. In that time, I’ve learned a lot from our customers that I’d like to share.

The world needs a SaaS artifact management platform. 

Large software development teams want and need Cloudsmith. We’re the only enterprise-scale multi-tenant SaaS alternative to the two main products that have dominated market share over the past decade - JFrog Artifactory and Sonatype Nexus. Many of our customers and prospects tell us they’re anxious to switch to a cloud-native SaaS backbone that's inherently multi-tenant, where the vendor (that's us) manages one massive-scale instance that serves all customers.

There’s a real market for well-built, developer-friendly artifact management tooling.

 Our competitors are building horizontally. They’re adding native tools for things like CI/CD and security scanning. We fundamentally believe differently. We think developers want to use best-of-breed DevOps tools from vendors like Harness, CircleCI, Snyk, and Chainguard, rather than be pushed into accepting versions of these tools from their artifact management vendor. So we focus on integrating with, rather than competing against, the most innovative companies in the DevOps ecosystem. And we can do this better, because we’re SaaS.

Better artifact management is at the core of software supply chain security. So we’re laser-focused on building a truly great artifact management platform. One that developers and DevOps teams love. That’s built to work at web scale, without the infrastructure hassles. And we’re finding that developers agree!

The early appeal of Artifactory and Nexus was to provide a local copy of artifacts, just in case the original source was temporarily unavailable. That was a “nice to have,” but artifact management has morphed into a “must-have.” I’m seeing four key trends driving the elevation of this requirement -

The explosion in use of open-source software (OSS) as ingredients in the software supply chain. Where developers 10+ years ago might have used a few OSS packages here and there, today OSS makes up as much as 90% of all deployed code in production.

The rapidly growing threat environment in popular OSS registries like npm (Javascript), pypi (Python), Maven Central (Java), NuGet (.NET), and Docker Hub. Malware and other vulnerabilities are lurking all across these indexes, and the bad guys are getting smarter and more aggressive.

The rise of containerization, along with the ubiquitous use of publicly-sourced containers as building blocks.

The recognition of the need to methodically structure and control the software supply chain, leading to standards like Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts (

) and Secure Supply Chain Consumption Framework (

Developer-native software distribution is a game-changer.

 Many of our largest customers rely on Cloudsmith to deliver free and paid versions of their own SDKs and packages, relying on a combination of Cloudsmith repos, our global package delivery network, and our entitlement tokens to gate and monitor downloads. Our capabilities here go well beyond what’s available from traditional artifact management vendors, and it’s a natural extension of our platform since we’re already cloud-native SaaS.

“Me-too” artifact managers are nice, but you quickly outgrow them.

 We’ve seen the hyperscalers and source code platforms release their own artifact managers in recent years. But we’re finding their ambition and feature breadth to be more suited to small teams, rather than the enterprise-scale development teams Cloudsmith is built for. Using a hyperscaler-native tool like AWS CodeArtifact may be a good way to get started, but limited format support, analytics options, vulnerability scanning, and customizability seems to quickly push dev teams to look for more dedicated artifact management tools like Cloudsmith.

We’re committed to doing one thing - being the world’s software supply chain - and doing it incredibly well. 

Glenn Weinstein

A CEO’s Reflections: 6 Months In

I heard something recently, that resonated, about success. In a simple (but not easy) three-step plan; success happens when the following three things align:

A great example is, of course, Steve Jobs and Apple. The contrarian idea was that every single human would need a personal computer. He was proven right. And he executed expertly (with a few ups and downs obviously!)

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” - Steve Jobs

When we started Cloudsmith, our contrarian idea was that all software artifacts belong in the cloud. It’s the only place to democratize the accessibility of open-source software AND the software you build yourself. Back in 2016, there were some discussions about software bills of materials (SBOMs), package dependencies, and software security; but no one had yet popularised the notion of Software Supply Chain Management (SSCM).

Cloudsmith was one of the first companies to identify SSCM as a burgeoning problem and built a platform (and service) to solve this issue for customers and the wider ecosystem. It was a hard problem to solve.

We have been proved right; SSCM is now an accepted industry-wide discipline.

At the beginning of the year, as co-founder and CEO, I came to the conclusion that we needed a refresh in management. After positive discussions with the Board, we agreed to investigate the possibility of bringing in a strong go-to-market leader, based in our primary market, the US. We had a large list of other criteria but it had to include a history of success in growing startups and serving the software development community.

We got lucky. Again.

Fairly early on in the process, I was introduced to Glenn Weinstein, then the Chief Customer Officer at Twilio. We had an instant rapport, and a fun initial conversation relating his background to Cloudsmith.

About a week later, we scheduled interviews with three “round 2” candidates on the same day. I remember the feeling of relief when I realized the first call was with Glenn. It was an important moment. The feeling was really telling. He instantly jumped to the top of the list.

We spoke to some fantastic candidates all with excellent pedigree but Glenn always and consistently stood out.

