The Сloud Has Lost Its Way. The Story of Neterial
Neterial starts with the simple realization: the cloud has lost its way!
Decades ago, cloud computing was sold as a game-changer. It was supposed to be cheaper, more efficient, and free businesses from the hassle of managing their own infrastructure. Instead, it has become a financial and operational trap. Companies are now paying 10 times more for cloud services than they would for their own servers. And leaving? That’s even worse. The cost and complexity of moving away from hyperscalers have turned cloud infrastructure into a high-stakes commitment that many can’t afford to break.
This isn’t just a problem for large enterprises. Startups, the very companies that should be agile and cost-conscious, are walking straight into the same trap. The promise of cloud credits makes it seem like a great deal at first – free resources to build and scale! But when those credits run out, founders are left with skyrocketing costs, locked into an ecosystem they never meant to commit to. Some companies, like Dropbox and Basecamp, saw the problem and fought their way out.
Price and vendor lock-in go hand in hand. The deeper a company integrates with a cloud provider, the harder it is to leave. Hyperscalers don’t just charge high fees – they create entire ecosystems designed to keep businesses dependent. Proprietary tooling, hidden data transfer costs, and migration hurdles make switching feel impossible. Many companies don’t stay because they want to; they stay because leaving is too expensive and risky.
Even when a company decides to break free, the process is daunting. It requires untangling proprietary services, rewriting integrations, and rethinking entire architectures. What starts as a cost-saving decision often turns into a massive engineering challenge, forcing teams to spend months, sometimes years, just regaining control over their own infrastructure. This isn’t just a financial issue – it’s a fundamental question of ownership and control.
And yet, for most companies, infrastructure isn’t the core of their business – it’s a means to an end. Startups don’t build to manage clusters, migrate workloads, or optimize cloud spend. They build to create products, serve customers, and grow. But today’s cloud model forces them to divert time, money, and engineering effort away from what actually matters. Instead of enabling innovation, it has become another layer of friction, making companies work for their infrastructure instead of focusing on their product.
That’s why we built Neterial. We believe infrastructure should serve the company, not the reverse. Founders should be able to test their ideas, launch their MVPs, and scale their businesses without worrying about whether their cloud bill will destroy their runway. They should have the freedom to grow on their terms, without vendor lock-in dictating their choices. And they shouldn’t have to sacrifice simplicity for flexibility – running infrastructure should be as straightforward as possible without losing control.
Neterial is designed with that philosophy at its core. We give startups and growing businesses a way to deploy their infrastructure efficiently, without overpaying or getting trapped in a walled garden. Our approach is simple: predictable pricing, no hidden fees, and no surprises. We keep things lean – no unnecessary bloat, no complicated abstractions. Just the tools teams need to build, scale, and move fast, with full control over their infrastructure.
What We Stand For
At Neterial, we believe developers should be in control of their infrastructure, not vice versa. Too many modern cloud platforms abstract critical decisions, leaving teams disconnected from how their applications actually run. We take a different approach – giving teams visibility, flexibility, and real control over their deployments. Whether they want to run workloads on-prem, in a hybrid setup, or in a multi-cloud environment, Neterial makes that possible without artificial restrictions. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions – every team should have the power to shape their infrastructure according to their unique needs.
Transparency is another core pillar of our philosophy. We reject the industry’s reliance on opaque pricing, hidden fees, and artificial limitations designed to lock users in. Our pricing is upfront, honest, and designed to scale alongside our customers. No bait-and-switch tactics, no unexpected bills – just a platform that works – rooted in trust and respect for the people who depend on it.
And above all, we believe infrastructure should empower, not constrain. The cloud was supposed to make things easier. We’re making sure it finally does.
The industry has spent years convincing everyone that the only way to build is through hyperscalers. But the reality is changing. With the venture market tightening and companies forced to be smarter about costs, the time for alternatives is now. Neterial isn’t just another cloud provider – we’re a way out of the trap. A way to build smarter, stay flexible, and keep costs under control from day one.
