10 Blockchain-as-a-Service Providers for Small to Big Businesses

Hey there! With all the hype around blockchain technology, as a business leader I‘m sure exploring blockchain solutions is on your mind. But the practical complexities of implementing blockchain can seem daunting. This is where blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms come to the rescue!

In this guide, we‘ll discover top BaaS providers that allow businesses like yours to easily leverage blockchain technology without getting into the nitty-gritty. I‘ll share insights into their offerings, strengths and weaknesses, ideal use cases, pricing, and more to help you find the right fit.

Let‘s start by quickly understanding what blockchain and BaaS are all about.

Demystifying Blockchain and BaaS

Blockchain at its core is a distributed ledger technology that establishes trust, accountability, and transparency. It enables a network of entities to record transactions in a secure, immutable way without a central authority.

Global spending on blockchain solutions is forecasted to reach $19 billion by 2024, indicating the rapid mainstream adoption of blockchain [1]. But developing blockchain solutions from scratch requires deep technical skills and resources.

This is where BaaS steps in to make blockchain adoption easier. BaaS providers offer easy-to-use platforms, infrastructure, and tools so you can focus on innovation rather than blockchain complexities.

According to Allied Market Research, the global BaaS market size was valued at $1.90 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $94.28 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 56.9% [2]. This shows the massive growth in BaaS services to meet enterprise needs.

Which Industries are Using BaaS Platforms?

BaaS solutions are seeing significant uptake across sectors dealing with transactions, record keeping, transparency, and security. Here are some major industries adopting BaaS:

• Supply chain – Improved product traceability, inventory management, and automation of contracts and payments. Walmart uses IBM Food Trust solution.

• Finance – Faster trade settlements, regulatory compliance, security. 55% of finance executives expect to adopt blockchain solutions by 2022 [3].

• Healthcare – Secure health data exchange, efficient claims processing and billing. Hashed Health offers BaaS for healthcare.

• Government – Record keeping for identities, taxes, properties, voting etc. Dubai partnered with IBM for blockchain strategy.

• Retail – Enhanced loyalty programs, asset tracking, auditing. Microsoft Azure partners with Starbucks for bean tracking.

• Real Estate – Recording property transactions, streamlining paperwork and approvals, tokenizing assets. Ubitquity offers Blockchain-as-a-Service for real estate.

So if your business deals with any of these activities, exploring BaaS solutions could provide huge value. Now let‘s look at the main types of BaaS offerings.

flavors of BaaS: Something for Every Need

BaaS platforms offer a variety of services designed to simplify different aspects of enterprise blockchain adoption:

• Blockchain infrastructure – Fully managed blockchain networks with nodes, storage, computing power.

• Protocols & Frameworks – Access to open source (Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric) or proprietary blockchain protocols.

• APIs & SDKs – Tools, APIs, and support to develop blockchain apps on the platform.

• Smart Contracts – Pre-made smart contract templates for common use cases like supply chain.

• Consulting Services – Advisory on strategy, architecture, piloting, and deploying blockchain solutions.

• Industry Solutions – Pre-packaged solutions tailored for specific industries like finance, healthcare etc.

So based on where you are in your blockchain journey, you can pick the right BaaS offering – from infrastructure to application development.

Now let‘s explore the top 10 BaaS platforms to shortlist ones suiting your requirements.

1. IBM Blockchain Platform

IBM offers a full spectrum of enterprise-grade BaaS solutions powered by the open source Hyperledger Fabric framework. With over 500 blockchain projects, IBM has the experience to guide you through your blockchain journey.

Offerings:

• Fully managed blockchain infrastructure on IBM Cloud, on-premises or hybrid models.

• Leading open source protocol support for Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Besu, Stellar.

• Easy to use console dashboard to set up components like peers, operate nodes, monitor performance.

• APIs, SDKs and tools to build and connect blockchain apps.

• Extensive library of sample smart contracts and solutions across industries like supply chain, insurance, food safety.

• Consulting services for blockchain design, implementation, and support.

Ideal for: Large enterprises looking for extensive BaaS capabilities backed by IBM‘s experience, flexibility and hybrid deployment options.

Pricing: Pay as you go model based on infrastructure usage. Consulting services provided additionally.

2. Microsoft Azure Blockchain Service

Microsoft offers fully managed consortium networks on Azure through Azure Blockchain Service. It‘s ideal if you already use Azure or want interoperability with Azure infrastructure.

Offerings:

• Support for leading open source protocols like Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, Quorum.

• Automated network setup and infrastructure management of blockchain nodes and clusters.

• Azure Blockchain Workbench to quickly prototype apps.

• Integrates natively with other Azure services like Azure Active Directory, Key Vault etc.

• Data sovereignty compliance for regional regulatory needs.

• Role based access control and identity management for governance.

Ideal For: Enterprises comfortable with Azure ecosystem wanting managed private consortium networks.

Pricing: Pay per hour based on Azure resources consumed. Minimum of 2 transactions/sec required.

3. Amazon Managed Blockchain

AWS offers Amazon Managed Blockchain to quickly set up scalable blockchain networks on open source frameworks. It‘s suitable if you want BaaS tightly integrated with AWS.

Offerings:

• Support for popular open source protocols like Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.

• Fully managed infrastructure setup and maintenance for blockchain nodes and networks.

• Easy creation of networks through AWS Management Console, CLI or APIs.

• Seamless integration with other AWS services like Amazon QLDB, Key Management Service.

• Pay only for the compute, storage and resources used.

