Calico Cloud: SaaS networking and network security for Kubernetes

I have been using Calico Cloud between 2022 to 2024. I worked on a project focused on security and vulnerability scanning within our containers. Calico Cloud was implemented because the company wanted to understand their security architecture within our orchestration environment, as we were using Kubernetes and running on AWS. We were also using AWS Inspector, but Calico Cloud was injected within the system to help with security, particularly within the containers.

My main use case for Calico Cloud is security. Calico Cloud has developed a cloud-native solution for the security of containers. You are able to have insights into your cloud security posture management (CSPM), gaining an understanding of your security posture within your containers and how to design your security system. Within Kubernetes, you have your container security interface (CSI), which Calico Cloud is able to build something native for and is able to secure your containers, ensuring they are well secured within their ecosystem.

When you log in to the console, everything was mostly click-based. You see different options on the console where you can check your posture or scan your containers for vulnerabilities. You can see whether vulnerabilities are high or low, and you are able to apply the best security posture to protect your containers so that no one is open and vulnerable to attack. Everything was connected, and you could see the different policies in place.

Calico Cloud is cloud-native. The moment you log in to the console, you have different applications to check for vulnerabilities. You have knowledge of different vulnerabilities from standards such as NIST that you could check against. By setting the policies, you are ensuring that no one has access to your app and that it is well protected. You create policies to prevent someone from logging into a particular container, and since it has its native container security interface, this helps protect against unauthorized access or damage in the cloud.

The best features Calico Cloud offers include the CSI itself and the ease of integration with your CSI. The interface has also improved; when I started using it, I noticed the landing page from the left-hand side of your console was user-friendly. Through Calico Academy, you can learn quickly how to use Calico.

The UI/UX is fantastic, and I believe companies continue improving it.

Regarding improvements for Calico Cloud, there is a need to build agentic security systems. I believe Calico Cloud is progressing towards this, and I believe they can enhance their teaching methods to facilitate adoption.

Documentation needs continuous improvement. It is good and easy to read, but it can get better. Having a searchable summary feature, such as a chatbot, could help users quickly resolve issues without having to read extensive documentation.

At the moment, I do not believe there are more improvements needed, but as mentioned earlier, there should be a focus on better documentation, possibly by embedding chatbot features that could respond to user prompts effectively.

I have been using Calico Cloud between 2022 to 2024.

Calico Cloud is stable.

Calico Cloud is scalable. I do not believe there is a question about that; it has over the years demonstrated its scalability and the adoption of products across the industry.

Customer support is good. I mainly relied on documentation, but I believe the relationship between vendors and our management team was effective, and I did not hear complaints about support.

I joined the company and started using Calico Cloud from the beginning, so I cannot comment on previous solutions. The decision for solutions often depends on an organization's needs and industry requirements, leading to a cloud-native approach without dependency on a single vendor.

The integration process of Calico Cloud with existing systems has its challenges. When integrating, especially with AWS, navigating through various providers is necessary. With the rise of generative AI, embedding guidance into the integration process could help users troubleshoot effectively.

In terms of governance and security, my understanding is that it is about protecting users by ensuring their information is not public and thus not exploited. I believe Calico Cloud follows the necessary security and governance standards, which assures users that deploying their agentic systems is secure.

The return on investment from using Calico Cloud is evident, as the company has effectively been using it for years. Calico Cloud not only secures our network infrastructure but also assures that we are not incurring costs due to breaches, which is a significant factor in the ROI.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Calico Cloud was determined by management who evaluated the costs related to potential breaches. They decided that the cost of implementing Calico Cloud outweighed the risk of not having it based on our industry needs.

I believe they evaluated other options, and it was determined that Calico Cloud is the leader in providing security within the cloud native ecosystem.

The impact of Calico Cloud is that we were able to achieve a more secure understanding of our security posture. We could access our containers, knowing full well that all policies set were followed through. We could see visually how everything was interconnected. That visual representation Calico Cloud has embedded into their design system is wonderful, and it has impacted our business positively.

Having access to vulnerabilities is essential. For example, when the Log4j issue occurred in December 2021, I joined the company in 2022. The company had a lot of internal and external facing applications that needed to be scanned by Calico Cloud. We ensured each application's vulnerabilities were addressed by reaching out to developers to upgrade Java versions. By scanning, we identified vulnerabilities, and we communicated with developers to fix urgent issues, demonstrating how Calico Cloud provided critical insights.

Calico Cloud helps me meet compliance requirements. You set your cloud security posture, and when you scan and see that it is failing, it indicates areas where Calico Cloud delivers security effectively.

My advice to others looking into using Calico Cloud is this: if it fits your needs, go for it without hesitation. Security is a priority in today's world, especially as industries scale globally.

I found the interview to be smooth and thorough, allowing exploration of my knowledge regarding Calico Cloud. Although it took longer than the stated time, the process was engaging. I would be glad if you could summarize my review in a short poem or haiku. My overall review rating for Calico Cloud is 8 out of 10.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

What do you like best about the product?

Calico makes network management simple and reliable. I like how it handles Kubernetes networking with strong security and clear visibility. It’s lightweight, performs well at scale, and integrates smoothly with existing infrastructure. The policies are easy to configure, and troubleshooting is much faster compared to other tools.

What do you dislike about the product?

