Selecting an optimal combination of cloud resources within budget constraints, by a processor. All possible combinations for cloud resource bundles are computed which are available for allocation. The possible combinations are filtered according to predetermined criteria. The filtered possible combinations are divided into a first set that satisfies an overall workload demand for resources and a second set that partially satisfies the overall workload demand for resources. A level of goodness may be calculated for one or both of the first and second sets, and resources may be allocated from the first or second set to a cluster according to the calculated level of goodness. In some embodiments, the level of goodness may be defined based on the relative desirability (i.e., a user's preference) of aspects such as compute power, cost of resources, and the distribution or co-location of respective resources of the cloud resource bundles.