The described technology is generally directed towards predicting a need for provisioned (e.g., cloud computing) resources so that the provisioned resources are proactively provisioned and operational before their actual need. Historical data is used to predict upcoming resource demand so that resources begin to be scaled up to meet demand in advance, at a prediction time, given that there is a “spin-up” delay between requesting resources and their actual availability. The predictive resource provisioning is adaptable to override customary historical data with expected exceptions, and is flexible to handle variable spin-up times, constraints, and optimizations.