The Azure Arc alternative for hybrid Kubernetes
Fully managed Kubernetes across clouds and on-premises. No management overlay, no hidden costs, no CLOUD Act exposure. Start free today.
Fully managed Kubernetes across clouds and on-premises. No management overlay, no hidden costs, no CLOUD Act exposure. Start free today.
| Features | |  |
|---|---|---|
What it does | Governance overlay for existing clusters | Fully managed Kubernetes platform |
Cluster lifecycle | You create, upgrade, and maintain clusters | Cloudfleet handles everything |
Networking | No cross-cluster networking | Encrypted overlay network included |
Pricing | $2/vCPU + Defender + Monitor + Sentinel | All-inclusive, free tier available |
Data sovereignty | US CLOUD Act applies | European company, EU providers supported |
Vendor lock-in | Tied to Azure ecosystem | Standard Kubernetes, provider-agnostic |
Cloudfleet is CNCF-conformant, allowing seamless migration of any conformant clusters while avoiding vendor lock-in.
Cloudfleet dynamically provisions compute capacity based on real-time demand.
Add on-premises nodes to your cluster with a single command and schedule pods across both on-premises and cloud nodes.
Nodes securely connect via an encrypted network spanning multiple clouds and regions.
Azure Arc connects your existing Kubernetes clusters to the Azure portal, but it does not manage them. You still build the clusters, provision nodes, handle upgrades, patch operating systems, configure networking, and manage storage. Arc adds 10-11 agents per cluster, requires persistent outbound connectivity to Azure, and does not work in air-gapped environments. The real cost goes well beyond the $2/vCPU base price once you add Defender, Monitor, and Sentinel.
Cloudfleet is a fully managed Kubernetes platform. One cluster spans multiple clouds and on-premises locations. The control plane, node provisioning, networking, upgrades, and scaling are all handled for you. No agents to install, no Azure subscription required, no operational overhead. You deploy workloads and Cloudfleet runs the infrastructure.
Azure Arc does not create clusters, provision nodes, manage Kubernetes upgrades, or handle networking. You are responsible for the entire infrastructure lifecycle. Cloudfleet manages everything: control plane, node provisioning, automated upgrades, encrypted networking, scaling, and high availability. Adding a node takes a single CLI command.
Arc’s $2/vCPU/month base price is just the starting point. Production deployments require Defender for Containers (~$6.87/vCore/month), Azure Monitor (usage-based, often $200-1,000+/month), and potentially Sentinel for SIEM. An 80-vCPU cluster can cost $900-1,700/month in management fees alone. Cloudfleet includes monitoring, networking, and security in a single predictable price, with a free tier for clusters up to 24 vCPUs.
Microsoft is a US company subject to the CLOUD Act, which grants US authorities the power to access data regardless of where it is stored. Azure Arc sends cluster metadata, compliance state, and telemetry to Azure data centers. Cloudfleet is a European company not subject to the CLOUD Act. You can run workloads exclusively on EU providers like Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, and Exoscale, keeping both data and metadata within European jurisdiction.
Azure Arc ties your governance, identity, and policy management to the Azure ecosystem: Entra ID, Azure Policy, Azure Monitor. Even when your infrastructure runs outside Azure, your operations depend on it. Cloudfleet uses standard Kubernetes APIs and works across all major cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure without proprietary extensions or ecosystem dependencies.
Cloudfleet seamlessly extends your cluster anywhere, turning any hardware - even in your office or home - into a modern enterprise cluster.
Using Cloudfleet together with Hetzner allowed us to bring up a managed Kubernetes cluster just as quick as with any US-based hyper-scaler, but with the benefit of being EU hosted which is very valuable in today's times.
By combining our standardized configurations with the powerful automation features of the Cloudfleet platform, we've built a development workflow that is fast, secure, and incredibly efficient.
Perfect balance between flexibility and managed service - and the support is outstanding.
We deploy to customer infrastructure without changing how we build or manage Kubernetes.
It is easy to build a multi-cloud setup without getting locked into any single provider.
It is easy to build a multi-cloud setup without vendor lock-in.
Cloudfleet lets us scale our game servers across multiple providers - reliably and affordably.
Cloudfleet not only cut our infrastructure costs - it saved us hours of work by taking cluster management off our plate.
Run Kubernetes consistently across public cloud, private infrastructure, and on-prem environments, with a single control plane and unified operational model.
Operate, scale, and migrate Kubernetes clusters across environments using a consistent, opinionated platform that reduces operational overhead.
Transparent pricing and infrastructure control help you avoid hyperscaler lock-in, hidden fees, and unexpected cost growth as your workloads scale.
Retain full portability of your clusters, workloads, and tooling by running standard Kubernetes without proprietary extensions or forced dependencies.
Designed for production workloads, with operational tooling, escalation paths, and support processes built to meet enterprise reliability requirements.
Secure by default, with isolation, encryption, and access controls designed to meet the requirements of regulated and security-conscious organizations.
Create your free Cloudfleet Kubernetes cluster in minutes - no setup hassle, no cost. Get started instantly with the always-free Basic plan.