What is managed cloud? A guide for your organization

Managed cloud is a service model where a third-party provider takes complete or partial responsibility for managing and maintaining your cloud infrastructure, applications, and operations.

Maybe on a regular Tuesday, your team would be rushing to fix a server outage or applying urgent security updates rather than working on your product roadmap.

Or your CTO would be interviewing specialized DevOps engineers just to keep your applications running reliably.

With managed cloud, you outsource these responsibilities to products that monitor, optimize, secure, and maintain your cloud environment around the clock.

Your engineering team no longer needs to spend hours configuring servers or troubleshooting infrastructure issues at 2 AM.

This means your developers can focus on writing code and shipping features while cloud specialists handle the operational complexity behind the scenes.

Managed cloud services are the built-in capabilities a provider delivers on top of their cloud platform.

Rather than providing you with basic infrastructure and leaving you to figure it out, the platform includes features such as monitoring, scaling, security, and backups as part of the service.

This takes on work that you'd otherwise need to build and maintain for:

1. Managing your infrastructure:

   Your provider handles all server setup, configuration changes, and ongoing maintenance across different regions so your applications stay running wherever your users are located.

2. Securing your systems and compliance:

   They implement security measures, control who can access what, watch for threats, and make sure your setup meets the regulatory requirements for your industry.

3. Monitoring your performance:

   Your provider monitors your infrastructure and applications to make automatic adjustments that maintain performance and reduce downtime that could impact your users.

4. Backing up and recovering your data:

   All your important data gets backed up automatically, and if something goes wrong, your provider can quickly restore everything to get you back online.

5. Updating and maintaining your systems:

   Software updates and security fixes happen behind the scenes without interrupting your applications or requiring your team's time.

6. Optimizing your costs: Your provider continuously analyzes your usage patterns and adjusts resources so you're not paying for computing power you don't need.

Both managed cloud and hosted cloud services take infrastructure burdens off your team's plate.

However, they work differently and serve unique needs. Let's see how they differ so you can choose the right one for your situation.

Hosted cloud is a service where the provider owns and manages the entire infrastructure (compute, storage, networking) and gives you access to pre-configured environments with limited customization options.

It's like renting a furnished apartment.

With hosted cloud, your team gets quick setup with minimal configuration required, pre-installed software and standardized environments, and generally lower costs with predictable pricing. You’re essentially renting resources (VMs, containers, storage) in their data centers.

This works well when your applications fit standard configurations, but Rresponsibility for configuration, scaling, monitoring, backups, and security largely falls on you.

Managed cloud operates more like having an architect design and maintain your custom home. You choose your platform, specify your requirements, and the provider builds and manages a tailored solution.

This gives your organization highly customizable environments tailored to your specific needs, full control over platform selection and configuration, and comprehensive management, including optimization and scaling.

You get hosting plus active management services on top. The provider handles ongoing operations: patching, scaling, monitoring, performance tuning, backups, disaster recovery, and compliance.

The main differences come down to control, customization, and complexity. Let's look at when each approach works best for your team:

Hosted cloud works best when your team:

• Needs quick, simple deployment with minimal technical requirements
• Has standardized applications that work well in pre-configured environments
• Wants the lowest upfront costs and predictable pricing
• Doesn't require extensive customization or specialized configurations

Managed cloud works best when your organization:

• Needs customized infrastructure tailored to specific business requirements
• Requires advanced security, compliance, or performance capabilities
• Wants expert guidance on cloud architecture and optimization decisions
• Prefers to focus entirely on core business while experts handle infrastructure complexity

Your engineering team wants the power of Kubernetes without spending weeks learning cluster management and DevOps complexity.

Northflank bridges this gap with a modern approach to managed cloud services designed specifically for organizations that need to move fast.

Let's see how this works.

Northflank's managed cloud removes the steep learning curve commonly associated with Kubernetes deployments.

Your developers can deploy any project with a straightforward interface, regardless of their level of DevOps expertise.

You can connect your version control account and start deploying services (See how).

This means less time learning complex cloud tooling and more time building your applications.

Your team gets fast continuous integration (CI) builds and automated deployment pipelines without the operational complexity.

Northflank handles all infrastructure complexity, including node management, load balancing, DNS configuration, disk storage, and auto-scaling.

Your organization gets two deployment options that can grow with your needs.

You can deploy directly to Northflank's managed cloud across multiple regions with pay-as-you-go pricing.

Or use the platform while maintaining control by deploying into your own cloud accounts on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Civo, or Oracle.

The platform combines multiple tools into a single, comprehensive solution, taking out the need to manage relationships with multiple cloud providers.

Your team gets 24/7 monitoring by experts to ensure high uptime regardless of the time.

You can also easily upgrade from Northflank's managed cloud to bringing your own cloud at any time without changing your development workflow.

This flexibility means your infrastructure strategy can adapt as your organization scales.

If you need guidance on infrastructure transitions, read our guides on:

• On-premise to cloud migration. The 2025 guide.
• How to migrate from cloud to on-premise

Managed cloud services deliver advantages that help businesses like yours scale while reducing operational complexity.

These benefits can change how your organization approaches infrastructure and resource allocation.

1. Your team gains operational focus:

   By outsourcing cloud management to specialists, your internal teams can concentrate on core business activities. This means less time spent on infrastructure maintenance and troubleshooting.

2. You get predictable and optimized costs:

   Managed cloud providers offer transparent pricing models with continuous resource optimization. This prevents over-provisioning and reduces unnecessary expenses.

3. Your security posture improves:

   Professional managed cloud providers implement security measures and maintain compliance certifications. These often exceed what internal teams can achieve with limited resources.

4. Your infrastructure scales automatically:

   Services can rapidly scale resources up or down based on actual demand. This ensures optimal performance during peak periods while reducing costs during low-usage times.

When selecting a managed cloud provider, several factors determine if they'll meet your business needs and growth requirements.

Managed cloud services provide an effective solution for organizations looking to leverage cloud computing benefits without the complexity of self-management.

Your success depends on finding a provider that aligns with your technical requirements, business goals, and growth plans.

For organizations ready to move beyond infrastructure management, platforms like Northflank make it simple to deploy applications through Git integration.

You maintain the flexibility to scale between managed infrastructure or your own cloud accounts as requirements change.