Find out our top picks for hybrid cloud providers in 2025.
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Find out our top picks for hybrid cloud providers in 2025. We cover each cloud provider's key offerings, strengths, and specialities to help you choose the best-suited hybrid cloud solution.
Public cloud or on-prem? With major CSPs now supporting hybrid cloud deployments, you can easily pick a combination of public, private, and edge infrastructure to meet various business needs. In this article, we’ll give you an overview of hybrid cloud solutions and services from some of the best hybrid cloud providers. Read on to find out our top recommendations and determine which one suits you best.
A hybrid cloud is a cloud deployment model in which organizations rely on a combination of private and public cloud infrastructure. Private infrastructure can include on-premise data centers, private servers hosted in a colocation facility or an edge location. What makes it 'private' is being dedicated to a single organization, unlike public cloud infrastructure which supports multiple tenants.
However, hybrid cloud does not mean private and public components operating in silos. Instead, both components must be well-integrated with a network connection for consistent data flows and an orchestration layer for resource deployment across all constituent environments.
These are the must-haves for a setup to be considered a hybrid cloud:
A hybrid cloud integrates two different “types” of infrastructure deployments—public and private— which may or may not come from different vendors. In contrast, a multi-cloud has only one cloud “type”—public cloud—but involves more than one cloud vendor.
A hybrid cloud can even have a multi-cloud element. For example, if a company has an on-premise data center and uses both AWS and GCP for hosting workloads, it will be considered a hybrid multi-cloud.
Today, some 80% of organizations use a hybrid cloud. Organization can choose a hybrid cloud deployment model for:
Hybrid cloud computing providers offer both public and private cloud options. Each provider can offer different kinds of hybrid cloud solutions:
Our list of top hybrid cloud service providers includes providers with different types of hybrid cloud solutions and offerings. We also discuss their solutions and services in detail to help you choose the best CSP for your business needs.
Azure, with its 20% cloud market share, is an undisputed leader in the hybrid cloud market. Azure’s market lead in hybrid setups has to do with the fact that enterprises using Microsoft Office Suite and SharePoint are naturally inclined towards Azure when they need to adopt the cloud. Azure’s broad portfolio of hybrid cloud offerings include:
Azure Arc: Powers Azure’s adaptive cloud approach, which helps organizations unify their hybrid, multi-cloud and edge environments. Azure Arc is a management platform that allows users to leverage Azure services and tools anywhere. Users can use the familiar Azure services they already use in their public cloud environments for workloads and resources hosted in their on-premise and private environments as well.
Azure Local: Microsoft announced its latest hybrid and edge computing platform, Azure Local, at Ignite 2024. It has the capabilities of Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI built-in, with more integrations to follow soon. It provides a single control plane and a cloud-like experience even in customers’ private or colocation data centers.
Azure ExpressRoute: It’s Azure’s dedicated private network connection between Azure’s cloud data centers and customer’s on-premise or colocation infrastructure.
Azure VPN Gateway: Provides secure and encrypted connectivity between on-premise networks and Azure cloud over the public internet.
With a strong enterprise focus, Azure is often not the best choice for SMEs, especially as Azure’s solutions tend to lock users in with the Microsoft ecosystem. Additionally, despite its strong hybrid cloud portfolio, Azure only allows basic multi-cloud management with Azure Arc, which is why other platforms like VMware and Google Anthos take the lead in hybrid, multi-cloud setups. However, for this article, we’re primarily considering hybrid cloud only, where Azure and its offerings truly shine.
Launched in 2011, GCP entered the cloud market with a major focus on open-source technologies and multi-cloud support. The platform supports integration and interoperability between different environments because of its strong reliance on cloud-agnostic technologies like containerization and Kubernetes.
Google Anthos: It’s Google’s flagship multi-cloud platform that allows you to control and manage resources and applications across different environments, including on-premise infrastructure, colocation facilities, and Google’s public cloud data centers. The only condition for private environments is that the servers must be from providers, like Dell and HPE.
Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE): Integrates on-premises VMware environments with GCP. It also allows you to run VMware workloads natively on GCP, which enables seamless migration to cloud when needed, without any refactoring.
Google Distributed Cloud (GDC): A suite of hardware and software solutions that bring GCPs capabilities directly to edge or on-premise data centers for extremely latency-sensitive workloads. Google fully manages and maintains GDC hardware and software for its customers.
Dedicated Interconnect and Partner Interconnect: Provide high-performant, private connections between on-premises infrastructure and GCP.
