Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2)
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What is Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2)
Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) is a managed deployment option for running the Nutanix HCI stack (including AOS and AHV) on supported public cloud infrastructure. It is used by IT and infrastructure teams to extend on-prem Nutanix environments into the cloud for use cases such as disaster recovery, burst capacity, and application migration with consistent operations. NC2 emphasizes operational consistency with existing Nutanix tooling while consuming cloud compute and storage resources.
Consistent Nutanix operations
NC2 uses the same Nutanix software stack and management interfaces that many organizations already run on-premises. This reduces the need to redesign operational processes when extending workloads to the cloud. It can simplify migrations for applications that already depend on Nutanix constructs such as storage policies and cluster management workflows.
Hybrid DR and mobility
NC2 supports hybrid scenarios where workloads can be moved or recovered between on-prem Nutanix clusters and cloud-based clusters. This is commonly used for disaster recovery, temporary capacity expansion, and data center exit projects. The approach can reduce re-platforming effort compared with rebuilding applications directly on cloud-native primitives.
Cloud consumption with HCI stack
NC2 lets teams consume public cloud infrastructure while keeping an HCI-based operational model. This can be useful for organizations standardizing on Nutanix for virtualization and storage management but needing cloud elasticity. It provides an alternative to building and operating a full private-cloud control plane for these use cases.
Nutanix-centric architecture
NC2 is designed around the Nutanix stack, so it is not a general-purpose multi-cloud management layer for heterogeneous platforms. Organizations with mixed hypervisors, multiple private-cloud stacks, or strong cloud-native standardization may find the model less flexible. Some governance and automation needs may still require separate tooling outside the Nutanix ecosystem.
Public cloud scope constraints
NC2 availability and capabilities depend on supported public cloud providers, regions, and instance types. This can limit where clusters can be deployed and what performance profiles are practical. Teams may need to validate provider-specific prerequisites and service limits before committing to production designs.
Cost and licensing complexity
Total cost includes both Nutanix licensing/subscription and underlying public cloud infrastructure charges. Running an HCI stack on cloud instances can be less cost-efficient for certain steady-state workloads compared with using cloud-native services. Budgeting can be complicated by variable cloud consumption, networking egress, and DR replication patterns.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (consumption-based, metered hourly) Free tier/trial: 30-day free trial available for NC2 on AWS (software only); cloud provider infrastructure costs apply. Example costs (NCI licensing only, USD):
- z1d.metal — NCI Pro: $2.496 per node/hour ($21,864.96 yearly); NCI Ultimate: $3.144 per node/hour ($27,541.44 yearly); Security add-on: $0.504/hr; Adv Replication add-on: $0.312/hr.
- i3.metal — NCI Pro: $3.744 per node/hour ($32,797.44 yearly); NCI Ultimate: $4.716 per node/hour ($41,312.16 yearly); Security add-on: $0.756/hr; Adv Replication add-on: $0.468/hr.
- i4i.metal / AN64 / other larger bare-metal SKUs — NCI Pro and NCI Ultimate listed (examples: i4i.metal NCI Pro $6.656/hr, NCI Ult $8.384/hr).
- EUC (End User Computing) Ultimate: $0.061 per user (hourly/PAYG).
- NUS (Nutanix Unified Storage) Pro: $0.112 per TiB (hourly/PAYG). (First 1 TiB free per cluster.) Notes:
- Prices shown on Nutanix site are for Nutanix software licensing only; AWS/Azure/Google cloud provider charges for bare-metal instances and other cloud services are billed separately by the cloud provider.
- Multi-year BYOL (1–5 year term) / capacity-based licensing is supported — for specific multi-year pricing customers are directed to contact Nutanix or use cloud marketplace listings. Discount options:
- BYOL/multi-year term licensing (capacity-based) — contact Nutanix for pricing.
- Marketplace listings (AWS/Azure) may include on-cloud pricing and billing options; Nutanix also references subscription/commitment discounts (contact sales for CC-35/CC-100 or volume discounts).
Seller details
Nutanix, Inc.
San Jose, CA, USA
2009
Public
https://www.nutanix.com/
https://x.com/nutanix
https://www.linkedin.com/company/nutanix/
