Apache CloudStack vs Canonical MAAS
Apache CloudStack
cloudstack.apache.org
Canonical MAAS
canonical.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache CloudStack | Canonical MAAS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $2.50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Data Center Automation | 9.0 (#2) | 9.3 (#1) |
| API | CloudStack exposes a documented, extensible REST-like API and supports Amazon EC2 and S3-compatible APIs. | MAAS exposes a REST API with GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods; version 2.0 is the documented supported API version. |
| Documentation depth | Official documentation covers concepts, topology, quick installation, full installation, administration and complex configurations. | The documentation is organized into tutorials, how-to guides, explanations and reference material, including installation, API, Terraform, troubleshooting, metrics, logging and security-hardening sections. |
| Extensibility | A pluggable adapter framework supports custom hypervisor, storage, network and authentication integrations. | Canonical documents CLI and Python client bindings, custom commissioning scripts, deployment scripts and custom power-driver plugins. |
| Founded | 2008 | 2004 |
| High availability | Management servers can run in a load-balanced multi-node installation and MySQL can use replication for failover. | Region-controller high availability is database-based, and rack controllers can provide local service redundancy. |
| Integrations | The integrations page lists Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Prometheus, VMware NSX, Ceph, MinIO, and billing portal integrations. | Canonical documentation names Juju, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Terraform, OpenStack and Kubernetes as MAAS automation or orchestration integrations. |
| License | The project website states that Apache CloudStack is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. | The MAAS source repository is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. |
| Networking | Networking features include VLANs, virtual routers, firewalls, load balancers, VPN, IPv6, static routing, BGP and VNF support. | MAAS integrates DHCP, DNS and image management and supports complex networking scenarios. |
| Purpose | Apache CloudStack deploys and manages large networks of virtual machines as a highly available, scalable IaaS cloud platform. | MAAS is an open source platform for centrally managing and provisioning physical servers as cloud resources. |
| Storage | Storage capabilities include iSCSI, NFS, Ceph RBD with KVM, block volumes, encryption, snapshots, templates and ISO management. | The documentation describes deployment storage options including software RAID, LVM, ZFS and bcache. |
| What it does | Apache CloudStack deploys and manages large virtual-machine networks as a highly available, scalable IaaS platform. | MAAS is Canonical's private-cloud infrastructure manager that turns physical servers into cloud-like, repeatably deployable resources. |
Plans
Canonical MAAS
- FreeFree
- Self-supportFree
- Essential$30 a year
- Essential$30 a year
- Standard$50 a year
- Standard$50 a year
- Advanced$100 a year
- Advanced$100 a year
In their own words
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.
Canonical MAAS
Canonical MAAS is an open source platform for provisioning physical servers as centrally managed cloud resources. It automates server discovery, inventory, commissioning, deployment, and decommissioning, and lets operators manage nodes through a web interface, command line, or API. Hardware discovery uses PXE boot and supports IPMI-enabled machines, as well as subnets, VLANs, and switch fabrics. MAAS integrates with Terraform, Juju, and Ansible for infrastructure automation. It can configure networking and storage, run hardware tests, and manage LXD and KVM virtual machines. Listed images include Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows, and RHEL; images can be synchronized or served from an onsite mirror for offline use. Canonical describes MAAS for private cloud with OpenStack, server automation, and bare-metal Kubernetes. A free self-support plan covers all machines but excludes HA support, RBAC, Knowledge Base, a Sev 1 response SLA, phone support, and ticket support. Paid plans start at $30 a year per managed machine. Ubuntu Pro is required for MAAS controllers; Canonical says it provides security patching and enterprise support for controllers and Ubuntu machines.