One of the key differentiators for GCP’s hybrid cloud solutions is its native support for other cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft. OThe setup process can be complex, but hybrid deployments, in general, cannot be as simple or straightforward as single cloud, native deployments.
From the cloud’s early days, IBM has offered hybrid-by-design cloud solutions as a key differentiator to make room in a market dominated by the top 3 cloud providers—AWS, Azure, and GCP. It maintains a relatively strong foothold in highly regulated industries.
IBM Cloud Satellite is IBM’s distributed cloud solution that delivers IBM cloud services consistently across any on-premise, edge, and public cloud environment.
Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud is a fully managed, Kubernetes platform that lets customers build, deploy, and scale containerized applications across any environment—on-premise or cloud.
IBM Cloud Paks are AI-powered software for hybrid cloud that allow users to build, deploy, manage, and modernize applications in hybrid environments, while providing a consistent experience. Cloud Paks are built on Red Hat OpenShift, which allows organizations to develop applications that can be deployed anywhere.
Direct Link lets you connect on-premises and cloud environments through high-speed, high reliability physical connections.
IBM is best-suited for organizations that need modular solutions to accelerate their digital transformation and extend their AI and analytics workflows to on-premise data and infrastructure. However, you need specialized skills to effectively deploy and maintain IBM’s hybrid cloud solutions. Despite its diverse hybrid cloud portfolio, IBM has a limited public cloud ecosystem.
Oracle is an easy choice for organizations already using Oracle’s ecosystem of databases and ERP systems.
Oracle Cloud@Customer brings Oracle’s cloud infrastructure to customer’s own data centers.
Oracle Roving Edge Infrastructure extends OCI to edge locations.
OCI FastConnect connects on-premise data centers to the nearest OCI region using high-speed, dedicated connections.
OCI Integration services let customers connect applications, data, and workloads on-premises and in the cloud.
OCI has more than 100 native integrations, including integration for IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, and Infosys. Despite strong integrations, Oracle’s UI can be very complex and less intuitive.
emma is a comprehensive platform designed with built-in hybrid and multi-cloud support. It falls in the first category of hybrid cloud solutions—Hybrid Cloud Management Platforms—and stands out as a strong contender within this space. The solution includes:
The emma hybrid and multi-cloud management platform that abstracts the complexities and underlying differences between on-premises and off-premises cloud environments. You can consistently and seamlessly deploy, manage, govern, and optimize resources across all the environments that make up your hybrid cloud.
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As a comprehensive platform, emma supports multiple roles and teams, including IT operations, cloud engineers, DevOps, and FinOps. From managing and automating complex infrastructure deployments to building CI/CD pipelines spanning private and public cloud environments to controlling and optimizing cloud costs, teams can perform all cloud operations from a single, unified platform.
vCenter Onboarding: Integrates on-premise VMware solutions to all public cloud environments through the emma platform. Users can seamlessly onboard and manage on-prem VMware virtual machines through the emma Platform and migrate them to any cloud environment without complex configurations and/or refactoring, ensuring a truly integrated hybrid environment.
Multi-cloud Network Backbone: emma operates its own multi-cloud networking backbone connecting public cloud environments and extending them to your on-premise environments. The private backbone guarantees high-speed, ultra-reliable connectivity, ensuring organizations can move their workloads seamlessly across all environments at blazing speeds and without prohibitive egress costs.
The emma platform is best suited for organizations already juggling multiple on-premise and cloud environments operating at varying levels of silos. Such organizations can integrate and interconnect disjointed environments with minimal business and operational disruption.
VMware’s hybrid cloud offering is based on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF).
VMware Cloud Foundation is an end-to-end hybrid cloud platform built on:
With integrated compute, storage, networking, and cloud management capabilities, VMware Cloud Foundation essentially allows you to both build and manage hybrid clouds.
VMware also has a strong portfolio of dedicated partner solutions for AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle, and IBM cloud. Users can seamlessly run their VMware’s software-defined data center stack on any of these clouds.
AWS is the long-standing leader in public cloud space with a 31% market share overall. However, it lags in true hybrid and multi-cloud functionality. This is because hybrid and multi-cloud solutions from AWS have a disproportionate focus on its own infrastructure and proprietary services. Hybrid cloud solutions from AWS include:
AWS Outposts extend AWS to virtually any on-premise or colocation facility. However, the hardware must be specifically designed, provisioned, and configured by AWS.