Ideal for: Enterprises already on AWS wanting managed blockchain infrastructure.

Pricing: Pay as you go based on compute and storage resources used. Price depends on Framework and Region.

4. R3 Corda Enterprise

R3 Corda is an open source enterprise-grade blockchain platform suitable for regulated industries like finance, healthcare, insurance looking for privacy.

Offerings:

• Highly secure platform built for enterprise with modules for identity, consensus, smart contracts.

• Privacy focused design allowing selective data sharing between network participants.

• Can model complex business transactions and workflows with smart contract functionality.

• Interoperability allows interacting with other Corda networks and public blockchains.

• Can run on standard enterprise infrastructure like Azure, AWS.

• Open source Corda libraries and extensive documentation available.

Ideal for: Highly regulated industries like Banking and Insurance looking for security and privacy.

Pricing: Free open source Corda platform. Corda Enterprise pricing based on number of production nodes deployed.

5. Hyperledger Fabric Enterprise

Hyperledger Fabric is one of the most popular open source blockchain frameworks for building enterprise networks and applications.

Offerings:

• Permissioned networks where participants are known, ideal for enterprise use cases.

• Modular architecture that‘s highly configurable and scalable.

• Shared ledger allows groups of organizations to collaborate on transactions.

• Assets can be shared selectively ensuring privacy between subsets of network.

• Runs smart contracts called chaincode written in languages like Java, Go, JavaScript.

• Community support through Linux Foundation‘s Hyperledger project.

Ideal for: Consortia or shared networks between enterprises. Flexible plug-and-play options.

Pricing: Free open source framework. Paid enterprise grade offerings like IBM Blockchain Platform‘s Hyperledger Fabric version available.

6. Dragonchain

Dragonchain simplifies blockchain app development by offering an easy to use serverless hybrid blockchain platform and library of smart contract templates.

Offerings:

• Platform focuses on ease of use for developers with built-in smart contract library, SDKs and APIs.

• Pre-built smart contracts for various industry use cases like supply chain, IoT, loyalty programs etc.

• Hybrid architecture provides enterprise grade security while allowing interoperability with external blockchains.

• Access management and identity controls for users and applications.

• Available on AWS marketplace for easy cloud deployment.

Ideal for: Rapid prototyping and building blockchain-based applications.

Pricing: Free Community Edition. Commercial Editions with more advanced features starting at $299/month.

7. BlockApps

BlockApps provides an enterprise BaaS platform called STRATO for developing and deploying blockchain networks and applications across leading protocols.

Offerings:

• STRATO provides end-to-end environment for building blockchain proofs of concept into production.

• Customizable permissioned or public networks based on protocols like Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Quorum.

• Drag and drop environment to quickly build blockchain prototypes and MVPs.

• Pre-built industry specific data models, APIs and smart contract templates for faster development.

• Detailed analytics on network transactions, efficiency and other insights.

Ideal for: Rapid prototyping and testing blockchain networks tailored to enterprise needs.

Pricing: Free trial. Production pricing starts at $20K per year + infrastructure usage fees.

8. Kaleido

Kaleido provides enterprise SaaS solutions to accelerate and simplify end-to-end blockchain network creation from prototyping to production.

Offerings:

• Intuitive console to manage the full lifecycle of consortium networks and workloads.

• Catalog of full stack solutions like supply chain, credentialing, payments on blockchain.

• Pre-integrations with node providers, data sources, APIs, identity management and other services.

• Built-in collaboration tools for safely working with partners, customers, vendors on the network.

• Available on AWS and Azure marketplaces for scalable infrastructure.

Ideal for: Collaboration between enterprises and accelerated development of blockchain networks.

Pricing: Free trial. Production plans start at $2,600/month.

9. Blockstream

Blockstream provides robust blockchain infrastructure and supports development of Bitcoin and Liquid Network based applications.

Offerings:

• Managed blockchain infrastructure on Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure.

• Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain that enables faster Bitcoin transactions.

• c-lightning, an implementation for developing Bitcoin and Lightning based apps.

• Jade, an enterprise hardware wallet solution supporting Liquid Network and Bitcoin.

• Set of APIs and reference applications for the Liquid Network.

• Support for exchanges, traders and financial institutions adopting Liquid Network.

Ideal for: Building applications and services on Bitcoin and Liquid Networks.

Pricing: Usage based pricing starting at $200/month for entry plan.

10. Blocko

South Korea based Blocko provides an enterprise blockchain platform called Coinstack for building and managing blockchain networks and applications.

Offerings:

• Coinstack platform to handle infrastructure, node management, monitoring, security patches, failover.

• Support for private or public networks across various protocols like Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum.

• Pre-built templates and easy to use RESTful API.

• Blockchain identity service for managing nodes, users, devices seamlessly.

• Collection of sample DApps across e-government, supply chain, healthcare domains.

Ideal for: Enterprises in Asia-Pacific region looking for full-stack BaaS solutions.

Pricing: Not disclosed. Contact Blocko for custom quote.

It‘s Your Turn Now!

Well, that covers an overview of the top 10 BaaS platforms to explore for your enterprise blockchain needs. Each platform has its own strengths and value proposition depending on your priorities – be it fast experimentation, robust infrastructure, or application development ease.

I hope you found this guide useful! Let me know if you need any clarification or advice on shortlisting the right BaaS provider for your requirements. I‘m always happy to help fellow blockchain enthusiasts with their adoption journey.

Here‘s to unlocking the potential of blockchain in your business!