Canonical Landscape vs cdist
Canonical Landscape
landscape.is.canonical.comcdist
cdi.stSide by side
| Figure | Canonical Landscape | cdist |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $571.75/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Configuration Management Tools | 8.8 (#3) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Integrations | Landscape has a scriptable API and can integrate with existing configuration management, monitoring, and ticketing systems. | The project publishes a separate cdist-contrib repository for additional types not included in core cdist. |
| Intended users | Landscape is presented for teams administering large or growing Ubuntu estates across desktops, servers, clouds, and embedded devices. | The site describes cdist as used in environments ranging from small to enterprise grade. |
| Purpose | Landscape is Canonical’s systems management solution for managing Ubuntu desktops, servers, cloud instances, IoT devices, and other Ubuntu systems. | cdist is a configuration management system positioned as an alternative to Ansible, Chef, or Puppet. |
Plans
Canonical Landscape
- Landscape SaaS (Ubuntu Pro)Free
- Managed Landscape on public clouds, VMware, OpenStack or LXD$6,861 a year
- Managed Landscape on bare metal$9,470 a year
- Self-hosted LandscapePriced on request
In their own words
Canonical Landscape
Canonical Landscape manages Ubuntu desktops, servers, cloud instances, IoT devices, and other Ubuntu systems from a central portal. Administrators can handle updates, packages and repositories, run scripts remotely, set role-based access, and monitor machines. It can alert on updates and graph temperature, disk and memory use, system load, and custom metrics. One instance can manage up to 40,000 machines, with options to scale further. Deployment choices are Canonical-hosted SaaS, Managed Landscape, and self-hosted software; SaaS is bundled with Ubuntu Pro. A free SaaS account with Ubuntu Pro covers up to five machines. Managed Landscape costs $6,861 a year per physical machine on public clouds, VMware, OpenStack, or LXD, or $9,470 a year per physical machine on bare metal. No self-hosted price is listed; Ubuntu Pro is its main licensing mechanism. Landscape has a scriptable API and can integrate with configuration management, monitoring, and ticketing systems. Self-hosting requires the organization to install, host, and maintain it. SaaS does not currently offer repository mirroring or custom external identity-provider configuration.
cdist
cdist is a free, open-source configuration management system that applies a defined state to computers through shell scripts and cdist types. It is positioned as an alternative to Ansible, Chef, and Puppet. Types provide the extension mechanism, and the project says their results are idempotent, so outcomes do not depend on call order. cdist uses push mode: source computers connect to targets over SSH and apply configuration, without requiring a central server or an agent on the target. A target needs a POSIX-compatible shell and SSH server, while the source needs a POSIX-like shell, Python 3.5 or later, and an SSH client. The project lists a small core, standard types, and parallel execution. Installation is documented through Git or pip. Supported systems include Linux distributions, BSD systems, Mac OS X, and XenServer. Manuals are available in HTML and man-page formats, with community help through Matrix and IRC.