A method for deploying virtualized network functions (VNFs) as virtualized implementations of logical network devices in a virtualized computing environment for providing network services, the method including determining a VNF deployment plan including a specification, for each point in time over a planning period, of zero or more VNF instances to be released at the point in time and zero or more VNF instances to be deployed at the point in time, wherein the deployment plan is determined by an optimization function based on: a constraint on a number of VNFs in all states of undeployed, being deployed, deployed and being release; constraints based on a demand for VNFs defined by characteristics of the VNFs and the virtualized computing environment; and constraints based on a capacity of the virtualized computing environment to accommodate a resource consumption of the VNFs, and wherein the optimization function is configured to minimize one or more of: a number of VNFs in a deployed state; and a resource cost of deploying and releasing VNFs; and executing the VNF deployment plan to deploy VNFs for the virtualized computing environment.