Everyone’s moving to the cloud — but not everyone is doing it the same way.
Some teams dive head-first into a cloud provider’s native services, from CI/CD to databases to Kubernetes. Others take a more controlled path — choosing to run OpenShift on top of that cloud instead.
Why the difference? Let’s break it down.
☁️ Option 1: Going All-In with Managed Cloud-Native Services
Imagine you build your app directly on AWS, Azure, or GCP using:
- Native Kubernetes (EKS / AKS / GKE)
- Cloud-native CI/CD pipelines
- Identity management (IAM / Azure AD / Google IAM)
- Logging & Monitoring (CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Cloud Logging)
- Fully integrated services and PaaS components
✅ What You Gain:
- Minimal Ops Overhead: Managed control plane, patching, scaling, etc.
- Rapid Feature Delivery: Cloud-native services evolve quickly
- Lower Cost of Ownership: Pay-as-you-go, no platform licenses
- Built-in Ecosystem: Seamless integrations with cloud services
- Tooling and Dev Experience: Great IDE and DevOps support
❌ What You Lose:
- Vendor Lock-in: Deep ties to provider-specific APIs and IAM
- Less Portability: Hard to move workloads across clouds or on-prem
- Limited Governance: Shallow RBAC, multi-tenancy, and policy controls
- Compliance Challenges: Some audit trails and enforcement may fall short
⛅️ Option 2: OpenShift on the Cloud (Any Provider)
This model means the cloud still provides the infrastructure (VMs, storage, networking), but the platform is OpenShift — bringing governance, CI/CD, policies, and developer experience.
It could be Red Hat-managed (like ARO, ROSA), or self-managed within your cloud subscription.
✅ What You Gain:
- Enterprise Governance: Fine-grained RBAC, SCCs, quotas, etc.
- Auditability & Compliance: More control over logs, TLS, security policies
- Hybrid Cloud Ready: Same platform experience on any cloud or on-prem
- Lifecycle Control: Full control over upgrades and platform policies
- Multi-Tenancy: Projects isolate dev teams securely
- Internal Tooling Integration: Easy to connect with internal systems
❌ What You Trade-Off:
- Ops Overhead: You need a platform team or Red Hat support
- Slower Start: Initial setup is more complex
- Higher Cost: Platform + infra + support
- Cloud Integration Effort: Need to wire up storage, IAM, etc.
🤔 Why Do Enterprises Still Choose OpenShift?
Because their top priorities aren’t just speed and cost. Their priorities are:
- Governance
- Compliance
- Hybrid Flexibility
- Standardization
- Risk Management
For banks, insurers, and government bodies, having full control over the platform layer is worth the additional complexity.
🔍 Summary Table
| Feature | All-In Native Cloud | OpenShift on Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Ops Overhead | ✅ Low | ❌ Medium-High |
| Developer Velocity | ✅ High | ✅ High (with policies) |
| Platform Control | ❌ Limited | ✅ Full |
| Vendor Lock-in | ❌ High | ✅ Low |
| Compliance & Audit | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Enterprise-grade |
| Multi-Tenancy | ⚠️ Basic | ✅ Strong, project-based |
| Hybrid Cloud Readiness | ❌ Difficult | ✅ Built-in |
| Cloud-native Integrations | ✅ Seamless | ⚠️ Requires effort |
🎯 Final Thought
If you want speed, go native. If you want control, go OpenShift.
Startups thrive on agility and cost-efficiency. Enterprises invest in consistency, security, and governance.
Two paths. Both valid. Just shaped by different realities.
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