Canonical OpenStack vs Terraform
Canonical OpenStack
canonical.com
Terraform
developer.hashicorp.comSide by side
| Figure | Canonical OpenStack | Terraform |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $0.10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 10 |
| Spec score · Cloud Management Software | 9.4 (#1) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Compliance | Canonical support includes CIS and DISA-STIG hardening profiles and conformance for sectors such as telecom, government and financial services. | HashiCorp states that Terraform is covered by SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 certifications. |
| Documentation depth | Official documentation includes tutorials, step-by-step how-to guides, technical reference material and conceptual explanations. | Official documentation covers configuration language, CLI, HCP Terraform, Enterprise, modules, providers, plugin development, registry publishing, integrations, tutorials, and a sandbox. |
| Integrations | The product includes an expandable Kubernetes layer, an integrated observability stack, Landscape system management and MAAS bare metal automation. | HashiCorp lists integrations for AI and MCP servers, audit, CI/CD, VCS, security scanning, policy, cost management, SSO, observability, and multi-cloud platforms. |
| Licence | OpenStack software is fully open source and existing OpenStack software uses the Apache License 2.0. | HashiCorp changed future Terraform releases to the Business Source License 1.1, which restricts hosting or embedding the software to compete with Terraform. |
| Limit: complexity | G2 reviewers report that setup and operation can be daunting or complex for inexperienced Linux and cloud users. | Independent reviewers cite a steep learning curve, cryptic errors, uneven documentation, configuration complexity, and difficult multi-environment setups. |
| Purpose | Canonical OpenStack lets organizations host applications in their own data center with a public cloud-like experience. | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-premises resources through human-readable configuration files. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.6 out of 5 from 13 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 from 51 reviews. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.2 out of 5 from 14 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from 92 reviews. |
| Self-hosting | Users can deploy Canonical OpenStack themselves using published documentation and tutorials. | Terraform Enterprise is the self-hosted edition of HCP Terraform for organizations with strict security or compliance requirements. |
| What it does | Canonical OpenStack provides elastic, on-demand compute, networking and storage through a self-service portal or upstream OpenStack APIs. | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for building, changing, and versioning compute, storage, networking, DNS, and SaaS infrastructure. |
Plans
Canonical OpenStack
- Canonical OpenStackFree
- Private Cloud Build$75,000, paid once
- Private Cloud Build PlusPrice not published
Terraform
- FreeFree
- StandardPriced on request
- PremiumPriced on request
- HCP Terraform FreeFree
- Terraform Community EditionFree
- HCP Terraform Essentials$0.10 a month
- HCP Terraform Standard$0.47 a month
- HCP Terraform Premium$0.99 a month
- EssentialsPrice not published
- Terraform EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Canonical OpenStack
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.
Terraform
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-premises resources through human-readable configuration files. Its core process is to write a configuration, review an execution plan, then apply approved changes. Providers connect Terraform to services through APIs, and the Terraform Registry lists providers for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, GitHub, and Splunk. Modules package reusable infrastructure configurations that users can find or publish in the Registry. The free Community Edition is a downloadable command-line tool. HCP Terraform adds remote execution, repository connections to GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket that can trigger plans after changes, and an API. It stores state remotely with encryption at rest and offers workspaces, single sign-on, and role-based access controls. HCP Terraform and Terraform Enterprise support Sentinel policies. HashiCorp cautions that policy-as-code is a guardrail, not a security boundary, and trusted providers and modules matter because they can access workspace variables and state. Downloads are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.