Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) changes how modern infrastructure runs. Instead of giving your data to a SaaS vendor, you deploy their software inside your own cloud account. You keep control, privacy, and compliance, while still benefiting from managed automation. For teams running data-sensitive, AI, or financial workloads, BYOC means owning the environment without rebuilding it from scratch.
TL;DR
- BYOC lets you run vendor software in your cloud while the vendor manages the control plane.
- You retain full data ownership and compliance boundaries inside your VPC.
- It’s ideal for enterprises balancing security, cost, and modernization.
- Vela delivers a true BYOC Postgres Data Platform — fast, compliant, and zero-trust by design.
What Is BYOC?
BYOC is a deployment model where the vendor’s platform runs inside your own cloud infrastructure. The vendor provides updates, orchestration, and support, while your data and compute stay inside your environment. This gives enterprises full control over networking, security policies, and compliance — without losing the benefits of managed software.
Confluent and Northflank popularized this model for organizations that cannot allow sensitive data to leave their VPCs. It eliminates the classic SaaS trade-off between innovation and control. With BYOC, you can meet strict data sovereignty rules while maintaining agility across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Why BYOC Matters for Modern Platforms
Cloud security and compliance requirements are tightening. Many teams already have advanced policies, IAM rules, and monitoring pipelines. BYOC allows vendors to integrate into that framework rather than forcing data into external systems. This alignment reduces operational risk and eliminates redundant infrastructure.
BYOC is also about cost optimization. Running workloads in your own account means using your reserved instances, spot capacity, and network credits. You can apply your own scaling logic and resource allocation strategies while still using the vendor’s orchestration and automation layer.
BYOC vs SaaS vs Self-Managed
- Fully-Managed SaaS: Easiest to operate but data lives in the vendor’s cloud. Less control, easier operations.
- Self-Managed: You host and maintain everything — updates, uptime, and security are your responsibility.
- BYOC: Hybrid model where the vendor’s software runs in your cloud, offering control without the heavy lift.
For regulated industries and AI builders, BYOC often becomes the default choice. It aligns data governance, reduces latency, and supports high-performance architectures without giving up enterprise security controls.
How Vela Makes BYOC Practical
- True zero-access architecture: Vela runs in your account, with no vendor access to data or IAM roles.
- Kubernetes-native orchestration: Built on KubeVirt, enabling full Postgres + storage + compute lifecycle management.
- Instant database cloning: Create isolated, copy-on-write Postgres branches for dev, staging, or AI fine-tuning.
- Unified AI backend: Vela unifies Postgres, object storage, and APIs into one Postgres Data Platform for AI and analytics workloads.
- Cost visibility: Use your own cloud billing, reservations, and credits for predictable total cost of ownership.
BYOC isn’t about adding complexity — it’s about keeping control where it belongs: with you. Vela gives enterprises a BYOC-first Postgres platform with zero vendor access and full automation.
Who Needs BYOC?
- Enterprises with strict data sovereignty or compliance boundaries.
- AI and analytics teams needing high-performance Postgres close to their compute.
- Fintech, healthcare, or defense organizations requiring zero-trust isolation.
- Platform teams consolidating multi-cloud data services under a single control plane.
BYOC for Postgres and AI Workloads
Traditional Postgres hosting services operate as black boxes. Vela’s BYOC model rethinks that. Your data stays in your VPC, while Vela automates scaling, branching, and snapshots through a Git-like workflow. For AI builders, this means databases that clone in seconds and connect seamlessly to vector stores and pipelines.
BYOC turns Postgres into a true Postgres BaaS — but one that runs in your environment. It’s a secure foundation for model training, observability data, and production workloads.
What to Do Next
See how Vela simplifies BYOC and Postgres operations: