A collaborative cloud deployment model in which infrastructure is shared between several organizations from a specific community. In a community cloud, access is limited to a specific group of users or multiple groups with shared interests, such as mission, policy or security requirements. A community cloud is owned, managed and operated by members of the community, a third-party cloud provider, or by both together.

The costs of a community cloud are spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a private cloud), so only some of the cost savings potential of cloud computing are realized.