Apache CloudStack vs Cloudforet
Apache CloudStack
cloudstack.apache.org
Cloudforet
cloudforet.ioSide by side
| Figure | Apache CloudStack | Cloudforet |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Cloud Management Software | 9.0 (#3) | 9.0 (#4) |
| API | CloudStack exposes a documented, extensible REST-like API and supports Amazon EC2 and S3-compatible APIs. | Developer documentation covers versioned gRPC APIs, protobuf specifications and API/SDK guidance. |
| Authentication | Security features include OAuth2, TOTP, two-factor authentication, SAML, LDAP and role-based accounts. | Cloudforet supports local ID and password authentication and lists Google OAuth2, Active Directory, and Keycloak as external identity options. |
| CLI | CloudMonkey is the project’s command-line and shell environment for interacting with CloudStack clouds. | The cfctl command-line client supports service discovery, environment switching, token authentication and table, YAML, JSON and CSV output; binaries are documented for macOS, Linux, Windows and Docker. |
| Deployment | Organizations use CloudStack to build public, private, and hybrid clouds. | The installation guide describes deployment with Minikube and says it is a developer guide, not for production. |
| Documentation depth | Official documentation covers concepts, topology, quick installation, full installation, administration and complex configurations. | Docs cover user administration, projects, dashboards, inventory, costs, alerting, IAM, architecture, microservices, plugins, APIs, CI/CD and contribution workflows. |
| Licence | The project is open source under the Apache License 2.0. | The main Cloudforet repository is licensed under Apache License 2.0. |
| Rating on Capterra | 5.0 out of 5 from 1 review | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.4 out of 5 from 27 reviews | 4.9 out of 5 from 6 reviews |
| What it does | Apache CloudStack deploys and manages large virtual-machine networks as a highly available, scalable IaaS platform. | Cloudforet is an open-source platform for unified management of public, private and hybrid cloud resources. |
Plans
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.
Cloudforet
Cloudforet is an open-source platform for centralized management of public and private clouds. It is self-hosted and uses inventory collector plugins to gather assets and scan resources across connected cloud accounts. The platform lists infrastructure as code, batch remote commands and an application catalog for software such as databases and middleware. Cost features include billing analysis, resource optimization and budget management; incident tools include real-time notifications and post-mortem features. Projects and project groups organize resources, while role-based access controls user access. Cloud service plugins are listed for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, with stated coverage also including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Alibaba Cloud. Monitoring and notification integrations include CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Google Cloud monitoring, Zabbix, Grafana, Slack, Telegram and email. Authentication options include local credentials, Google OAuth2, Active Directory and Keycloak. Cloudforet is free, with community support through GitHub Discussions. Its Minikube installation guide is for developers, not production.