One of the key advantages of cloud application development is the no software installation required on local machine paradigm. An Internet connection, a web browser, and the ability to code are all you need to write web apps. As a developer, you can focus on building your web app functionality in the best way possible without worrying about the code editors, debuggers, or build/deploy tools to use. All these things are not your business anymore. You can just write your code and the rest gets taken care of for you. Even in the hybrid approach, several cloud application development enabling platforms provide you with compatible tools (compatible with tools in the cloud environment) that you can use to build, test, and deploy your apps.

Another practical advantage of using cloud application development is the fact that you don't need to manage the software, storage, or hardware infrastructure being used. Supporting software (operating systems, development tools, and so on) gets automatically upgraded and new hardware gets provisioned transparently for you; you don't need to worry about compiler versions or third-party libraries you use.

Cloud application development also means reduced the cost of building and maintaining your web apps. You pay as you go and get billed for only what you use. Developers can optimize their investment by using the right toolset and leveraging the available open source tools to build robust, scalable, and well performing web apps.

Mobility is a reason, which by itself gives tremendous advantage to developers who want to build apps on the go. When you can develop, change, or deploy web apps from the web browser of your mobile device, it is a powerful notion. You could be sipping coffee in a local coffee shop, responding to a customer request through your mobile device, bringing your servers up/down, adding a new developer to your app, or increasing the memory required for your web app. The possibilities are unlimited.