Hystax
Hystax provides enterprise cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup software (Hystax Acura) and an open-source FinOps/MLOps/AI governance platform (OptScale) for organizations running workloads across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, and Kubernetes.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSunnyvale, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Hystax does
Hystax is a privately held cloud infrastructure software company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It operates a dual-product portfolio built around two platforms: Hystax Acura, an enterprise cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup platform supporting any-to-any workload movement across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, Virtuozzo, oVirt, OpenNebula, KubeVirt, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, AWS, Azure, GCP, and Alibaba Cloud; and OptScale, an Apache 2.0 open-source FinOps and MLOps platform later extended with OptScale AI for enterprise AI governance.
Technically, Hystax Acura differentiates through a Direct2Target migration engine that operates without target-platform API dependencies, paired with agentless block-device replication, WAN-optimized compression, deduplication, low RPO/RTO recovery, and instant workload launch on target sites. OptScale ingests multi-cloud cost and usage telemetry to drive reservation recommendations, Kubernetes cost optimization, and MLOps profiling; OptScale AI (launched May 2026) adds an LLM gateway, guardrails, anomaly detection across AI agents, and analytics with sub-50ms routing latency and claimed up to 40% LLM spend reduction.
Commercially, the company runs a hybrid go-to-market: an enterprise field-sales motion targeting large IT estates (named customers include Airbus, Bentley, Nokia, DHL, PwC, T-Systems, and an unnamed global US payroll market leader for whom Hystax migrated 4,500+ VMware VMs to Red Hat OpenStack); an open-source self-serve funnel via GitHub; an MSP/CSP partner program for multi-tenant DR/backup resale; and content/webinar-driven demand generation. Revenue is generated through subscription software licenses, annual maintenance contracts, professional services for migration and implementation, and channel licensing — but no revenue figures are publicly disclosed. Leadership comprises co-founder and CEO Nick Smirnov and co-founder and CTO Max Bozhenko, and the company maintains memberships in the Linux Foundation and the OpenInfra Foundation.
Hystax firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Hystax
- Legal name
- Hystax Inc.
- Website
- https://hystax.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Hystax provides enterprise cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup software (Hystax Acura) and an open-source FinOps/MLOps/AI governance platform (OptScale) for organizations running workloads across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, and Kubernetes.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Hystax industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cloud Migration & Disaster Recovery Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Hybrid Cloud Compute & Virtualization Stack (HCI/VMs/Kubernetes) (HDABAMAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA), Compute Resource Management & Scheduling (Cluster/Workload Managers) (HDABADAK), MLOps/LLMOps & Model Lifecycle Management Services (BPAEAHAH)
Keywords
Where Hystax is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sunnyvale
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Hystax business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Licenses: Perpetual or time-limited software licenses for Hystax Acura cloud migration and disaster recovery solutions, with license fees payable within 30 days of invoice
- Maintenance and Support: Annual maintenance contracts providing software updates, enhancements, online support, and bug fixes
- Professional Services: Consulting, implementation, and migration services including dedicated engineers for enterprise deployments
- Channel Partner Licensing: Licensing arrangements with MSPs and CSPs for multi-tenant disaster recovery and backup offerings
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | OptScale AI Free Tier |
| Subscription | Annual | OptScale AI Enterprise |
| Freemium | Monthly | OptScale (FinOps/MLOps) |
| Subscription | Annual | Hystax Acura Enterprise |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Hystax product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Hystax develops and sells Hystax Acura, an enterprise-grade cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup platform that supports any-to-any workload movement across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, KubeVirt, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, Virtuozzo, oVirt, and OpenNebula. It also offers OptScale, an Apache 2.0 open-source FinOps and MLOps platform for multi-cloud cost optimization (AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba, Kubernetes), extended by OptScale AI for enterprise AI governance including LLM routing, security guardrails, analytics, and AI agent control.
Product overview
Hystax offers a dual-product portfolio consisting of Hystax Acura and OptScale. Hystax Acura is an enterprise cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup platform supporting any-to-any workload migration across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, Virtuozzo, oVirt, OpenNebula, KubeVirt, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, AWS, Azure, GCP, and Alibaba Cloud environments. OptScale is an open-source (Apache 2.0) FinOps, MLOps, and AI governance platform comprising OptScale FinOps for multi-cloud cost optimization, OptScale MLOps for ML/AI profiling and optimization, and OptScale AI for enterprise AI governance. The company provides professional certification programs (HCME and HCMA) and emphasizes solutions for organizations migrating from VMware to open infrastructure platforms.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Hystax Acura: Cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup software platform for enterprise-grade workload protection and any-to-any cloud migration.
- OptScale
- OptScale AI
Products and services
- Hystax Acura Enterprise-grade platform for cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup that delivers fully automated any-to-any workload movement across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, KubeVirt, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, Virtuozzo, oVirt, and OpenNebula, with agentless replication, low RPO/RTO, network traffic compression, and instant workload launch on the target site. Sold to enterprise IT and infrastructure teams responsible for migration projects and business continuity.
- Hystax Acura Disaster Recovery & Cloud Backup Disaster recovery and backup module of Hystax Acura that provides agentless replication, low RPO and RTO, and block-device data retention, replicating infrastructure settings including tenants, subnets, and flavors for OpenStack environments. Used by enterprises and service providers who require business-continuity-grade protection of virtualized and cloud workloads.
