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Canonical OpenStack
canonical.com
What it is
Canonical OpenStack lets organizations run applications in their own data centers while giving teams self-service access to computing resources on demand. It is based on upstream OpenStack code and described by Canonical as 100% open source. Automation uses MAAS and Juju, spanning bare-metal provisioning through applications. Its architecture uses Kubernetes, OCI images, and snaps; Canonical says this decouples OpenStack from the underlying Ubuntu operating system. Canonical Ceph is included by default and supports up to 128 TB of data per node. The stack also includes an expandable Kubernetes layer, observability, Landscape system management, and MAAS bare-metal automation. Listed workloads include HPC and AI/ML, telco NFVI, sovereign clouds, local or regional public clouds, and edge infrastructure. Organizations can deploy the cloud themselves or have Canonical design, build, test, and validate it. The plan costs nothing, with no license or subscription charge; commercial support and consulting are separate. Support includes 24/7 phone and ticket coverage, with a stated one-hour response for Severity 1 issues. On-demand Kubernetes is currently in beta.
Spec sheet
- What it does
- Canonical OpenStack provides elastic, on-demand compute, networking and storage through a self-service portal or upstream OpenStack APIs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Purpose
- Canonical OpenStack lets organizations host applications in their own data center with a public cloud-like experience.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Integrations
- The product includes an expandable Kubernetes layer, an integrated observability stack, Landscape system management and MAAS bare metal automation.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Compliance
- Canonical support includes CIS and DISA-STIG hardening profiles and conformance for sectors such as telecom, government and financial services.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Support
- Commercial support includes 24/7 phone and ticket coverage, with a stated one-hour response time for Severity 1 issues.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- API compatibility
- Canonical states that its upstream OpenStack foundation guarantees API compatibility.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Architecture
- Its cloud-native architecture is based on Kubernetes, OCI images and snaps, which Canonical says decouples OpenStack from the underlying Ubuntu OS.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Automation
- It automates cloud operations from bare metal provisioning through applications, using MAAS and Juju across the stack.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Bare-metal automation
- Canonical MAAS provides bare-metal provisioning and is included in Canonical consulting packages for OpenStack.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Ceph storage
- Canonical Ceph is included by default and supports up to 128 TB of data per node without additional cost.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- CLI
- The OpenStack client command line interface supports bulk operations and administrative automation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Cloud-native architecture
- Sunbeam isolates OpenStack components and decouples them from the underlying operating system.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Deployment model
- The platform supports single-node clouds and multi-node clouds for greater capacity and resilience.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Deployment options
- Customers can deploy Canonical OpenStack themselves or have Canonical design, build, test and validate the cloud for them.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Documentation depth
- Official documentation includes tutorials, step-by-step how-to guides, technical reference material and conceptual explanations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Extensibility
- Deployment and operation use Juju charms, Rocks OCI images and Snaps as extensible artifacts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Getting started
- Canonical's learning tutorial uses one dedicated physical machine with at least 4 amd64 cores, 16 GiB RAM, 100 GiB SSD storage and Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- GPU and acceleration
- The platform supports GPU virtualization and other acceleration technologies for HPC and AI/ML workloads.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Kubernetes layer
- Canonical OpenStack can provide an expandable Kubernetes layer that users provision from the dashboard.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Licence
- OpenStack software is fully open source and existing OpenStack software uses the Apache License 2.0.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.openstack.org
- Limit: complexity
- G2 reviewers report that setup and operation can be daunting or complex for inexperienced Linux and cloud users.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
- Limit: customization and migration
- TrustRadius reviewers request more VM configuration choices, stronger privilege controls and better VMware migration tooling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Limit: storage and networking choices
- The reference design supports Ceph storage and OVN networking as the only supported options, with third-party storage integrations described as forthcoming.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Limit: support
- G2 reviewers repeatedly mention limited or absent dedicated vendor support unless commercial services are purchased.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
- Limit: upgrades and HA
- Reviewers report challenging upgrades, a need for better high availability and incomplete GUI coverage compared with the CLI.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
