SummaryGlobus, developed as software‐as‐a‐service for research data management, also provides APIs that constitute a flexible and powerful platform‐as‐a‐service to which developers can outsource data management activities such as transfer and sharing, as well as identity, profile, and group management. By providing these frequently important but always challenging capabilities as a service, accessible over the network, Globus platform‐as‐a‐service streamlines Web application development and makes it easy for individuals, teams, and institutions to create collaborative applications such as science gateways for science communities. We introduce the capabilities of this platform and review representative applications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.