Upgrade from Sonatype Nexus

Cloudsmith is a fully-managed, infinitely-scalable alternative to Sonatype Nexus

Modern pipelines need modern tools. See why Sonatype customers are switching to Cloudsmith.

Why Cloudsmith is a modern alternative to Sonatype Nexus

Instead of wrestling with setup headaches, performance issues, hidden add-ons, or unreliable UX, Cloudsmith gives you a modern, lightweight, and fully managed alternative to Sonatype - designed to keep artifact management simple, scalable, and secure.
    Designed for reliability, built for builders
    Cloudsmith was built for the cloud era from day one. There’s nothing to install, patch, or maintain. We handle the infrastructure, so your teams can focus on what they actually care about: building and shipping great software, faster and more securely. A lot has changed in how software is built since Sonatype was founded in 2001. They helped pioneer software component management, but their products were designed for an on-prem world that no longer exists. That legacy shows customers might run into regressions when updating, limited scalability, and availability that doesn’t meet modern expectations. Sonatype only launched its first SaaS offering for Nexus Repository in 2025 - a late move that still carries the weight of on-prem complexity.
    Global speed, guaranteed uptime, elastic by design
    Cloudsmith’s fully managed, cloud-native architecture, powered by a globally distributed edge network, delivers consistently fast artifact access wherever your teams and pipelines run. Unlike legacy tools tied to static, self-managed setups, Cloudsmith scales dynamically to meet demand without performance drops. With proven uptime, built-in resilience, and zero operational overhead, Cloudsmith adapts as your business evolves, without manual intervention.
    Stay ahead of emerging threats with built-in governance
    As software supply chain threats evolve, governance must evolve too. Cloudsmith integrates security, compliance, and governance into every stage of the software supply chain with native enterprise policy management. Define and automate rules for access, integrity, and retention at scale, in code, and aligned with your internal policies. It’s governance that supports developers where they are, without the friction of manual oversight or extra add-on tools.
    A better developer experience, from day one and beyond
    Every aspect of Cloudsmith is designed with developers in mind. From white-glove onboarding and expert migrations to intuitive daily workflows, the experience is seamless from day one. From automated tasks to real-time insights to responsive human support, every part of the Cloudsmith platform is designed to reduce friction and keep your teams focused on building, not waiting in ticket queues.
    Built for the future: Cloudsmith AI/ML format support
    AI is transforming how software is built, distributed, and consumed, and your artifact platform should keep up. That’s why Cloudsmith is rolling out early access support for AI/ML model formats, including critical packaging and delivery workflows for machine learning artifacts. Cloudsmith is creating a platform that handles not just containers and packages but also the next generation of artifacts powering AI and machine learning pipelines.

Migrating from Sonatype Nexus to Cloudsmith

Thinking about moving off Sonatype? You're not alone. More and more teams are migrating to Cloudsmith for a modern, cloud-native alternative to Sonatype Nexus.
Sonatype Nexus to Cloudsmith Migration Guide

Download our migration planning resources

We’ve compiled a no-pressure guide to help you assess a migration project. While every migration is driven by a bespoke support plan, this guide breaks down the key steps involved in most migrations.

Image of our migration guide
Cloudsmith is key to our CI/CD and DevOps stack now. It should be a tool in the DevOps toolkit for everyone.

Saju Pillai

Senior VP of Engineering

Before

Kong were struggling with an on-premises solution which was constraining their software distribution. They looked for a fully-managed solution to boost reliability and enable future scaling.

With Cloudsmith
  • Fully managed software distribution solution
  • Highly available solution
  • Fast, friendly service
Results
  • 3 salaries saved per year
  • Zero outages since adopting Cloudsmith
  • Increased reliability & uptime
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Customers love Cloudsmith
G2 most implementable spring 2025G2 momentum leader spring 2025G2 high performer spring 2025G2 usability spring 2025G2 results spring 2025
Technical documentation

Technical documentation to support your migration

We’ve compiled a range of technical resources to enable your migration to Cloudsmith.

Frequently asked questions

  1. Yes. Both are artifact repository platforms, but with different operational models. Nexus requires self-managed deployment or hosting, while Cloudsmith is a fully managed SaaS solution. Choose based on your infrastructure preferences and operational capacity.

  2. Teams choose Cloudsmith over Sonatype Nexus for its simplicity and speed, there’s no infrastructure to manage, onboarding takes minutes, and built-in governance supports compliance out of the box. It also offers a lower total cost of ownership, a 99.95% uptime SLA, and a more modern, developer-friendly experience with seamless integrations.

  3. Cloudsmith eliminates infrastructure management while providing elastic scaling, global edge delivery, integrated governance, and lower operational costs. You focus on shipping software, not managing repository infrastructure.

  4. Cloudsmith handles the migration end-to-end, including artifact transfer, configuration setup, policy alignment, and CI/CD integration. The process is fully supported and designed to minimize disruption, enabling teams to move with confidence while quickly realizing improved performance and reduced operational overhead.

Talk to us about switching from Sonatype Nexus