Top Blue Box Alternatives for Private Cloud as a Service
Blue Box has established itself as a significant player in the Private Cloud as a Service (PCaaS) market, leveraging OpenStack to deliver managed, hosted private cloud solutions. With a focus on industries like healthcare, financial services, and digital media, Blue Box provides the control, performance, and security essential for diverse business needs. However, as with any specialized service, businesses often seek alternatives that might offer different features, pricing models, or integrations. This article explores the best Blue Box alternative options available today.
Top Blue Box Alternatives
Whether you're looking for greater flexibility, specific integrations, or a different approach to managed private cloud, these alternatives offer robust solutions to consider.
Heroku
Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud. As a Freemium service available on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Web, it offers features like Custom DNS, DNS management, Automated deployment, Command Line support, Python, and VPS capabilities, making it a strong Blue Box alternative for developers prioritizing ease of deployment and scalable application management.
OpenStack
OpenStack, the core technology behind Blue Box, is a global collaboration of developers producing an open-source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds. Being a free and open-source platform available on the Web, it provides foundational features like Cloud IDE and Web Development, making it an excellent Blue Box alternative for organizations seeking to build and manage their own cloud infrastructure with full control and customization.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a commercial web service from AWS that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Available on Windows, Linux, and Web, it is designed for web-scale computing, offering developer tools, scalability, and robust web hosting. For those seeking a highly scalable and widely adopted commercial Blue Box alternative, EC2 provides extensive infrastructure options.
Cloud Foundry
Cloud Foundry is an open-source PaaS designed for Java, Ruby, Python, and Node.js applications. As a free, open-source platform available on the Web, it includes features such as PHP IDE, MongoDB, Python, and Ruby support. It serves as a compelling Blue Box alternative for developers and enterprises prioritizing open-source solutions for application deployment and scaling.
Google Compute Engine
Google Compute Engine is Google's commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering, known for its speed and scalability. Available on the Web, it allows users to launch virtual machines on demand. While no specific features were provided, its robust global infrastructure makes it a strong Blue Box alternative for organizations seeking a highly reliable and performant cloud computing platform from a major provider.
Exoscale
Exoscale is a commercial IaaS cloud platform headquartered in Switzerland, catering to individuals, developers, and businesses worldwide. Available on the Web with competitive pricing, it boasts features like S3 storage support, SSD Storage, VPS hosting, Dynamic DNS, and general VPS and VPS Server Hosting. For those valuing European data residency and comprehensive IaaS features, Exoscale is a notable Blue Box alternative.
Last.Backend
Last.Backend is an Open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Available for Free on Linux, it offers Continuous Deployment, Continuous Integration, and Support for Docker. This makes it an ideal open-source Blue Box alternative for teams focused on modern containerized application workflows and self-managed infrastructure.
CloudVPS
CloudVPS is a commercial cloud provider based in the Netherlands, offering flexible cloud solutions from single machines to complex load-balanced clusters. Available on the Web, its features include VPS, Virtualization, and Web hosting. For businesses seeking a reliable European-centric Blue Box alternative with strong VPS and web hosting capabilities, CloudVPS is a solid choice.
Scalingo
Scalingo is a commercial PaaS that simplifies the deployment, update, and scaling of apps and their data in the cloud. Available on the Web with tiered pricing, it supports Php, PhpMyAdmin, Python, and Ruby. For developers wanting to focus on application development rather than system administration, Scalingo provides a highly convenient and efficient Blue Box alternative.
CloudOps
CloudOps specializes in managed private and public cloud services, application delivery controllers, cloud building, and managed services. As a commercial service available on the Web, it offers Cloud Storage and Web hosting features. For organizations seeking comprehensive managed services to complement or replace their Blue Box setup, CloudOps provides expert support and infrastructure management.
Choosing the right Blue Box alternative depends heavily on your specific requirements for control, scalability, pricing, and managed services. We encourage you to explore these options further to find the best fit for your private cloud and application hosting needs.