Calico works great overall, but upgrading between versions can occasionally cause minor compatibility issues. I’ve also noticed that troubleshooting complex network policies can take extra time. The UI and monitoring options could be more intuitive for beginners who prefer visual tools over command-line configurations.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Calico solves the challenge of managing container networking and security at scale. It provides a clear way to control traffic between services and enforce policies consistently. This has improved overall network performance, reduced configuration errors, and given me more confidence in maintaining secure, stable Kubernetes environments.

What do you like best about the product?

I like that Calico makes it easy to manage network policies in Kubernetes. It keeps things secure and organized, without slowing everything down. Simple, fast, and reliable.

What do you dislike about the product?

Sometimes, Calico can be a bit tricky to set up, especially for beginners. If you’re not familiar with networking or Kubernetes, it might feel overwhelming at first. More straightforward guides would help.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Calico solves the problem of managing secure and efficient network traffic in Kubernetes. It helps control which apps can talk to each other, keeps things safe from unwanted access, and improves performance. This gives me confidence that my apps are running smoothly and securely.

What do you like best about the product?

What I like best about Calico Cloud is its deep integration with Kubernetes and its strong support for eBPF, which enables high-performance networking and observability. The user interface is intuitive, and the policies are easy to configure using either YAML or the GUI. It also supports zero-trust security models out of the box, which is essential in modern cloud-native environments.

What do you dislike about the product?

One downside of Calico Cloud is that the initial setup.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Calico Cloud helps us improve container security and stay compliant with cloud regulations. It lets us create network policies to control traffic between pods, monitor activity, and detect threats in real time. This makes it easier to secure our workloads and meet compliance standards like PCI and SOC 2.

What do you like best about the product?

Calico Cloud excels in providing enterprise-grade security features for Kubernetes environments. The platform offers exceptional network policy management and real-time visibility into container traffic. I particularly appreciate the intuitive policy builder that helps create and implement zero-trust security models. The live troubleshooting tools are invaluable for diagnosing connectivity issues, and the integration with existing cloud platforms is seamless. The dynamic threat detection and automated security controls have significantly improved our cluster security posture.

What do you dislike about the product?

The initial setup and configuration process can be challenging for teams without extensive Kubernetes expertise. The documentation, while comprehensive, could be more user-friendly with better examples and use cases. Some advanced features require considerable fine-tuning to work optimally, which can be time-consuming.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

The pricing structure could be more transparent, and the cost can be significant for larger deployments. Additionally, the UI occasionally feels sluggish when handling multiple clusters, and some error messages could be more descriptive to help with troubleshooting.

What do you like best about the product?

Calico Cloud enforces identity-aware microsegmentation and least-privilege access by default. It doesn’t just rely on IPs—workload identity (like Kubernetes labels and service accounts) is used to define policies. This helps achieve zero-trust security across clusters and clouds.

What do you dislike about the product?

Despite having a clean UI, the underlying concepts (like eBPF, policy tiers, workload identities) can be challenging for teams new to Kubernetes networking and security. Proper onboarding/training is often needed.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Lack of Fine-Grained Network Security in Kubernetes

> Solution: Calico Cloud allows me to define fine-grained, identity-based network policies that go beyond IP addresses — using labels, namespaces, and service accounts to tightly control traffic between workloads.

What do you like best about the product?

I like how Calico Cloud provides strong zero-trust security and deep observability for Kubernetes workloads.

What do you dislike about the product?

I dislike that some advanced features are only available in the paid version, limiting open-source flexibility.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Securing Kubernetes workloads in production.

What do you like best about the product?

What I like best about Calico Cloud is its strong focus on security and observability. The way it integrates with Kubernetes for network policies and zero-trust security feels seamless. Plus, the real-time visibility into workloads and traffic flows is super helpful for debugging and compliance.

What do you dislike about the product?

The UI can feel a bit overwhelming at first, especially for new users. There’s definitely a learning curve if you’re not already familiar with Kubernetes networking concepts. Also, some advanced features could use more detailed documentation or tutorials.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Calico Cloud helps us secure and manage Kubernetes workloads with fine-grained network policies and zero-trust security. It simplifies enforcing security at scale, especially across multiple clusters. The built-in observability tools also give us better insights into traffic patterns and potential vulnerabilities, which helps us troubleshoot faster and stay compliant.

What do you like best about the product?

What I found impressive was how Calico Cloud made the complex task of securing Kubernetes workloads much easier. I loved the fact that I could define granular network policies and immediately see the impact of the policies with traffic logs. The existing dashboards were very useful in understanding pod communication, potential threats and for visualizing gaps in compliance without having to flip back and forth between tools. This gave us both control and visibility in one spot, which is a rarity.

What do you dislike about the product?

I came upon one hurdle in the beginning of the onboarding — the documentation is quite comprehensive but doesn't take into consideration a reasonable amount of Kubernetes knowledge. I believe there are opportunities to improve straightforward policy creation through visualization or templating.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Calico Cloud aids us with achieving cloud compliance goals by providing enhanced visibility into our network activity with audit logs and granular policy controls. It enables us to enforce better segmentation, avoid unnecessary communication between services, and provide evidence of compliance for security reviews. To validate our posture during audits, it significantly reduces time spent to prep for an audit and gives our security team comfort in our cloud infrastructure.