Best Cloud Management Software in 2026
Updated
In short: Terraform is ranked #1 of 32 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of Cloudforet and Pulumi. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Cloudforet. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Terraform at $0.10/mo.
Managing cloud environments can involve provisioning resources, applying policies, and giving users self-service options. The ranked software is compared on cloud coverage and providers, deployment model, infrastructure as code, provisioning automation, policy governance, and self-service catalog. These factors help you weigh the environments each option covers against the level of automation and oversight you need. Waldur, OpenNebula, and Cloudify are among the first entries, followed by Cloudforet and Apache CloudStack. Check free-plan availability and paid-from pricing as well, then consider which capabilities align with the way your team manages cloud infrastructure.
32 cloud management software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
#1 Terraform Top pick · 7.4 Free plan · $0.10/mo
#2 Cloudforet Runner-up · 7.2 Free plan · Free
#3 Pulumi Also great · 7.2 Free plan · $40/mo
- Free planFree trial apiLinuxmacOSself-hostedWebWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$0.10/mofirst paid tier About TerraformVisit site - Free plan apiLinuxmacOSself-hostedWebWindows
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Alibaba Cloud
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free planFree trial apiLinuxmacOSself-hostedWebWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$40/mofirst paid tier About PulumiVisit site - Free planFree trial apiLinuxmacOSself-hostedWebWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free plan Linuxself-hostedWindowsRecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms
- Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free planFree trial apiself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Compute Engine, Hetzner Cloud, Latitude.sh, Linode, OVHcloud, Microsoft Azure, Vultr
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$23/mofirst paid tier About Cloud 66Visit site - Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 29 /user/mo
- Policy governance
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$45/mofirst paid tier About CycloidVisit site - Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$1,000/mofirst paid tier About Platform9 Private Cloud DirectorVisit site - Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedRecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms
- apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- OpenStack, Microsoft Azure, AWS, DigitalOcean, VMware vCenter, OpenNebula
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - self-hostedWebRecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms
- apiself-hostedWeb
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Fusion, SUSE Rancher, CNCF-conformant Kubernetes
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Free trial Linuxself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- No
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$50/mofirst paid tier About HPE Morpheus VM Essentials SoftwareVisit site - apiself-hostedWeb
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, VMware, OpenStack, private clouds
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - apiLinuxmacOSself-hostedWindows
- Cloud coverage
- hybrid
- Cloud providers
- Amazon EC2, Amazon EKS, Canonical Kubernetes, Equinix Metal, Google GCE, Google GKE, LXD, MAAS, Manual, MicroK8s, Microsoft AKS, Microsoft Azure, OpenStack, Oracle OCI, VMware vSphere
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - apiLinuxself-hostedWeb
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - AndroidiOSWeb
- Policy governance
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- No
- Cloud coverage
- single
- Cloud providers
- Google Workspace
- Policy governance
- Yes
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Provisioning automation
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Windows
- Free plan
- No
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms
Is your app on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which cloud management software is ranked first on Everything Xiaomi?
Terraform is ranked #1 of 32 with a score of 7.4. Cloudforet is second and Pulumi third.
How many of these have a free plan?
12 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Terraform has the lowest first paid tier we found: $0.10/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes: documentation depth, a free tier and the platforms it runs on. Paid placements never change a rank.