Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to frequently asked questions. For information about Neterial product, explore our docs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to frequently asked questions. For information about Neterial product, explore our docs.
Common Questions
Neterial is a Portable Cloud that helps you run Kubernetes, databases, and more on your own cloud, without vendor lock-in or unnecessary complexity. Most managed Kubernetes solutions add extra costs and restrictions. We give you the same automation but with full control and lower expenses.
We’re a small, independent company, just like the startups we build for. We know the struggles because we live them. We’re not backed by giant corporations. We just want to create genuinely useful products that help other teams move faster, and stay in control of their own infrastructure. Our team has 12+ years of experience in cloud services, so we know what we’re doing.
Cloud infrastructure can be a headache. It’s often expensive, complex, and filled with hidden restrictions. Startups end up overpaying for Managed Kubernetes, Databases, etc. before they even validate their business idea.
Neterial gives you a better way:
- Save money – No vendor lock-in, no hidden expenses. Just the raw cloud costs + a transparent, predictable fee that scales with your infrastructure.
- Full control – Your infrastructure stays 100% yours. If you stop using Neterial, nothing breaks.
- Less complexity – We handle Day-2 operations (automation, updates, etc.), so you don’t have to.
- Multi-cloud flexibility – Move between providers without rebuilding everything from scratch.
If you want predictable costs, fewer headaches, and more freedom, Neterial is built for you.
Unlike many managed Kubernetes platforms, Neterial:
- Runs on your cloud – if you stop using Neterial, your infrastructure stays up and running.
- Doesn’t lock you in – move between cloud providers whenever you want.
- Costs less – we don’t add markup to your infrastructure costs.
- Gives you full control – you own everything, no reliance on proprietary tech from cloud providers.
- Built for startups and small teams – See transparent pricing upfront, sign up instantly, skip sales calls, and start using right away.
- Startups looking for cost-efficient infrastructure options for their MVP or aiming to optimize cloud costs by leveraging multiple free-tier options.
- Indie developers who want an easy way to deploy Kubernetes without deep expertise.
- Teams that value flexibility and want to avoid vendor lock-in.
How It Works
A Portable Cloud means your cloud infrastructure isn’t tied to a specific provider. You rent only the raw compute, networking, and security services from a cloud provider, while everything else comes with you, managed by Neterial platform. We provide an abstraction layer, so you don’t have to learn the specifics of each cloud. If your cloud provider stops working for you, you can move your infrastructure elsewhere with minimal effort (subject to the capabilities of each provider).
You bring your own cloud – AWS, Hetzner, or another provider we support. To set things up, our platform needs secure access to your cloud, which happens through an API Token (it’s completely safe). Once connected, we handle the rest: installing and managing Kubernetes, databases, and any other apps you need from our App Marketplace, all deployed directly onto your cloud.
You continue paying your cloud provider for compute resources, while Neterial takes care of the automation, management, and simplicity. Your infrastructure remains 100% yours, and if you ever decide to move on, you always can.
Right now: AWS, Hetzner. More are coming soon. We plan to add GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean, and OVH in the near future. If your provider isn’t on the list, please let us know, and we’ll try to help.
With most managed services, you don’t truly own your infrastructure. You’re renting access to the provider’s managed Kubernetes, databases, and other services. The moment you stop paying, everything disappears. And if you decide to leave, you’ll likely have to pay for data transfer, migration services, or other hidden fees.
Neterial changes this. Your infrastructure runs on standard open-source software, directly on your cloud provider’s low-level services (compute, networking, etc.). That means you stay in control – no reliance on proprietary modifications from hyperscalers. If you decide to move, you can take your setup with you, without rebuilding everything from scratch.
Getting Started
Sign up, connect your cloud, and deploy your first Kubernetes cluster and apps in minutes. No credit card required.
Start with any supported provider (AWS, Hetzner). If you’re looking for the most cost-effective option, Hetzner Cloud is a great choice.
For the Startup Plan, we offer email and chat support with a standard SLA – 8x5xNBD. For advanced plans, we provide an extended SLA and additional contact options. Please contact us for more information.
Pricing & Costs
Most cloud providers charge a premium for managed services like Kubernetes and databases – often 3x more than the actual compute cost. We skip the extra fees by running vanilla versions of these services directly on your infrastructure, cutting costs significantly.
We have a fixed, predictable pricing model that is significantly cheaper than AWS/GCP/Azure managed services. You pay separately for:
- Your cloud provider’s virtual machines and other basic cloud services like load balancers, S3, security tools
- Neterial’s automation & management platform – fixed subscription price + scaling component, no hidden fees
See our Pricing Plans for more information.
No. You pay your cloud provider directly for compute resources and other services, and we charge only our subscription fees.
Security & Control
We follow strict security practices to ensure your infrastructure remains safe. API tokens are stored securely. They grant only the minimum required access for Neterial to function. You can revoke or rotate them at any time.
And where is the guarantee that you won’t create anything unnecessary in my cloud account?
Neterial never modifies your infrastructure without an explicit action from you. The API Token is used strictly for the following:
- Deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters, databases, and other selected apps
- Handling automated updates and scaling based on your input
- Providing monitoring and management capabilities
Nothing happens unless you trigger it. You can always inspect your cloud provider’s dashboard to verify exactly what’s deployed.
No.
We recommend using scoped API tokens that limit access to specific resources. For example, in Hetzner, you can create a separate project and issue a token that only applies to that project – isolating it from the rest of your infrastructure. This ensures Neterial has no access to unrelated parts of your cloud account.
If you revoke the API Token, Neterial will lose access immediately and won’t be able to make any changes to your infrastructure. However, your Kubernetes clusters and applications will continue running as usual, since everything is deployed on your cloud provider.
Just your email. We use Google OAuth for login, so we never store passwords. For billing and payments, we use Stripe, meaning we never store your credit card details or other sensitive information. Please, see our Privacy Policy to learn more.
SLA & Reliability
If our control panel or API experiences downtime, your infrastructure keeps running without any impact, because it’s hosted on your cloud provider, not us. Once we’re back online, management operations will resume as normal.
Your infrastructure stays up because it runs on your cloud provider, not ours. Kubernetes, databases, and apps—everything keeps working as before, but from that moment, you’ll need to manage it yourself. We hope it never happens! :)
- Redundant Infrastructure: Our management platform runs on a highly available cloud setup to minimize downtime.
- Cloud-Native Design: Since everything is deployed on your cloud provider, service interruptions on our side do not affect your workloads.
- Scoped Access: Your infrastructure remains secure and operational even if Neterial becomes unavailable.
By default, Neterial is designed for public cloud providers, and on-premise deployments are not included in our Startup Plan. However, our advanced plans offer support for on-premise installations, bare-metal hardware, and private cloud environments. Due to the unique configurations of on-premise setups and private clouds, we can evaluate this option only after discussing your specific needs. Reach out to us, and we can discuss potential solutions.
