Upbound
The Cloud-Native Framework for Platform Engineering
IvaraX Analysis
Crossplane is an open-source Kubernetes-based framework that enables organizations to build custom control planes for managing infrastructure and applications. Backed by Upbound and the CNCF, it provides a flexible foundation for platform engineering teams to create self-service developer experiences with enterprise-grade security features.
Key Strengths
- +Strong foundation built on proven Kubernetes architecture and security model
- +CNCF backing provides community credibility and long-term project sustainability
- +Highly extensible design accommodates diverse infrastructure and application needs
- +Vendor-neutral approach avoids lock-in while integrating with cloud-native ecosystem
- +Recent v2 release demonstrates active development and expanded application orchestration capabilities
Ideal For
- →Platform engineering teams building internal developer platforms
- →Organizations seeking to standardize infrastructure provisioning across multi-cloud environments
- →Enterprises with existing Kubernetes expertise looking to extend orchestration capabilities
- →Companies wanting to create self-service infrastructure experiences for development teams
Things to Consider
- !Requires Kubernetes knowledge and expertise to implement effectively
- !As an open-source framework, commercial support requires engagement with Upbound or other vendors
- !Building custom control planes demands upfront investment in platform design and configuration
About Upbound
Crossplane is an open-source cloud-native control plane framework developed by Upbound and maintained as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project. Built on the foundation of Kubernetes, Crossplane enables organizations to orchestrate applications and infrastructure across any environment, allowing platform engineers to create custom APIs and self-service platforms similar to how major cloud providers operate. The framework empowers teams to encapsulate policies, permissions, and guardrails behind custom APIs, enabling developers to provision infrastructure without becoming infrastructure experts. The project is designed with extensibility at its core, offering Providers that extend orchestration capabilities to new kinds of applications and infrastructure, as well as Configurations that expose new APIs. Crossplane leverages Kubernetes' battle-hardened reliability and security features, including Role Based Access Control (RBAC), to manage resources beyond just containers. As a vendor-neutral, Apache 2.0 licensed project, Crossplane maintains a strong community focus and integrates seamlessly with popular cloud-native tools.
Why Choose Upbound
- Build custom control planes with your own APIs tailored to specific orchestration needs
- Leverage Kubernetes foundation for enterprise-grade security and reliability including RBAC
- Extensible architecture with a library of Providers and Configurations to accelerate platform development
- Vendor-neutral open-source project backed by CNCF with strong community support
- Enable developer self-service without requiring deep infrastructure expertise
Services
Platform EngineeringControl Plane DevelopmentInfrastructure OrchestrationKubernetes Extension
Technologies
KubernetesCloud Native
Tech Stack(detected from website)
KubernetesCloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) ecosystemApache 2.0 licenseRBAC (Role Based Access Control)Declarative APIs
Industries Served
Categories
Company Info
- Headquarters
- US
