Is your company is looking to migrate some or all your workloads and applications to the cloud? If so, consider purchasing private cloud software for a secure and isolated environment. There are multiple benefits to choosing a private cloud software, such as reduced costs, efficiency and control, security, and customization. A private cloud is more flexible than a public cloud, so businesses with customization requirements and predictable workloads are sure to find more satisfaction from using a private cloud solution.
We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 best private cloud softwares available on the market to help you choose the right one for your business.
Top 10 Best Private Cloud Software
- Amazon VPC – Best scalable infrastructure
- Google Virtual Private Cloud – Best customization potential
- OpenStack – Best for managing a large number of resources
- Microsoft Azure Stack – Best range of hybrid computing capabilities
- NextCloud – Best security features
- IMB Cloud Private – Best at supporting new technologies
- VEXXHOST – Best for high-volume processing
- Cisco – Best implementation assistance
- HPE GreenLake – Best features for a lower price
- Red Hat OpenShift – Best for building your own applications
1. Amazon VPC – Best scalable infrastructure
Pricing: Please contact Amazon Web Services for pricing via their website. Pricing depends on the services and resources you want to use, as well as how many hours you intend to use them.
Amazon Web Services is one of the top three vendors of public cloud software, but they also offer a private cloud version called Amazon VPC. By using Amazon VPC, you will have full control over your whole virtual networking environment, security, and connectivity. Amazon VPC lets users create their own private version of public AWS, while still having access to its core capabilities. Some key features include access to the scalable infrastructure of AWS, a customizable virtual networking environment, and a Reachability Analyzer tool.
| Pros | Cons |
| On-demand service commitment | Splits networking across VPC and EC2 |
| Easy to allocate and split up network CIDR block as needed | Setup of external application integration can be confusing |
| Excellent security connectivity | Could be difficult to manage dual or multiple OS upgrading in real-time |
| Easy integration and setup | – |
| Intuitive user interface | – |
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2. Google Virtual Private Cloud – Best customization potential
Pricing: To inquire about Google’s Virtual Private Cloud, contact their sales department. Google also offers a free trial of their VPC.
Google’s Virtual Private Cloud software is built on its vast cloud resources. The software will let you build a highly customizable network environment for private assets. Control how different workloads connect regionally and globally using Google Virtual Private Cloud. Some important features include packet mirroring, network traffic monitoring, automatic setup of virtual subnets, and topology, and network segmentation.
| Pros | Cons |
| User-friendly | The ability to share custom routes between other VPC networks is lacking |
| Great safety features | Some glitches can occur |
| Ability to create isolated networks across zones and regions | Expanding storage space is not intuitive |
| Ability to customize IP range | – |
| Automation-friendly architecture | – |
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3. OpenStack – Best for managing a large number of resources
Pricing: Please visit OpenStack’s website for pricing options.
OpenStack offers users the ability to create private and public clouds. The software was envisioned as an open-source private cloud that helps users manage their network, computing, and storage resources without hefty investments. OpenStack is best suited for heterogeneous infrastructure because it operates with open sources technologies.
| Pros | Cons |
| Simple and easy to understand architecture | Third-party integration plugins and packages can be hard to integrate at times |
| Easy implementation | Requires some degree of familiarity with the command line |
| Great scalability feature | Time to retrieval could be faster |
| Ability to manage large pools of resources | – |
| New features are added on a regular basis | – |
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4. Microsoft Azure Stack – Best range of hybrid computing capabilities
Pricing: To request a quote, please visit Microsoft Azure’s website. Microsoft also offers a free trial for its private cloud software.
While Microsoft is known internationally for its public cloud products, it also offers an excellent private cloud service where users can build and run applications. Microsoft’s private cloud software covers IoT implementations and runs on-remise, autonomous cloud instances. Azure provides users access to over 100 services, and it has a wide range of hybrid computing capabilities.
| Pros | Cons |
| High availability and redundancy in data centers | Expert management and maintenance is required |
| Excellent data security | Lacks consistency of location settings |
| Scalability | Customized reporting ability is somewhat lacking |
| Cost-effective | – |
| Software is constantly improved in terms of usability and functionality | – |
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5. NextCloud – Best security features
Pricing: NextCloud offers three different packages for its private cloud software. The Basic package starts at 100 users for €36/user/year. The Standard package starts at 100 users for €65/user/year, and the Premium package starts at 100 users for €95.50/user/year.
NextCloud will let you self-host the software, or sign up with a NextCloud provider for a quicker setup. NextCloud’s private cloud software includes a suite of features including real-time document editing, online document collaboration, and enhanced security. The software will also give you the ability to impose bandwidth restrictions. What’s great about NextCloud is that it provides almost all the tools that other private cloud providers offer, but at a fraction of the cost.
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent groupware features | Can be slow in comparison to other solutions |
| Great file storage, file sharing, and file storage features | Many apps and features add to software’s complexity |
| Expandable app center | Limited online editing of office documents |
| Easy to access from any device | Syncing could be faster on a large collection of files |
| Great integration with AD/LDAP, external file sources, and other tools | – |
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6. IBM Cloud Private – Best at supporting new technologies
Pricing: For pricing details, create an IBM Cloud account, or contact IBM directly via their website.
IBM Cloud Private is a private cloud solution that will run on your particular infrastructure. The software is built on open-source frameworks, and it offers services like increased security, data and analytics, self-service deployment, and monitoring. By using IBM Cloud Private, your company will be able to build scalable microservice applications.
| Pros | Cons |
| On-demand capacity to scale environments up and down | Slow response time when using Decision Center |
| Intuitive user interface | Pricey |
| Fast VM provisioning for rapid deployments | The software can take longer to configure |
| Supports new technologies like Kubernetes | Customer support could be improved |
| Great integration with AD/LDAP, external file sources, and other tools | – |
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7. VEXXHOST – Best for high-volume processing
Pricing: VEXXHOST offers a free trial, but it doesn’t offer a free version of its private cloud solution. VEXXHOST’s private cloud software starts at $300 per node. Please contact VEXXHOST for more pricing options.
