This Review Contains The List of Top Cloud Management Platforms with Features, Comparison & Pricing. Select the Best Cloud Management Software for Your Business:
In this tutorial, we will be reviewing the top 12 Cloud Management Platforms (CMP) that are available today and also provide answers to some FAQs related to CMPs.
This in-depth review will help you select the best CMP for your organization.
Table of Contents:
What Is A Cloud Management Platform?
Cloud Management Platforms are highly sophisticated products that provide administrators with the required tools to manage cloud infrastructures. To this end, cloud management platforms can manage a range of infrastructures including private, public, and hybrid cloud environments.
According to Gartner, for a solution to be considered as a Cloud Management Platform, it needs to fulfill certain functions as follows:
- A self-service user interface.
- Provision system images.
- Include metering and billing functionality.
- Workload balancing and optimization.
A study carried out by Flexera, a cloud management platform provider, interviewed almost 800 technical professionals in different organizations to understand how cloud is being adopted.
The results are astounding, showing that cloud computing has indeed become the de-facto standard for both organizations and private individuals alike.
The benefits of the cloud certainly need no introduction here. However, as cloud infrastructures get more complex and vital to organizations and individuals alike, understanding the tools available to manage them naturally becomes an important topic of discussion.
List of the Top Cloud Management Software
- Raksmart
- IBM Cloud Orchestrator
- Flexera Rightscale
- Apache CloudStack
- BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
- Scalr
- Embotics
- OpenStack
- RedHat CloudForms
- CloudHealth
- Turbonomic
- Abiquo
- VMWare
Comparison Of The BEST Cloud Management Platforms
| CPM | Best For | Open Source | Free Trial | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raksmart | Medium to large organizations | No | No | SD WAN, Multiple IP Server, Bare Metal Cloud. |
| IBM Cloud Orchestrator | Medium to large organizations | No | No | App development and testing, Cloud configuration automation |
| Flexera | SMEs | No | On Request | Orchestration engine, Automation |
| Apache CloudStack | Small to large organizations | Yes | Yes | Full and open native API, Open source |
| BMC | Small to large organizations | No | Yes | Automated ITSM governance, Full-stack service provisioning |
Now let’s see what each platform has to offer.
#1) Raksmart
Best for Security Prioritization.
Price: Starting at $70.6/month
With Raksmart, you get a hosting service provider that specializes in offering a wide range of cloud-native hosting solutions. The solutions offered can be customized according to the specific requirements of a user.
What really makes Raksmart shine, however, is its prioritization of security. The company assures its users benefit from optional protection with the help of snapshot services, DDoS protection, backups.
Features:
- Multiple IP Server
- SD Wan
- Free SSL Certificate
- Domain Name Registration
Verdict: Raksmart, with the help of its datacenters located across the globe, offers a powerful hosting service that you can rely on. It offers a variety of hosting solutions that can all be customized according to your needs.
#2) IBM Cloud Orchestrator
Best for Medium to large enterprises looking for a cloud platform that covers AI, IoT, and Blockchain with advanced data and AI tools.
Price: On Request
IBM is another big name offering CPM solutions to the market. Their Cloud Orchestrator features a customizable cloud management platform that automates the provisioning of cloud services through several policy-based tools.
With a user-friendly interface that reduces the learning curve and a slew of automation and security tools, IBM’s solution can handle public, private, and hybrid clouds.
Features
- App development and testing.
- Tasks coordination
- Cloud configuration automation
- Cloud services management
- Cloud use reporting
- Executive cost dashboards
- Change management automation
- Customizable self-service portal
- SLA compliance
Verdict: Whether you choose the Base or Enterprise version of this software, you can expect high levels of automation and infrastructure support. The enterprise edition goes several steps up with What – If capacity analysis and health dashboards thereby making this a complete solution.
Website: IBM Cloud Orchestrator
#3) Flexera Rightscal
Best for Small to medium businesses looking for a solution to help them control and manage their software and IT costs.
Price:
- Price on Request
- Free demo on request
- Description
Flexera was recently acquired Rightscale thereby giving birth to Flexera RightScale. This CPM is also known as the Flexera Cloud Management Platform and can manage both public and private clouds including virtual and bare-metal servers.
Flexera’s CPM can also be used to manage several services including AWS and Azure to name but a few.
Features
- Orchestration engine that automates actions across all cloud services and servers.
- Automation of governance of costs, security, compliance, and operations with custom policies.
- Controlled access to clouds, data centers, and tenants.
- Workload monitoring
- Reporting
- Security alerts
Verdict: Flexera is certainly flexing muscles in the CMP space and is well worth your consideration. While acquisitions can make potential customers wary of new directions, this does not seem to be the case here.
Website: Flexera Rightscale
#4) Apache CloudStack
Best for Small to large businesses looking for open-source software to deploy and manage virtual machines in an environment that is highly scalable and available.
