Techniques for orchestrating workloads based on policy to operate in optimal host and/or network proximity in cloud-native environments are described herein. The techniques may include receiving flow data associated with network paths between workloads hosted by a cloud-based network. Based at least in part on the flow data, the techniques may include determining that a utilization of a network path between a first workload and a second workload is greater than a relative utilization of other network paths between the first workload and other workloads. The techniques may also include determining that reducing the network path would optimize communications between the first workload and the second workload without adversely affecting communications between the first workload and the other workloads. The techniques may also include causing at least one of a redeployment or a network path re-routing to reduce the networking proximity between the first workload and the second workload.