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Upbound

upbound.io

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Spec score 8.7 #4 of 31 in Platform Engineering Software

What it is

Upbound provides infrastructure and platform teams with tools to build, run, and govern control planes across infrastructure estates. Its framework exposes resources across clouds, vendors, and systems through a programmable API and manages them toward a defined desired state. Upbound Insights offers a live, searchable view of resources across connected control planes. Development tools include control plane projects, IDE integration, unit and end-to-end testing, simulations, and instant development control planes. Official Providers are enterprise-supported integrations for AWS, Azure, and GCP. The marketplace handles provider, function, and configuration packages, with public and private listings, repository management, and package documentation. Official Packages include SBOMs, CVE summaries, and SLSA Level 2 signing. Upbound says it meets SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 27018:2019, and ISO 27001:2022 certifications. The platform supports full self-hosting, including air-gapped deployments. Pricing is consumption-based, with plan minimums and charges per resource per hour. Community is free; Standard starts at $1,000 a month. Qualified prospects can receive guided trials and proof-of-value projects for Enterprise and Business Critical features.

Spec sheet

What it does
Upbound provides Kubernetes and Crossplane based control planes that provision, operate and govern infrastructure across clouds and services through programmable APIs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Purpose
Upbound provides a platform for infrastructure and platform teams to build, run, and govern control planes across their infrastructure estate.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Trial
Upbound says qualified prospects can receive guided trials and proof-of-value projects for Enterprise and Business Critical features, and Team Plan customers can pilot for any length of time.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Integrations
Upbound Official Providers are pre-built enterprise-supported integrations for AWS, Azure, and GCP.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Security
Upbound states that it meets SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 27018:2019, and ISO 27001:2022 certifications.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Support
The Standard tier includes Basic Support, Enterprise includes Enterprise Support, and Business Critical includes Dedicated Support.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Headquarters
Upbound states that it is headquartered in San Mateo, California.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Founded
2017Read 28 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
API and SDK extensibility
Projects define custom resource APIs, compositions and reusable functions, with language options including KCL, Go and Python.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Backup and restore
Console supports manual backups, scheduled backups and restore operations for control planes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
CLI
The Up CLI supports project initialization, API scaffolding, composition functions, local runs, tests, builds and package pushes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Company founding
Upbound was founded in 2017.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Company legal name
Crunchbase lists the legal name as Upbound, Inc.Read 15 Oct 2026 · crunchbase.com
Console
Console is a web interface for viewing and managing Upbound products and control planes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Crossplane foundation
Upbound is the creator and primary maintainer of Crossplane, a CNCF graduated open-source control-plane framework.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Development tools
Platform tooling includes control plane projects, IDE integration, unit and end-to-end testing, simulations, and instant development control planes.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Documentation depth
Documentation includes guides, manuals, CLI how-tos, architecture, deployment prerequisites, IAM, production hardening and API references.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Fleet visibility
Upbound Insights provides a live searchable view of resources across connected control planes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Funding
Upbound describes itself as a Series B startup backed by GV, Altimeter Capital and Intel Capital, with $69 million raised.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Hosting
The platform offers full self-hosting, including air-gapped deployments, while the Business Critical tier lists self-hosted Space, Console, and Hub.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
IDE integration
Upbound provides a VS Code extension that activates in workspaces containing Crossplane packages.Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.visualstudio.com
Identity and RBAC
Upbound IAM provides organization-wide identity and Kubernetes resource-level role-based access control, with viewer, editor and admin roles.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Infrastructure management
Its control plane framework exposes infrastructure across clouds, vendors, and systems through a programmable API and manages resources to maintain a defined desired state.Read 29 Sep 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Limit: documentation and support
A Reddit discussion reports that some users find Upbound documentation weak and professional support slow.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Limit: provider access
Reddit users complain that some provider versions or fixes are restricted to paid Upbound platform tiers and that upgrades can destabilize clusters.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Marketplace
The marketplace supports provider, function, and configuration packages, with public and private listings, repository management, and package documentation.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Notable news: Upbound v3
On August 19, 2026, Upbound announced v3 with fleet-wide governance, Insights, disaster recovery, SBOM/CVE marketplace data and air-gapped self-hosting.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Official integrations
Official Providers supply supported integrations for AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, OpenTofu, Vault and other services.Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.upbound.io
Open-source licensing
The archived Universal Crossplane repository is publicly available under Apache-2.0, but it is deprecated and current UXP development is internal.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Praise: control-plane scale
The sole G2 reviewer praised self-service flexibility, governance, reliability and security while scaling organizations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Pricing basis
Upbound says pricing is based on consumption, plan tiers have consumption minimums, and resources are billed per resource per hour.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Provider licensing
Upbound's provider-upbound repository is Apache-2.0 licensed and exposes managed resources for Upbound services.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Provider security
Official Providers include schemas for KCL, Python and Go, SBOMs, signed artifacts and SLSA Level 2 supply-chain security.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Rating on Capterra
0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Rating on G2
4.0 out of 5 from 1 reviewRead 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Secrets management
Shared Secrets can project external secrets from a central keystore into control planes across deployment modes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Security certifications
Upbound states that it holds SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 27018:2019 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Security testing
Upbound says external parties regularly perform security assessments and penetration tests, with reports available to customers by permission.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Self-hosted requirements
Self-hosted Hub requires Kubernetes 1.29 or newer, an ingress or Gateway controller, TLS, external PostgreSQL 18 or newer and an OIDC provider.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Self-hosting
Upbound supports self-hosted Spaces, Console and Hub, including fully air-gapped deployments in its v3 platform.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Supply chain
Upbound Official Packages include SBOMs, CVE summaries, and SLSA Level 2 signing.Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Supported infrastructure
Upbound officially supports Hub dependencies running on AWS, GCP or Azure; other clouds and on-premises deployments are possible but unsupported.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.upbound.io
Unified API
Hub indexes resources across connected control planes and exposes one API for platform teams, portals, compliance systems and AI agents.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Unified platform
The platform combines control-plane projects, managed lifecycle services, fleet governance, Console, Hub, Insights and a package marketplace.Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io

Plans and prices

Community Free Everything included in Community is referenced as part of Standard; no price or limits stated on the tier card Read 29 Sep 2026 · upbound.io
Community Free Free to install · open to all Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.upbound.io
Standard $1,000 a month Starting at $1,000/month* Enhanced Runtime · Official Packages · Spaces · Identity IAM · RBAC · up to 5 control planes · up to 10 team members · basic support Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Business Critical Priced on request Custom Pricing Self-hosted Space, Console and Hub · advanced security · advanced hosting · dedicated support · Upbound Insights add-on Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io
Enterprise Priced on request Custom Pricing Unlimited team members · unlimited control planes · enterprise security · fleet management · SSO/SAML · enterprise support Read 15 Oct 2026 · upbound.io

Every Upbound plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Programmable API manages resources toward a desired state
  • Live searchable view spans connected control planes
  • Official Providers cover AWS, Azure, and GCP
  • Supports self-hosting, including air-gapped deployments
  • Official Packages include SBOMs and CVE summaries

Limits

  • Standard starts at $1,000 a month
  • Pricing is consumption-based with plan minimums

Who it suits

Upbound is for infrastructure and platform teams building and operating control planes across connected environments. Its self-hosting options may suit organizations that need air-gapped deployments.

Verdict

Upbound offers control plane development, management, and fleet visibility, with both cloud and self-hosted deployment options. Buyers should account for consumption-based billing and request pricing for tiers without listed prices.

Where Specifiction places it

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