Canonical MAAS vs Google Cloud VM Manager
Canonical MAAS
canonical.com
Google Cloud VM Manager
cloud.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Canonical MAAS | Google Cloud VM Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 8 | 3 |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 9.3 (#2) | 8.7 (#13) |
| Company legal name | Crunchbase lists the maker's legal name as Canonical Ltd. | Crunchbase identifies the maker's legal name as Google LLC and lists it as a subsidiary of Alphabet. |
| Documentation depth | The documentation is organized into tutorials, how-to guides, explanations and reference material, including installation, API, Terraform, troubleshooting, metrics, logging and security-hardening sections. | The documentation includes overview, setup, operating-system details, patch guides, policy guides, troubleshooting, API reference links, Terraform guides, quotas, and release-note links. |
| Integrations | Canonical documentation names Juju, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Terraform, OpenStack and Kubernetes as MAAS automation or orchestration integrations. | VM Manager works with the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, direct OS Config API calls, and Terraform resources. |
| Purpose | MAAS is an open source platform for centrally managing and provisioning physical servers as cloud resources. | VM Manager manages operating systems for large Windows and Linux VM fleets running on Compute Engine. |
| What it does | MAAS is Canonical's private-cloud infrastructure manager that turns physical servers into cloud-like, repeatably deployable resources. | VM Manager is a Google Cloud suite for managing Windows and Linux operating systems across large Compute Engine VM fleets. |
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
Google Cloud VM Manager
- Free tierFree
- Usage-based VM ManagerFree
- VM ManagerFree
In their own words
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.
Google Cloud VM Manager
Google Cloud VM Manager manages operating systems across Windows and Linux VM fleets running on Compute Engine. Its tools cover patch management, OS inventory and OS policies. Patch jobs apply updates on demand or on a schedule, report compliance, and can use selected approvals and pre- or post-patching scripts. OS inventory collects hostnames, OS and kernel versions, installed packages, available updates, Windows applications and OS vulnerabilities. OS policies centralize software configuration deployment, maintenance and reporting. Teams can use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI or OS Config API; Terraform can extend scope across projects. The service supports projects inside VPC Service Controls perimeters, but patch jobs operate on VMs in one project at a time. A free tier covers 100 VMs per Cloud Billing account per month, and limited-functionality mode is available at no cost for unlimited VMs. After the free tier, the listed charge is $0.003 per hour per VM with an active OS Config agent.