Multi-cloud container orchestration: How to get started

*Multi-cloud container orchestration is the practice of managing containerized applications across multiple cloud providers simultaneously. It helps organizations avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining consistent deployment workflows.

Platforms like Northflank simplify this complexity by providing a unified control plane that works across public clouds, private infrastructure, and managed environments.*

Have you been in any of these situations:

1. Compliance requirements force you to keep data in regions your current provider doesn't support well
2. Your team knows one cloud well, but you need flexibility to leverage better pricing elsewhere
3. You're dependent on a single cloud provider, and their pricing changes or an outage halts your entire operation
4. You've acquired a company on a different cloud, and now you're managing two separate infrastructures

These scenarios aren't hypothetical; they're happening to engineering teams every day.

The solution isn't to avoid the cloud; it's to avoid putting all your eggs in one cloud basket (if we put it like that, the metaphor becomes painfully obvious, doesn't it?).

This is where multi-cloud container orchestration becomes not only useful, but essential for your infrastructure strategy.

Multi-cloud container orchestration is the automated management of containerized applications across multiple cloud providers simultaneously.

I know you might be thinking, "Okay, so what does this mean for my team?"

You can deploy and manage the same application across different cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure using one control plane. Your deployment workflows, monitoring, and scaling work consistently across all environments while the orchestration system handles coordination between them.

Traditional container orchestration manages containers within a single cloud environment. Multi-cloud orchestration spans across different providers while automating scheduling, failover, and load balancing between them.

The main components that make this work:

• Unified control plane that handles cloud-specific differences
• Consistent networking across environments
• Standardized deployments regardless of infrastructure
• Cross-cloud load balancing and service discovery
• Coordinated scaling between providers

Let's address the elephant in the room: managing containers across multiple clouds sounds complicated.

So why would you want to add this complexity? Because the benefits far outweigh the operational complexity, especially with the right tools.

Let’s see why teams make the switch:

1. “What if my cloud provider raises prices or limits features?”

   When you're locked into a single provider, price increases or service limitations can directly impact your operations. Multi-cloud orchestration gives you negotiating power and flexibility to move workloads where they make sense.

2. “How do I meet compliance requirements across different regions?”

   Regulatory requirements often demand that data stay within specific geographic boundaries. Multi-cloud orchestration lets you place workloads precisely where they need to be, while maintaining unified management.

3. “Can I optimize costs across different cloud pricing models?”

   Different providers specialize in different services. AWS might offer better spot pricing for batch jobs, while GCP provides cheaper storage, and Azure gives better enterprise licensing deals. You can run each workload on the most cost-effective platform.

4. “What happens when I acquire companies on different clouds?”

   If you've acquired companies using different providers, you're managing separate infrastructures that create operational silos. Multi-cloud orchestration provides a path to consolidate these environments without disruptive migrations.

While the benefits are compelling, you need to understand what you're signing up for. Multi-cloud orchestration introduces complexity that you'll need to manage effectively.

Let’s see the main challenges:

• Managing different cloud-native services - Each provider does things differently (e.g., AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Functions), so you need to standardize or build abstractions that handle these differences.
• Consistent security and compliance - You need unified identity management, consistent network policies, and coordinated compliance monitoring across different security models.
• Network complexity and latency - Cross-cloud communication introduces latency and complexity, requiring efficient architecture design and backup plans for connectivity disruptions.
• Monitoring and observability - Your logging and monitoring must work consistently across all environments, either through cloud-agnostic tools or integration layers.

Now that we've covered the complexity involved, you might be thinking:

“how can my team implement multi-cloud container orchestration without drowning in operational complexity?”

This is where Northflank's approach becomes valuable.

Instead of building your own multi-cloud orchestration stack from scratch, you get a managed platform that handles these challenges:

1. Unified experience across clouds - When you're deploying to AWS, GCP, Azure, or other providers like Oracle and Civo, you use the same interface, workflows, and deployment processes. No need to learn each cloud's specific tooling.
2. Built-in abstractions - Northflank handles the cloud-specific differences for you. Your team defines what you want to deploy, and the platform manages how each cloud provider implements it.
3. Integrated monitoring and security - Instead of integrating different monitoring tools and security policies across clouds, you get consistent observability and compliance management through one control plane.
4. Simplified networking - Cross-cloud communication and service discovery work out of the box, without you having to architect complex networking solutions.

Of course, there are several approaches to multi-cloud container orchestration. Let's see what options are available and how Northflank compares to each one:

We've covered what multi-cloud container orchestration is, why your team might need it, and what tools are available to make it happen.

Now it's time to decide which approach fits your infrastructure strategy and team capabilities.

The choice comes down to building and managing your own multi-cloud solution (I wouldn't recommend) or adopting a platform that handles the complexity for you (I highly recommend).

Both paths can work, but one requires significantly less operational overhead and expertise.

Your containers don't need to be constrained by vendor lock-in, and your team doesn't need to become experts in every cloud provider's quirks.