A Computer Science graduate, a veteran of the US Navy, a co-founder of a startup that grew into a mature exited business, and a customer-focused C-Level executive at one of Silicon Valley’s best tech companies.

When we kicked off the process, Jason at Daversa Partners said if we did everything right, we could get someone hired in about 4 months.

do everything right but still managed to do it within 4 months.

Fortune favors the bold. We’ve been bold 

Glenn started on August 21st, and it's been an awesome whirlwind for us both. His people skills, his awareness, and his positive attitude have given the team a new growth mindset.

I look forward to many years working closely with him, to build Cloudsmith into the tech juggernaut we know it will be.

So to Glenn, I ask one thing; Go execute massively.

PS: Thank you to the following people for their support and advice throughout this process; Steve, Nicola, Jason, Sarah, Will, Danielle, and last but never least, Lee.

Alan Carson

Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer

Welcoming new leadership at Cloudsmith - a note from Alan Carson

Cloudsmith celebrates being honored with two prestigious G2 awards: "Best Relationship Summer 2023" and "High Performer Summer 2023". Discover how our commitment to exceptional customer service and a best-in-class software supply chain management platform earned us these badges.

We're excited to share some fantastic news! Thanks to the unwavering support and positive feedback from our incredible users, Cloudsmith has been honored with two prestigious awards from G2: "Best Relationship Summer 2023" and "High Performer Summer 2023". These reflect our commitment to delivering exceptional customer service and a best-in-class software supply chain management platform.

Cloudsmith: A High Performer with Best-in-Class Relationships

Our users have shared their experiences with Cloudsmith on G2, contributing glowing reviews through and through. Their invaluable feedback has led to this recognition, and we are committed to continue to provide excellent developer experience and support to everyone. We believe that our users are the heart of our platform, and these awards are a testament to the strong relationships we've built with them. We're dedicated to maintaining this high level of customer satisfaction and will continue to strive for excellence in all our interactions.

Our goal has always been to equip our customers with the tools they need to manage their software supply chain more efficiently and securely. Seeing our customers succeed and grow with our platform is the most rewarding part of our work.

You might be wondering what makes Cloudsmith stand out from other software supply chain management platforms. The answer lies in our deep understanding of the complexities of managing software assets, while always putting the developer experience at the forefront of everything we do. We understand that no two teams work the same, and flexibility and scalability are two core tenants of how we operate. We believe in a human-first approach to software development, with our own engineers always at hand to help when needed.

Cloudsmith is more than just a software supply chain management platform. It's a solution designed by developers, for developers. We've taken our firsthand experience and used it to create a platform that addresses the unique challenges developers face. From managing dependencies to ensuring secure distribution, Cloudsmith is designed to be the source of truth for software everywhere. We like to think we are more than just a tool; we are part of your journey to building amazing products.

We are here to empower teams to deliver software faster, without restrictions of managing different asset types, while remaining scalable and cost-efficient. From source to delivery — with complete trust, control, and security. We're committed to providing a platform that not only meets the needs of today's developers but also anticipates the challenges of tomorrow.

We couldn't have achieved this without you! The feedback we receive from users on G2 is invaluable to us. It gives us great insight into what we are doing well and how we can improve. We're always looking for ways to enhance our platform and services, and your feedback is a crucial part of that process. Every review, every comment, every suggestion helps us shape Cloudsmith into a better platform.

Here are just a few of the brilliant reviews from our users on G2 that make us feel proud:


"For us, it's a developer first platform. That means that you have clear, full documentation and mostly every single edge case you could think of out of the box. For those questions or things that seem a bit unusual, a quick chat with support results in either resolution or a feature request which is properly considered and often makes it into the platform."

"It is so easy get started with the tool! There is a description for every feature and even for 3rd party tools that just work with cloudsmith. You also have a very clear and structured overview of your repositories and packages. It works great with different package managers."

"Cloudsmith is easy to use, has comprehensive features we need and has excellent support from the Cloudsmith team."

On behalf of all of us here at Cloudsmith, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to our incredible customers for their continued support. Your success is our success, and we're excited to continue working with you to make software supply chain management as efficient and secure as possible.

Be sure to head over to our profile on G2 to see other reviews that customers have left for us—or if you're in the mood—

As we celebrate these achievements, we're also looking forward to the future. We're committed to continuous improvement and innovation, and we're excited about what's to come. We'll continue to listen to your feedback, enhance our platform, and provide the exceptional service you've come to expect from us.

We're not just looking at the next quarter or the next year; we're looking at the next decade. We're committed to staying at the forefront of software supply chain management, anticipating the challenges of the future, and providing solutions that meet those challenges head-on.

Thank you for choosing Cloudsmith. Here's to more success together! We're excited to continue this journey with you, and we can't wait to see what the future holds.

Cloudsmith blog

A CEO’s Reflections: 6 Months In

Welcoming new leadership at Cloudsmith - a note from Alan Carson

Celebrating Success: Cloudsmith Recognized by G2