Top 10 cloud infrastructure management services in 2025

• What they are: Cloud infrastructure management services provide the tools, platforms, and strategies to control cloud resources, from compute and storage to networking and security, without manual configuration of complex orchestration systems.
• Why they’re important: Engineering teams spend significant time managing infrastructure instead of shipping features. The right cloud infrastructure management solution reduces this overhead while maintaining control, security, and scalability.
• Three main approaches:
  • Developer platforms: Solutions like Northflank that abstract cloud infrastructure complexity while preserving flexibility, giving teams centralized control over deployments, monitoring, and scaling without operational burden
  • DIY cloud-native tools: Full control using Kubernetes, Terraform, and native cloud tools, but requires significant engineering expertise and time investment
  • Managed services (outsourced): MSPs handle infrastructure for you, but require expensive annual contracts and slower response times for changes
• Top solutions covered:
  • Northflank – Developer platform for cloud infrastructure management with Kubernetes abstraction, Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) support, no vendor lock-in, and 5-minute deployment
  • AWS Control Tower & CloudFormation – Native AWS management and IaC provisioning
  • Terraform – Open-source infrastructure as code for multi-cloud provisioning
  • Datadog – Observability and monitoring across cloud infrastructure
  • Kubernetes (self-managed) – Industry-standard container orchestration for maximum control

Read on to understand the core components of cloud infrastructure, challenges organizations face, key capabilities to evaluate, and how to choose between developer platforms, DIY approaches, or managed services. Modern teams are increasingly choosing platforms that deliver both simplicity and control for efficient cloud infrastructure management.

Cloud infrastructure management services encompass the practices, tools, and platforms used to deploy, monitor, optimize, and secure cloud-based infrastructure.

It includes everything from provisioning compute resources and configuring networking to implementing security policies and controlling costs across public, private, on-prem, hybrid, or multi-cloud environments.

Your applications most likely need robust, scalable infrastructure to run reliably, but the challenge lies in manually managing your infrastructure. Doing it manually could eat up your engineering resources and add layers of complexity.

The goal of cloud infrastructure management is to maintain full control over your cloud resources while reducing the operational burden on your development teams.

Adopting cloud infrastructure management solutions can help address several key problems:

1. Operational efficiency: Manual infrastructure management doesn't scale. You need automation for provisioning, scaling, and maintaining resources across environments.
2. Cost control: Without proper management, your cloud spend spirals due to over-provisioned resources, forgotten instances, and poor resource allocation. Effective management could help reduce waste by 30-40%.
3. Security and compliance: Your infrastructure must meet security standards and regulatory requirements. Management solutions enforce consistent policies across all your cloud resources.
4. Developer productivity: Your engineers should build features, not write YAML or troubleshoot Kubernetes clusters. The right tools free your developers from infrastructure concerns.
5. Multi-cloud flexibility: If you're using multiple cloud providers, management solutions provide consistent workflows across AWS, GCP, Azure, on-prem, and other platforms.

When people talk about cloud infrastructure, they're really talking about four building blocks that work together:

1. Compute - gives you the processing power to run your applications, from virtual machines and containers to serverless functions and GPUs for AI workloads.
2. Storage - is where your data lives, from databases and file systems to object storage for backups and assets.
3. Networking - connects everything together through load balancers, firewalls, VPNs, and CDNs, ensuring your services communicate securely and perform well.
4. Virtualization - is the abstraction layer that lets multiple virtual resources share physical infrastructure (VMs, containers, and software-defined networks).

These four components get delivered through three main service models: IaaS (raw infrastructure you manage yourself, like AWS EC2), PaaS (managed platforms where you just deploy code, like Heroku), and SaaS (fully managed applications).

Organizations typically choose between three main approaches:

Platforms like Northflank abstract infrastructure complexity while preserving control.

You deploy in minutes, scale from 1 to 1,000+ services without hitting limits, and have the option to run in your own cloud accounts via Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) or use the managed infrastructure.

It comes with built-in CI/CD, monitoring, and multi-cloud support without vendor lock-in. You can also deploy to Kubernetes without writing YAML.

Third-party MSPs handle all infrastructure operations on your behalf. Completely hands-off but expensive with significant annual contracts, slow to implement changes, and creates vendor dependency. Suitable for organizations that prefer to completely outsource infrastructure management.

DIY cloud-native tools (Kubernetes, Terraform, CloudFormation) give maximum control but require expert platform teams. Engineers spend significant time on infrastructure instead of features. Steep learning curve, ongoing maintenance burden, and YAML complexity. Learn about container orchestration challenges first.

See a quick overview to help you decide:

Now that you understand the different approaches and what to look for, let's review the top cloud infrastructure management tools and platforms across different categories to help you find the right fit:

Category: Developer platform

Best for: Teams wanting production-grade cloud infrastructure without the operational complexity

A production-ready platform that simplifies cloud infrastructure management by abstracting Kubernetes complexity while preserving developer flexibility.

