Canonical OpenStack vs Cycloid

Canonical OpenStack lets organizations run applications in their own data centers while giving teams self-service access to computing resources on demand. It is based on upstream OpenStack code and described by Canonical as 100% open source. Automation uses MAAS and Juju, spanning bare-metal provisioning through applications. Its architecture uses Kubernetes, OCI images, and snaps; Canonical says this decouples OpenStack from the underlying Ubuntu operating system. Canonical Ceph is included by default and supports up to 128 TB of data per node. The stack also includes an expandable Kubernetes layer, observability, Landscape system management, and MAAS bare-metal automation. Listed workloads include HPC and AI/ML, telco NFVI, sovereign clouds, local or regional public clouds, and edge infrastructure. Organizations can deploy the cloud themselves or have Canonical design, build, test, and validate it. The plan costs nothing, with no license or subscription charge; commercial support and consulting are separate. Support includes 24/7 phone and ticket coverage, with a stated one-hour response for Severity 1 issues. On-demand Kubernetes is currently in beta.

Cycloid is an internal developer portal and platform for infrastructure self-service, orchestration, and governance. Developers can request and deploy infrastructure through Blueprints and Forms, using standardized workflows involving Terraform, Ansible, Helm, and Argo CD. Governance features include policy checks, role-based access controls, approvals, and audit trails. Teams can connect tools such as Sentry, SonarQube, Notion, Git, and cloud providers through plugins, and coordinate CI/CD workflows with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or Cycloid's Native Runner. Cloud Cost Management lists AWS, GCP, and Azure, with other providers available for integration if needed. Deployment options include SaaS, dedicated SaaS, self-hosted, and hybrid; air-gapped operation is described for self-hosted deployments. Cycloid says its API is documented in Swagger, and its CLI documentation lists GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows. A free SaaS plan covers up to five users and one workspace. The listed Advanced plan is $45 a month billed annually; pricing notes give a starting point of $29/user/mo annually. Infra Import is beta and excluded from the standard support SLA.