has separate environments, while multi-tenant needs strong ways to keep data apart.

Cost and Scalability: Multi-tenant architectures offer better cost efficiency and scalability, but single-tenant solutions provide more control at a higher cost.

When to use each?

Choose single tenant when you need top-notch security, want to change the system to fit your needs, and must have reliable performance. For example, a hospital handling private patient details might use single tenant to meet strict privacy rules, tailor security, and keep the system running smoothly.

Go for multi tenant to save money, grow easily, and manage less. A company making a web app for many users can use multi tenant to cut costs by sharing resources, make updates easier, and add new users without big changes to the system.