Amazon EC2 vs Apache CloudStack
Amazon EC2
aws.amazon.com
Apache CloudStack
cloudstack.apache.orgSide by side
| Figure | Amazon EC2 | Apache CloudStack |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Software | 9.0 (#1) | 8.9 (#2) |
| API | EC2 exposes an HTTP or HTTPS Query API using GET or POST requests with an Action parameter. | CloudStack exposes a documented, extensible REST-like API and supports Amazon EC2 and S3-compatible APIs. |
| Company founding | LinkedIn states that Amazon Web Services launched in 2006. | The Apache Software Foundation was established in 1999 and is funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors. |
| Documentation depth | AWS publishes separate user, instance-type, Nitro Enclaves, Windows AMI, developer, API, CLI, CloudFormation and VM Import/Export guides for EC2. | Official documentation covers concepts, topology, quick installation, full installation, administration and complex configurations. |
| Integrations | G2 reviewers identify integrations with VPC, S3, CloudWatch, IAM and Auto Scaling as common parts of EC2 deployments. | The integrations page lists Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Prometheus, VMware NSX, Ceph, MinIO, and billing portal integrations. |
| Licence | AWS service terms grant access to AWS content and services under intellectual-property license terms and do not provide physical possession of AWS servers. | The project is open source under the Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | Amazon EC2 provides resizable, secure compute capacity as virtual servers in the cloud. | Apache CloudStack deploys and manages large networks of virtual machines as a highly available, scalable IaaS cloud platform. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.7 out of 5 from 173 reviews | 5.0 out of 5 from 1 review |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 1,203 reviews | 4.4 out of 5 from 27 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.8 out of 10 from 353 reviews and ratings | 9.4 out of 10 from 18 reviews |
| Storage | EC2 instances can use persistent block storage through Amazon EBS and shared file storage through Amazon EFS. | Storage capabilities include iSCSI, NFS, Ceph RBD with KVM, block volumes, encryption, snapshots, templates and ISO management. |
| Support | Basic AWS Support is included for all AWS customers and provides 24/7 customer service, documentation, communities, Trusted Advisor core checks, and AWS Health. | Users can seek community help through the project mailing list, and the project says some companies offer commercial support. |
| What it does | Amazon EC2 provides on-demand, scalable virtual-server capacity in AWS Cloud, allowing customers to increase or decrease capacity as workloads change. | Apache CloudStack deploys and manages large virtual-machine networks as a highly available, scalable IaaS platform. |
Plans
Amazon EC2
- AWS Free Tier credits for EC2Free
- Free TierFree
- Spot InstancesFree
- Dedicated HostsPrice not published
- On-Demand InstancesPrice not published
- Reserved InstancesPrice not published
- Savings PlansPrice not published
- Spot InstancesPrice not published
In their own words
Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 provides resizable, secure compute capacity as virtual servers in the cloud. It offers over 1,000 instance types across Intel, AMD, and Arm processors for workloads including web and enterprise applications, high-performance computing, machine learning, SAP, Windows, and macOS. EC2 Auto Scaling can add or remove instances under dynamic or predictive policies. Instances can use persistent block storage through Amazon EBS and shared file storage through Amazon EFS; the service also provides a Query API and AWS SDKs. AWS says its Nitro System moves virtualization functions to dedicated hardware and isolates customer workloads. EC2 appears in AWS’s compliance program scope, though customers remain responsible for applicable compliance requirements. AWS states a 99.99% availability SLA commitment for each Region. Billing is per instance-hour or per second depending on instance type and operating system; eligible per-second use has a 60-second minimum. New AWS customers can receive up to $200 in credits, and the free plan lasts six months after account creation. The T4g free trial has monthly hour limits and surplus CPU credits can incur charges.
Apache CloudStack
Apache CloudStack is free, open-source software for deploying and managing networks of virtual machines as a highly available, scalable IaaS cloud platform. Organizations can use it to build public, private, or hybrid clouds. Its features include compute orchestration, network services, account management, resource accounting, a web interface, and an open API. Operators can manage clouds through a web UI, command-line tools, or REST API, with optional AWS EC2- and S3-compatible APIs. Supported hypervisors include XenServer or XCP, KVM, Hyper-V, and VMware ESXi with vSphere. Storage options include iSCSI, NFS, Ceph RBD with KVM, volume encryption, snapshots, and storage tiering. Authentication options include OAuth2 single sign-on, two-factor authentication, TOTP, SAML, and LDAP. The project says CloudStack can manage tens of thousands of physical servers across geographically distributed data centers. Long Term Support releases receive bug and security fixes for 18 months after the main release. Operators remain responsible for protections such as monitoring, host security, and defenses against DoS and brute-force attacks.