Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to provide lifecycle management of custom resources in a cloud computing environment are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein for custom resource lifecycle management include accepting, with an extensibility service implemented by a virtual appliance, a resource definition and a lifecycle definition for a custom resource to be executed in a cloud computing environment. Disclosed example methods also include managing, with a lifecycle manager implemented by the virtual appliance, a lifecycle of the custom resource based on a state machine implemented according to the lifecycle definition for the custom resource. Disclosed example methods further include providing, with a catalog implemented by the virtual appliance, a catalog item for the custom resource, the catalog item based on the resource definition for the custom resource.