CloudStack Reviews

CloudStack is an open-source solution with no inherent licensing costs, as it operates under an Apache license. Enterprises may incur separate expenses for optional dedicated support, training, or external consulting services to aid setup and knowledge transfer. Infrastructure and hosting costs are the primary financial considerations when implementing CloudStack. While using commercial support options, companies find the pricing fair considering the solution’s quality. Outsourcing billing solutions could also add moderate costs.

• "CloudStack is an open-source product."
• "It is a 100% open-source solution needing just an Apache license. Also, there are no hidden fees to be paid."
• "The solution is open-source and free."

CloudStack serves multiple purposes across organizations such as ISPs, universities, and shared hosting providers. It facilitates private and public cloud deployments, management of virtual environments, and orchestration of services. They implement zones, pods, and clusters with different hypervisors, using APIs for automation and integration. CloudStack's flexibility allows support for various infrastructures and business logic, providing both IaaS and secure cloud solutions, enhancing development and testing environments while promoting virtualization and resource management.

CloudStack customer service and support rely heavily on a vibrant community offering quick responses via forums. Some organizations utilize third-party support like ShapeBlue due to inadequate commercial support from Accelerite. Engineers need in-depth knowledge to manage CloudStack. Users praise community helpfulness, rating it around eight or nine out of ten. Several companies manage CloudStack support internally or through professional paid services, emphasizing the need for skilled personnel to troubleshoot and resolve issues.

CloudStack's initial setup is generally perceived as straightforward, especially when compared to competitors like OpenStack. Users find it easy thanks to its monolithic, all-in-one architecture and clear installation guide. Despite some challenges and required expertise, many report successful deployments within a few hours to a day. Experienced users automate processes, significantly reducing setup time. Complexity arises mostly from understanding networking and business logic, though documentation aids those new to the platform.

CloudStack demonstrates strong scalability capabilities, handling thousands of hosts seamlessly. Users encounter no major scalability challenges. With options like availability zones and clusters, CloudStack efficiently manages infrastructure growth. Although some users require additional effort to integrate with certain technologies, CloudStack supports multi-tenancy and allows simple scalability, accommodating small to large enterprises. Users report scalability ratings often above eight out of ten, citing ease of management and smooth expansion in diverse environments.

Users indicate CloudStack is generally stable, though some experienced issues with longer-running operations and secondary storage. Newer releases have addressed stability concerns. Community support is available, but limited compared to larger communities like OpenStack. While bugs exist, releases show consistent improvement. Some encountered technical instability when dealing with hypervisors and management servers. Despite these challenges, many find CloudStack reliable, highlighting its active community and continuous enhancements. Stability ratings often range between six and nine.