---
schema: 1
type: term
title: _SaaS_
description: >-
  _SaaS_ — **software as a service** — is, in this material, the standard model
  of pre-made software delivered by a company to all users in the same form,
  where requests for individual customization are typically refused; compared to
  _staying at a hotel_, where every guest gets the same room run by the company
  and the room itself is never yours.
canonical: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/saas-ba3ce91101f1'
markdown: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/saas-ba3ce91101f1.md'
llms: null
parent: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt'
channel: everyinc
updated: '2026-10-23T22:12:35.346Z'
language: null
children: []
---


# \_SaaS\_

Canonical: https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/saas-ba3ce91101f1

Parent: [Channel index](https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt)

## Definition

_SaaS_ — **software as a service** — is, in this material, the standard model of pre-made software delivered by a company to all users in the same form, where requests for individual customization are typically refused; compared to _staying at a hotel_, where every guest gets the same room run by the company and the room itself is never yours.

_SaaS_ — **software as a service** — appears here as the incumbent model that malleable-software research is reacting against. In the referenced conversation, the researcher explains that at a startup building school software, teachers kept asking for small changes — a word changed to match how they teach, a little button added — and the company kept saying no. That refusal is described as normal in SaaS, and it is precisely what motivated the search for a different approach. [^2f66cf63-ce0a-54e3-b494-f4f9b646a320@104]To understand what SaaS implies for users, the host offers a metaphor: most software today is like *staying at a hotel*. Everyone using Gmail or Spotify gets the same room, run by the company, with the same fixtures as everybody else — you can put your luggage in, but the room itself was never yours. [^2f66cf63-ce0a-54e3-b494-f4f9b646a320@218]The conversation points past SaaS toward **bespoke apps customized by AI** — the short answer given in the host's article *What Comes After SaaS*. [^2f66cf63-ce0a-54e3-b494-f4f9b646a320@195] Instead of everyone staying in the same software 'hotel room', tools become shaped by the person using them.- **SaaS is the status quo being questioned**: pre-made tools that don't adapt to individual workflows.- Its characteristic friction: requests for small customization get refused — that refusal is described as *normal in SaaS*.- The **hotel metaphor** captures it: every user gets the same room, owned and run by the company.- The explored alternative is **malleable, AI-customized software** — tools that work for the user, not for a product manager.