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What Is Hybrid Cloud? When Is It the Right Choice?

Hybrid cloud runs on-premises systems and public cloud under one operating model. Why organizations choose it, its hidden costs and how to set it up.

Oğuzhan Gerçek··6 min read
What Is Hybrid Cloud? When Is It the Right Choice?

Short answer: Hybrid cloud means using at least two separate cloud infrastructures together, connected to each other: most often a private cloud or on-premises systems alongside a public cloud. Each workload runs where it fits best: regulated data stays in the country, variable load runs in public cloud. Opening accounts in two places does not make a hybrid cloud; the real work is running both sides with a single identity, network, monitoring and cost model.

What is hybrid cloud?

Under NIST's SP 800-145 definition from 2011, a hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community or public). They remain separate entities but are bound together by technology that lets data and applications move between them. The example NIST gives is cloud bursting: when the private cloud runs out of capacity, the excess load spills over into public cloud.

Most organizations work this way today. According to Flexera's 2026 State of the Cloud report, 73% of organizations use hybrid cloud, up 3 points in a year. Among companies with more than 5,000 employees, the figure rises to 78%.

Hybrid cloud vs multi-cloud

The two terms are often confused:

  • Hybrid cloud: A combination of different kinds of infrastructure. Typical example: on-premises or private cloud plus a public cloud.
  • Multi-cloud: Using more than one public cloud provider together. For example, one workload on AWS and another on Azure.

Most large organizations use both: a private cloud in-house and two separate public clouds next to it. The difference shows up in operations rather than terminology: every new provider means a separate identity model, a separate network design and a separate bill.

Why do organizations use hybrid cloud?

  • Data residency and regulation: In Türkiye, personal data moving to a cloud abroad counts as a transfer under the KVKK (Türkiye's personal data protection law). The rules that took effect on June 1, 2024 opened routes such as adequacy decisions and standard contracts; a standard contract must be notified to the KVKK Authority within five business days of signing. See our KVKK article for the details. For banks, BDDK regulation limits the models further (our BDDK article). In a hybrid model this data stays in the country while the rest benefits from public cloud elasticity.
  • Variable demand: Short-lived loads such as campaign periods, month-end or AI training run in public cloud; the steady base load stays on your own capacity.
  • Gradual migration: Not every application is suited to the cloud. A legacy ERP or a hardware-bound system can stay where it is while new services are born in the cloud.
  • Latency: Applications tightly coupled to systems on the factory floor or on premises run close to them so they don't pay network latency on every call.

The challenges of hybrid cloud

The cost of hybrid cloud rarely shows on the architecture diagram; it shows up on the bill and on the on-call rota:

  • Data egress fees: Providers keep moving data in free and charge for moving it out. According to the Amazon S3 pricing page, data transferred in from the internet is free, while data transferred out to the internet is charged beyond the first 100 GB a month. In an architecture where data flows constantly between the two sides, this line adds up.
  • Leaving a provider: In 2024, Google Cloud, AWS and Azure waived egress fees for customers leaving their platforms entirely, each with its own conditions. In the EU, the Data Act has applied since September 12, 2025, and switching and data egress charges are removed entirely after January 12, 2027. These rules apply when you leave; in day-to-day operations, traffic between the two sides is still charged.
  • Two sets of operations: Identity management, monitoring, backup and security policies are set up separately on each side. If they are not unified, an incident means two screens, two logs and two separate teams.
  • Cost visibility: In the same Flexera research, 85% of organizations name managing cloud spend as one of their biggest challenges. If resources are not tagged with the team and the purpose they belong to, nobody can read a hybrid bill; we describe the method in our FinOps article.

How do you set up a hybrid cloud architecture?

  1. Classify the workloads. Three questions for each application: how sensitive is the data, how variable is the demand, how sensitive is it to latency? The answers decide where the application lives.
  2. Map the dependencies. According to Flexera, the biggest barrier to cloud migration, cited by 54% of organizations, is understanding application dependencies. In a migration done without knowing which system calls which, a missing dependency only shows up at the first outage; you can find the method in our dependency mapping article.
  3. Design the connectivity. A private line or VPN, routing policies and the expected traffic volume between the two sides. That traffic volume also sets your egress cost.
  4. Unify identity and access. Separate user and permission management on each side means a departing employee's access can stay open on one of them.
  5. Set up shared monitoring and backup. Both sides visible from one screen during an incident, and a written record of which side each backup lives on.
  6. Write the exit plan up front. How to move a workload from one provider to another, or back on premises, should be known before the need arises.

Frequently asked questions

What does hybrid cloud mean? Using at least two separate infrastructures together, connected to each other, such as a private cloud or on-premises systems and a public cloud.

Is hybrid cloud the same as multi-cloud? No. Hybrid cloud combines different kinds of infrastructure (for example, private cloud and public cloud). Multi-cloud means using more than one public cloud provider together. An organization can use both.

Is hybrid cloud secure? The model is neither secure nor insecure by itself. What raises the risk is running the two sides under separate rules: different permission models, logs that are not brought together and the connection between the two sides itself. Shared identity management and central monitoring reduce that risk.

Which workload should go where? Regulated data and steady, highly utilized workloads usually belong in a private cloud or on infrastructure inside the country; variable and short-lived workloads are more economical in public cloud. The decision should be made per workload, not per organization.

Is hybrid cloud expensive? It is more complex to set up than a single model, but with workloads placed correctly the total cost can fall. The two usual sources of unexpected cost are egress fees and running the two sides separately.

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