- OptScale Open-source (Apache 2.0) FinOps and MLOps platform distributed via GitHub that monitors and optimizes cloud expenses, performance, and operations across AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, and Kubernetes through multi-cloud cost management, Kubernetes cost optimization, and ML/AI profiling and instrumentation. Targeted at FinOps, platform, and ML engineering teams seeking a self-hosted or cloud-managed cost-optimization stack.
- OptScale AI Enterprise AI governance platform built on OptScale that provides an AI Gateway for routing between local and public LLMs, Security & Guardrails (including content filtering and PII protection), Analytics & Tracing, and AI Agent Control with anomaly detection; available as a cloud SaaS or on-premises solution. Designed for organizations deploying LLM and AI agent workloads that need cost control, audit-ready logs, and operational governance.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 40% LLM cost reduction with OptScale AI
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Hystax
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Hystax technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature8 records
Hystax partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- SelectelminorRussian data centre services provider Selectel and Hystax jointly launched a disaster recovery service built on the Hystax Acura platform. The service enables companies to establish dedicated storage on Selectel's cloud platform, allowing rapid restoration of IT systems and business applications in case of primary infrastructure failure.
- OpenInfra FoundationcoreHystax joined the OpenInfra Foundation as a Supporting Organization to reinforce commitment to open infrastructure principles. Contributes experience in large-scale VMware-to-OpenStack migration projects to the broader open infrastructure ecosystem.
- Linux FoundationcoreHystax is a member of the Linux Foundation, supporting open source infrastructure communities.
- MirantiscoreHystax has delivered projects across OpenStack-based environments in collaboration with Mirantis, focused on enabling platform independence, reducing migration risk, and strengthening operational resilience.
- Red HatcoreHystax collaborated with Red Hat on VMware-to-OpenStack migration projects, with Hystax featured on the official OpenStack website as a migration technology provider for organizations moving toward open infrastructure.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Hystax competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Druva: Druva delivers cloud-native backup, disaster recovery, and data protection delivered as SaaS, directly comparable to Hystax Acura's cloud-based DR/backup proposition for enterprise customers.
- Trilio: Trilio provides backup, disaster recovery, and migration for OpenStack and Kubernetes environments, directly overlapping with Hystax Acura's niche in open infrastructure data protection.
- Zerto: Zerto provides enterprise disaster recovery and cloud migration software for virtualized and hybrid environments, directly competing with Hystax Acura's DR/migration positioning, particularly for VMware-heavy estates.
- Spot.io (Flexera): Spot.io (now part of Flexera) provides cloud cost optimization, Reserved Instance/Savings Plan automation, and FinOps capabilities that directly overlap with OptScale's RI/SP optimization and cloud cost management features.
- Kubecost: Kubecost is an open-source Kubernetes cost monitoring and optimization platform (Apache 2.0) that competes directly with OptScale's Kubernetes cost management capabilities and open-source distribution model.
- N2WS (Veeam): N2WS (now part of Veeam) provides cloud-native backup and disaster recovery for AWS, Azure, and GCP workloads — directly comparable to Hystax Acura DR/backup for public cloud customers.
- Morpheus: Morpheus delivers hybrid cloud management and application migration orchestration across OpenStack, VMware, and public clouds, closely aligned with Hystax Acura's any-to-any migration positioning.
Broad incumbents
- Veeam: Veeam is a leading enterprise backup and disaster recovery vendor with broad virtualization and cloud support, competing head-on with Hystax Acura in DR/backup RFPs across hybrid environments.
- Apptio (Cloudability): Apptio, including the Cloudability FinOps product, is a market-leading cloud cost management and FinOps platform that competes directly with Hystax's OptScale FinOps offering.
- CloudHealth (VMware): CloudHealth by VMware is a longstanding FinOps and multi-cloud management platform that competes with OptScale for cloud cost visibility and optimization budgets at enterprise VMware shops.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Hystax social profiles
Digital presenceHystax financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Hystax leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Hystax funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Hystax M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Hystax
What does Hystax do?
Hystax develops and sells Hystax Acura, an enterprise-grade cloud migration, disaster recovery, and backup platform that supports any-to-any workload movement across VMware, OpenStack, KVM, KubeVirt, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, Virtuozzo, oVirt, and OpenNebula. It also offers OptScale, an Apache 2.0 open-source FinOps and MLOps platform for multi-cloud cost optimization (AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba, Kubernetes), extended by OptScale AI for enterprise AI governance including LLM routing, security guardrails, analytics, and AI agent control.
Is Hystax a public or private company?
Hystax is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Hystax founded?
Hystax was founded in 2016. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Hystax based?
Hystax is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States, in the North America region.
How does Hystax make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Software Licenses are the primary driver. The others are maintenance and Support, professional Services and channel Partner Licensing.
Who are Hystax's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Druva, Trilio, Zerto, Spot.io (Flexera), Kubecost, N2WS (Veeam) and Morpheus. Broad incumbents are Veeam, Apptio (Cloudability) and CloudHealth (VMware).
Does Hystax have an API?
No public API is recorded for Hystax.
What industry is Hystax in?
Hystax's product category is Cloud Migration & Disaster Recovery Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAMAF, Hybrid Cloud Compute & Virtualization Stack (HCI/VMs/Kubernetes), with a secondary code of HDAEANAA, End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.