PaaS provides a platform for hosting web applications without managing servers or infrastructure. It offers automatic scaling, high availability, and handles tasks like code deployment, database management, and load balancing. Main differences between PaaS providers are development environment, runtime environment, administration tasks, and level of control. PaaS lowers operational costs but can lock customers into a particular vendor. Choosing a PaaS requires evaluating features, costs, lock-in risk, and whether applications are well-suited to the platform.