What it offers:

• Deploy your first workload in under 5 minutes (See how)
• Built-in CI/CD with GitOps workflows
• Auto-scaling and load balancing
• Real-time monitoring and logs
• GPU workloads and AI infrastructure support
• No YAML required (manage through UI, CLI, or API)
• Multi-cloud management across AWS, GCP, Azure, Civo, Oracle, and bare-metal
• Hybrid cloud and on-premise deployment options

Pros: Self-service platform with full control, no vendor lock-in, no graduation problem, massively simplified operations

Cons: Platform abstraction (though you still get Kubernetes primitives when needed)

Category: Native cloud management

Best for: AWS-centric organizations

Infrastructure as code tool for AWS resources with governance and account management for multi-account environments. AWS Control Tower is the orchestrator, and AWS CloudFormation is an underlying tool.

What it offers:

• Template-based infrastructure provisioning
• Multi-account governance
• Native AWS service integration
• Automated resource management

Pros: Deep AWS integration, no additional cost, powerful automation

Cons: AWS-only (vendor lock-in), steep learning curve, limited multi-cloud support

Category: Infrastructure as code

Best for: Multi-cloud infrastructure provisioning

Open-source IaC tool used to define and provision infrastructure across cloud providers.

What it offers:

• Multi-cloud infrastructure provisioning
• Declarative configuration language
• State management
• Large provider ecosystem

Pros: Multi-cloud support, extensive ecosystem, mature tooling

Cons: Requires expertise, manual orchestration needed, steep learning curve

Category: Observability & monitoring

Best for: Full-stack monitoring and analytics

SaaS-based monitoring solution providing metrics, traces, and logs across infrastructure and applications.

What it offers:

• Full-stack observability
• 200+ integrations
• Real-time metrics and alerting
• Application performance monitoring

Pros: Comprehensive observability, intuitive UI, powerful analytics

Cons: Can be expensive at scale

Category: Container orchestration

Best for: Teams with dedicated platform engineering expertise

Industry-standard container orchestration system providing maximum flexibility and control.

What it offers:

• Container scheduling and orchestration
• Auto-scaling and self-healing
• Service discovery and load balancing
• Extensive ecosystem

Pros: Powerful, extensive ecosystem, industry standard

Cons: Complex, requires constant maintenance, steep learning curve. Consider Kubernetes management tools or container management platforms to reduce operational burden.

Category: Native cloud management

Best for: Azure-centric organizations

Azure's native infrastructure management platform with templates for deploying and managing resources.

What it offers:

• Template-based deployments
• Role-based permissions
• Azure service integration
• Resource grouping and tagging

Pros: Deep Azure integration, no additional cost

Cons: Azure-only (vendor lock-in), limited multi-cloud capabilities

Category: Kubernetes management

Best for: Multi-cluster Kubernetes environments

Open-source platform for managing multiple Kubernetes clusters across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

What it offers:

• Multi-cluster management
• Centralized authentication
• Workload management UI
• Policy enforcement

Pros: Multi-cluster management, good UI, open-source

Cons: Still requires Kubernetes expertise, adds complexity layer

Category: Cloud cost management and IT asset management

Best for: Enterprises managing multi-cloud costs and IT assets

Platform for cloud cost optimization, budget control, and IT asset management across cloud and on-premises environments.

What it offers:

• Cloud cost analytics and reporting
• Budget alerts and forecasting
• Resource optimization recommendations
• Multi-cloud and hybrid-IT cost tracking

Pros: Cost analytics, multi-cloud support, bridges on-premises and cloud spending

Cons: Expensive with complex pricing, steep learning curve, advisory role rather than direct infrastructure provisioning

Category: Enterprise Kubernetes platform

Best for: Enterprises with extensive compliance requirements

Enterprise Kubernetes distribution with built-in security, developer tools, and operational features.

What it offers:

• Enterprise Kubernetes distribution
• Built-in security and compliance
• Developer console and CI/CD
• Multi-cloud deployment

Pros: Enterprise-ready, comprehensive security, strong support

Cons: Expensive, complex licensing, requires dedicated expertise

Category: Hybrid cloud management

Best for: Hybrid cloud orchestration

Unified platform for managing on-premises and public cloud resources with workflow automation.

What it offers:

• Hybrid cloud orchestration
• Self-service portal
• Cost management
• Workflow automation

Pros: Hybrid cloud support, unified interface

Cons: Additional complexity layer, requires integration effort

Cloud infrastructure management doesn't have to mean choosing between rigid platforms that limit growth or spending months building DIY Kubernetes clusters. Today's teams need solutions that deliver both simplicity and control.

Northflank provides production-grade infrastructure built on Kubernetes without the operational burden. Deploy your first container in under 5 minutes, scale to production workloads serving millions of users, and run in your own cloud accounts (AWS, GCP, Azure, Civo, Oracle) or on Northflank's managed infrastructure.

If you're migrating from Heroku, outgrowing a traditional PaaS, moving to the cloud from on-premise, or tired of managing raw Kubernetes, Northflank gives you the tools to ship faster without sacrificing flexibility.