Price: Free
Apache is a well-known name in the network space with Apache CloudStack being one of the most used CPMs available today. Recently acquired by Citrix, CloudStack is an opensource project with both community and enterprise versions available.
With CloudStack, you can easily manage a large number of virtual machine networks through its interface that has been described as easy to use. Furthermore, it can easily scale with your business and offer RESTful API, thereby enabling you to connect to a large variety of third party services.
Features
- Compute orchestration
- NaaS
- User and account management, dynamic workload management, etc.
- Full and open native API
- Fist-class UI
- Security, secure cloud deployments, etc.
- Resource provisioning
Verdict: Both of Apache’s CMPs, which are featured in this review list, enjoy widespread support amongst the community. Being that it is open-source, you can expect many forums with help and tutorials. Having the code can also be a major plus.
Website: Apache CloudStack
#5) BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
Best for Small businesses to large enterprises looking to automate the provisioning, governance, and management of secure cloud services.
Price: On Request
BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management is another CMP solution that is big on the automation of fast provisioning from simple VMs to full application stacks across both cloud as well as non-cloud platforms.
Here, you can automatically apply policies to fall in line with security and compliance requirements by keeping you a step ahead at all times. Furthermore, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management also allows for the automation of ITSM (IT Service Management) governance practices.
Features
- Self-service portal
- Automated ITSM governance
- Platform neutrality
- Full-stack service provisioning
- Continuous compliance
- Service health management
Verdict: With a focus on driving down costs and the time it takes to provision systems, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management is worthy of consideration. Users praise their global support and ease of use.
Website: BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
#6) Scalr
Best for Enterprises looking to empower their IT teams with both autonomy and operational flexibility while maintaining corporate governance structures.
Price: On Request, No free trial.
Scalr is a hybrid cloud management platform that is big on automation and self-service. It can comply with a wide range of corporate policies and best practices to help you stay on top of any business obligations that you might have.
Using Scalr, the administrators can quickly deploy several applications across multiple cloud environments through automation in a standard and cost-effective way. Scalr also comes with a policy engine that can enforce conditional policies automatically. It uses, user roles to monitor and grant access.
Lastly, Scalr’s self-service allows administrators to create service catalogs with access restricted to identified users.
Features
- Cost optimization
- Security and Compliance
- Customized self-service
- Cloud policy engine
Verdict: Scalr enjoys good reviews – thanks to its simplicity and customer support. It also offers a scalable solution and can comply with a wide range of policies thereby making this CMP a good choice for those big on compliance.
Website: Scalr
#7) Embotics
Best for Small to Medium Enterprises looking for a hybrid cloud management solution that helps people, processes, and products work together.
Price: On Request, No free trial.
Embotics’s CMP is called Commander and it aims to bring simplicity, flexibility, and insight to cloud administrators. It supports hypervisors and public cloud providers alike with many automation and customization tools to make sure that things move as smoothly as possible.
Features
- Cloud expense management
- Provisioning automation and orchestration.
- Low-cost installation
- Cost-saving suggestions
- Reports
Verdict: Embotics’ Commander CMP goes beyond the technical management aspects of a CPM, with many reports and insights designed to help administrators and users cut costs and improve efficiency.
Website: Embotics
#8) OpenStack
Best for Small businesses to large enterprises looking for a solution to control large amounts of computing, storage, and networking resources.
Price: Free
OpenStack is another project by Apache. Of course, it is opensource and is suitable for heterogeneous infrastructures.
Resources can be managed via the dashboard or the OpenStack API with documentation readily available online. Additional components also provide services such as orchestration, and fault & service management.
Features
- Web frontend dashboard
- Container orchestration engine
- Clustering, workflow, and compute services.
- Optimization service
- Big data processing framework provisioning.
- Bare metal provisioning service.
- Key management
- RCA – Root Cause Analysis service.
- Networking automation for multi-region deployments.
Verdict: OpenStack does not only offer several features but comes with a whole ecosystem including summits, training, and a marketplace. You can also download the source code, thereby giving you the freedom to deploy this CMP in whichever way best fits your organization.
Website: OpenStack
#9) RedHat CloudForms
Best for Enterprises looking for an infrastructure management platform that allows IT departments to control the users’ ability to provision, manage, and comply with policies across virtual machines and clouds.
Price: On Request
RedHat is another big name that certainly needs no introduction. Their CloudForms CPM solution provides all of the tools that are needed to manage both private and virtual cloud infrastructures.
The CloudForms platform offers high security and high performance. It works in all environments and can integrate with many providers.
Features
- Physical, virtual and private cloud management.
- Automation
- Corporate governance policies application and custom automated remediation.
- Self-service
- Full lifecycle management
- Security and Performance enhancements.