VEXXHOST was established in 2006 as a web hosting provider. VEXXHOST now offers OpenStack-powered private cloud and consulting services. Some features include archiving and retention, encryption, data warehousing, high-volume processing, and version control. VEXXHOST’s private cloud is used by small businesses and enterprises across the world. They also have data centers both in Canada and the United States.
| Pros | Cons |
| Access to OpenStack magnum | Customer service could use some improvement |
| Enterprise-grade security | Poor documentation |
| User-friendly | No telephone support |
| Cost-effective | – |
| Dedicated IP addresses | – |
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8. Cisco – Best implementation assistance
Pricing: Please visit CISCO’s website for specific pricing options that are geared toward your needs.
Cisco offers an impressive private cloud solution that includes infrastructure management packages, cloud management tools, data center offerings, and business applications. Users can retrofit, migrate, and execute the components they want using Cisco’s private cloud software. Cisco also offers implementation assistance. Some key features of Cisco’s private cloud software include Cisco Quickstart Private Cloud, Cisco Firepower for private cloud asset protection, on-premise clouds, and tools for workload optimization. In addition, Cisco Tetration will help you automate a secure model for micro-segmentation applications. Cisco has partnered with IBM for its managed private cloud.
| Pros | Cons |
| Great scalability and extensiveness | Post-purchase customer support could be improved |
| Increased security through improved visibility | Pricey |
| Deployment automation | Could be hard to upgrade and maintain the on-premise version of the Cloud Center |
| Comprehensive dashboard | – |
| Dedicated IP addresses | – |
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9. HPE GreenLake – Best features for a lower price
Pricing: Pricing varies based on the components you choose. Please visit HPE Greenlake’s website for pricing options.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is particularly recognized for its private cloud software called HPE GreenLake. HPE GreenLake will help you optimize your workload through its development services, DevOps training and maturity assessment, and technical migration roadmap. HPE predicts that users can save up to 30% CAPEX savings and 40% IT resource savings by using the GreenLake software. HPE is partnered with OpenStack, SAP, and VMware, among others, to provide you with total support on your private cloud journey.
| Pros | Cons |
| User-friendly | Initial implementation could be somewhat difficult |
| Reasonable pricing options | Careful planning needed to avoid later design lock |
| Professional customer service | – |
| Comprehensive dashboard | – |
| Comprehensive set of features | – |
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10. Red Hat OpenShift – Best for building your own applications
Pricing: Red Hat offers a free, 30-day learning subscription for its OpenShift software. Please visit Red Hat’s website to inquire about pricing options for its OpenShift software.
Red Had OpenShift has more than six years of experience across multiple clouds. OpenShift is an enterprise-grade Kubernetes platform. By using OpenShift, Red Hat’s Cloud Computing Platform, you will be able to build, test, and deploy your own applications. The software includes some key features like built-in support for Node.js, Python, Java, and more, autoscaling, and one-click deployment.
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent security | Pricey |
| Easy to manage deployments across all cloud environments (public, private, and hybrid) | Community support could be better |
| Seamless experience with deploying business applications cluster | Poor accessibility to log records |
| Ready-made monitoring capabilities | – |
| Intuitive user interface | – |
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Frequently Asked Questions
How private is the private cloud software exactly?
Security is very important for all businesses, especially when it comes to customer data. Make sure that the private cloud software you choose physically isolates the servers to your account. Ask the company about the experience of their security team, past breaches, and security policies.
How often are regular backups initiated and How fast can a restore be performed?
Restore and backup is crucial for private cloud functionality because you never want your data to get deleted, corrupted, or to become the victim of a ransomware attack. Ask the company if they provide backups that run regularly during the day so you don’t miss too much data when you perform a restore. In addition, inquire about the duration of a restore. Your company cannot afford to wait days to resume normal operations.
How frequent are service outages and how long do they usually last?
All providers have experienced outages, so don’t be put off if they’re transparent about their past outages. Focus instead on how many outages they have experienced and how long each outage lasted. An excellent private cloud solution has a small number of past outages that didn’t last long. Be sure to inquire about maintenance outages that are scheduled when the provider upgrades its software. Make sure the company will give you a prior warning of maintenance outages and whether they are scheduled during business hours.
Where are the provider’s cloud services located?
Don’t ignore data localization, sovereignty, and residency when handling data in the private cloud. You need to know where your data is stored because this can affect the legal jurisdiction under which your data falls. Countries have different laws governing access to data without the owner’s consent.
Do you have steps in place to manage data migration?
Data migration is often overlooked when assessing private cloud software. It’s important that your business can migrate critical data to another provider if you so choose. The data should be migrated in an easily accessible format, and the task should be performed fast, and with minimal disruption. Make sure that the company will also remove all your data from its servers if you choose to switch providers.
How will your private cloud service integrate with my existing workflow?
You need to avoid affecting your system’s performance and scalability. Consult your IT department about data exchange protocols in order to know if the software will work with your internal data center setup. Avoid any negative effects on your system performance and scalability by choosing a private cloud software that uses well-known protocols.
What level of reliability and familiarity should I expect from your private cloud software?
If you already own your own server and software resources, you are more likely to benefit from a private cloud solution. Doing so can reduce the cost, learning curve, and installation downtime. Moving compute resources to a hosted solution can be more difficult if the softwares being used in both locations don’t match.
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