- Maker headquarters
- Canonical lists its headquarters in London, England.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
- Maker legal name
- The maker identifies itself as Canonical Ltd.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Multi-node requirements
- Minimum multi-node requirements are a 16-core amd64 CPU, 32 GiB RAM, 500 GiB SSD root disk, 1 Gbps networks and three nodes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Notable limitation
- The comparison page says its on-demand Kubernetes service is currently in beta.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Observability
- The integrated observability stack collects metrics, distributed traces, logs and alerts into one dashboard.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Offline deployment
- Canonical OpenStack is designed for fully offline deployments for public-sector and sovereign-cloud use cases.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Open source
- Canonical describes the product as 100% open source and based on upstream OpenStack code.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Praise: cost
- G2 reviewers repeatedly describe Canonical OpenStack as cost-effective or cheaper than proprietary public-cloud alternatives.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
- Praise: documentation and community
- TrustRadius reviewers cite full documentation for self-learning and community support that saves engineering time.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Praise: flexibility and scale
- TrustRadius reviewers praise flexible virtual-machine deployment, heterogeneous-hardware support and automated scaling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Rating on Capterra
- 4.6 out of 5 from 13 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
- Rating on G2
- 4.2 out of 5 from 14 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
- Rating on Trustpilot
- 3.8 out of 5 from 74 reviews for UbuntuRead 15 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
- Rating on TrustRadius
- 9 out of 10 from 23 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Release cadence
- Canonical OpenStack releases generally follow upstream OpenStack twice yearly, around April and October.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Security maintenance
- Canonical advertises up to 15 years of security maintenance for artifacts used in Canonical OpenStack.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Self-hosting
- Users can deploy Canonical OpenStack themselves using published documentation and tutorials.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Self-service infrastructure
- It provides self-service IT infrastructure and on-demand computing resources for teams.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Self-service portal
- The product provides an intuitive self-service infrastructure experience with on-demand resources.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Single-node requirements
- Minimum single-node requirements are a 4-core amd64 CPU, 16 GiB RAM, 100 GiB SSD root disk and 1 Gbps networking.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Storage
- Canonical Ceph is included by default and supports up to 128 TB of data per node, according to the features page.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Support options
- Canonical offers fixed-price consulting, per-node Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, fully managed operations, training and SLA-backed ticket support.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Supported OS
- Canonical OpenStack is available only on Ubuntu, with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and 26.04 LTS support depending on the OpenStack release.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- System management
- Landscape automates security patching, auditing and compliance activities across Ubuntu systems.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Third-party integration
- The product uses pure upstream OpenStack APIs for integration with open-source and proprietary software.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- TLS security
- Service API endpoints can be encrypted through Traefik using either an external TLS certificate authority or Vault.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
- Workloads
- Canonical lists HPC and AI/ML, telco NFVI, sovereign clouds, local or regional public clouds and edge infrastructure among its target uses.Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
Plans and prices
Canonical OpenStack Free No hidden license or subscription cost; commercial support and consulting are separate Read 3 Oct 2026 · canonical.com
Private Cloud Build $75,000, paid once fixed price Cloud deployment · additional features and integrations via add-ons Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Private Cloud Build Plus Price not published fixed price Cloud deployment · additional features and integrations via add-ons Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Strong points and limits
Strong points
- Self-service, on-demand computing resources
- Automation spans bare metal through applications
- Canonical Ceph included by default
- No license or subscription cost
- Commercial support offers 24/7 coverage
Limits
- On-demand Kubernetes is in beta
- Commercial support and consulting are separate
- Tutorial requires a dedicated physical machine
Who it suits
Canonical OpenStack suits organizations seeking self-hosted infrastructure for workloads such as HPC and AI/ML, telco, sovereign clouds, or edge systems. Teams can deploy it themselves or use Canonical’s design and implementation offering.
Verdict
Canonical OpenStack combines self-hosted infrastructure, automation, and included Ceph without a license or subscription charge. Organizations should account for the physical-machine setup and the beta status of on-demand Kubernetes.
Where Specifiction places it
- Cloud Management Software#1 of 359.4