- Resources monitoring
Verdict: Although RedHat CloudForms might have a bit of a steep learning curve, it is a very powerful CMP solution. It also has a high level of customizations although this might require coding.
Website: RedHat CloudForms
#10) CloudHealth
Best for Small businesses to large enterprises looking for a platform to enable users to analyze and manage cloud costs, usage, and performance.
Price
- Price on Request
- Free trial available
CloudHealth is another CMP by VMware with support for many environments including AWS, New Relic, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform among others. It is a cloud management and optimization platform that allows administrators to manage cloud usage, cost, security, and governance.
Here, you can use custom policies and workflows to maintain control over the cloud environment with functionality to monitor costs. It also features security alerts that you experience as a security violation or threat.
Features
- Information hub
- Streamline decision making
- Interactive reporting
- Automated workflows
- Cost tracking with metadata
- Issue tracking and driver identification.
Verdict: With the power and experience of VMWare behind it, CloudHealth certainly has a lot going for it. Here you can look forward to widespread compatibility and many features straight out of the box in one user-friendly package that will have you up and running in no time.
Website: CloudHealth
#11) Turbonomic
Best for Small businesses to large enterprises looking to optimize performance, cost, and compliance in real-time.
Price
- Price on Request
- 30-days free trial
Turbonomic is designed from the ground up to manage to compute, network resources, and storage across hybrid and multi-cloud estates. It is available in three editions i.e. Essentials, Advanced, and Premier & Features AI-powered decision engines to analyze application demands and maintain operations in perfect condition.
Features
- Automatic placement
- Unlimited workload
- Cloud-native action
- SLA adherence
- Automatic scaling
- Visibility into all workloads.
- Manual compute action
- Compliance policies
- Self-service and workflows
Verdict: Turbonomic is certainly big on features, with their AI-powered decision engines offering a unique USP that could very well be a big plus in organizations driven by constant optimization.
Website: Turbonomic
#12) Abiquo
Best for Large enterprises looking to build, integrate, and manage public & private clouds.
Price: Price on Request
Abiquo is billed as a hybrid cloud management solution, offering functionality to manage, track, and secure cloud computing resources. It can handle both private & public cloud infrastructures and includes self-service, cloud bursting, and auto-scaling.
With Abiquo you can control cloud resources, secure infrastructure, and manage expenses while keeping productivity high. You can deploy Abiquo in one of two ways i.e. on-premise or SaaS.
Features
- Customizable self-service portal
- Resource allocation
- Pricing and billing engine
- Multi-layered white labeling
- Automation, cloud bursting, auto-scaling, etc.
- Vendor agnostic
- API and scripting control for integration and customization.
Verdict: With a focus on hybrid cloud management, Abiquo offers a strong value proposition that can help cloud administrators manage diverse infrastructures in one console.
Website: Abiquo
Recommended Reading => Top 11 BEST Cloud Managed Services To Automate Business Operations
#13) VMware
Best for Medium to large organizations looking for a server virtualization platform and a foundation for their apps, cloud, and business.
Price: From USD 273.00 per year
Thanks to the vRealise Suite as VMware’s CPM offering includes Automation, Log Insight, Operations, and Suite Lifecycle Manager. The vRealise Suite offers agility, control, and efficiency across different types of applications.
With support for multiple sandbox models, it also gives developers and administrators the freedom to choose the tools they want to use.
Features
- Management service
- Database server and inventory service.
- vCenter Orchestrator
- Server linked mode
Verdict: VMware is synonymous with virtualization and cloud technologies, with the vRealise Suite enjoying good reviews from its customers. It does come with a steep learning curve but it is well worth it, especially if you have already invested in their ecosystem.
Frequently Asked Questions
With cloud computing becoming the de-facto methodology to develop and run apps & networks, having the tools to manage such systems is of vital importance.
Furthermore, with organizations using multiple cloud infrastructures, having a centralized console can not only save time but also increase efficiency and security.
Different organizations will invariably have different priorities and requirements when it comes to running their cloud infrastructures. As such, individual particular requirements should be taken into account while choosing a CMP, thereby making sure that it can satisfy the requirements of your organization.
You should also look at the following criteria:
– Security
– Legal and regulatory compliance.
– Performance management
– Task automation
Conclusion
Investing in a Cloud Management Platform is an important decision. Whether you opt for an open-source solution or not, keep in mind the investment that needs to be made to learn the system, setting it up, and maintenance of it.
Overall Winner: VMware vSphere
When it comes to cloud and cloud management, VMware offers an entire range of solid products that are used by many organizations and service providers worldwide.
While their CMP is certainly one of the stronger ones, buying into their ecosystem can help you scale faster and easier more, thus additional training required will be less than if you were investing in a new CMP altogether.
Research Process:
- Time Taken To Research This Article: 20 hours
- Total Tools Researched: 20
- Top Tools Shortlisted: 12