AWS Wavelength brings AWS compute and storage to edge locations.
Amazon EKS Anywhere allows you to create and operate Kubernetes clusters on-premises while maintaining seamless portability and interoperability with those running on the public cloud.
AWS Direct Connect provides high-speed, secure, and dedicated connectivity between on-premise infrastructure and AWS cloud services. Alternatively, AWS VPN CloudHub enables secure data transfer between on-premise, private, and AWS data centers over the public internet.
Cisco offers advanced hybrid cloud solutions under its new Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud umbrella, which includes:
Cisco+ Cloud Consumption-as-a-Service provides organizations with a flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing for both cloud and on-premise infrastructure. It also provides centralized visibility and management for both on-premises and cloud environments.
Cisco Intersight provides centralized management for Cisco’s hardware and software solutions deployed anywhere.
Tools like Cisco SD-WAN, Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure), and Cisco Meraki are available for optimized network connectivity between on-premise infrastructure and public cloud.
Cisco+ integrates with major public cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, GCP, and more. Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud is a particularly straightforward choice for organizations with established Cisco infrastructure.
Nutanix hybrid cloud solutions include:
Nutanix Acropolis is a complete HCI solution. It includes Nutanix AHV that lets you virtualize and containerize on-premise workloads, so they can operate seamlessly across private and public cloud infrastructure.
Nutanix Prism is also a part of Nutanix Acropolis. It is a centralized management platform for public, private, and edge environments.
Nutanix Calm allows workloads to move seamlessly across all hybrid cloud environments without refactoring or modifications.
Nutanix Direct Connect connects on-premise infrastructure to Nutanix Cloud Services.
Nutanix offers built-in integrations with AWS, Azure, GCP, and 700+ technology partners.
HPE’s hybrid-by-design infrastructure offerings for a unified and consistent on-premise and off-premise operational experience include:
HPE GreenLake: It’s a hybrid cloud by design that you can deploy anywhere and assert as much control as you want. You can choose between HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise, a fully-managed private cloud, and HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Business Edition, a self-service, self-managed private cloud.
HPE OneSphere: A unified hybrid cloud management platform that provides a single interface for managing and provisioning resources across on-premises infrastructure and various public cloud environments
HPE OpsRamp: AI-powered IT operations management solution which supports more than 2,500 integrations. This comprehensive integration ecosystem ensures that users can centrally monitor and manage increasingly complex, hybrid IT environments.
HPE Cloud Connect provides secure and reliable connectivity between on-premise and public cloud environments.
Dell also offers a range of hybrid cloud solutions that aim to provide a consistent operating experience across public, private, and edge clouds.
Dell APEX Cloud Platforms are turnkey, full stack, on-premises infrastructure, delivered as-a-service to extend cloud operating environments of your choice to your on-premise data center and edge locations. Dell APEX Cloud Platforms come pre-configured and validated for VMware Cloud Foundation, Azure Stack HCI, and Red Hat OpenShift.
Dell’s strong compatibility and integration with major public cloud vendors make it a great choice for organizations that already have a presence on those public clouds and need to extend their services and solutions to their on-premise infrastructure.
Each of the providers we’ve explored in this article excels in certain areas and can help you meet specific hybrid cloud needs. For DevOps teams looking to streamline CI/CD pipelines across different environments, Microsoft Azure with Azure Arc and Azure DevOps, GCP Anthos with its support for Cloud Build and Jenkins, and VMware Tanzu are strong contenders. Google Anthos, Azure Arc, and IBM are also preferred for their hybrid and multi-cloud AI workloads. Organizations with complex, disjointed hybrid, multi-cloud deployments will appreciate the emma Platform’s cloud-agnostic, no-code approach.
Organizations overwhelmed with legacy infrastructure integrations may find a better hybrid cloud partner in IBM, Oracle, and VMware because of their strong background in managing and modernizing legacy environments and industry-specific solutions. Cloud and IT operations teams with limited resources can look into turn-key, fully-managed solutions from Cisco, HPE, and Dell. These providers also have a keen focus on edge computing initiatives.
In any case, the first step should be analyzing your reasons, objectives, and end-goals for adopting a hybrid cloud. Once you have a clear idea of your unique needs, this overview will help you narrow down to the providers that cater to your industry and use cases. For complete guidance on public cloud vendors and their adaptability in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, check out our comprehensive review and comparison of public cloud service providers.
