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CloudStack pros and cons

Vendor: Apache
4.0 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

CloudStack offers robust support for various hypervisors, enhancing interoperability and flexibility.
Its centralized design simplifies scalability, management, and troubleshooting, making it ideal for large virtual environments.
APIs in CloudStack facilitate seamless integration with external applications and allow customized cloud solutions.
CloudStack provides a multi-tenant interface with advanced networking features, which ensure security and privacy for users.
The platform continuously evolves with new features and improvements, maintaining stability and efficiency over time.

CONS

CloudStack lacks specific error messages in administration processes like creating new instances.
The VPN P2S disconnects all connections except the CloudStack environment, unlike Cisco's AnyConnect.
Accounts, domains, and user accounts are set up for public cloud, not private.
A lack of easily implementable payment gateway and billing solutions limits CloudStack's 360-degree capabilities.
Removal of high-capacity virtual machines takes a long time, often failing to update VM status properly in the database.
 

CloudStack Pros review quotes

Marco Sinhoreli - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 6, 2022
I have been impressed by CloudStack's most recent updates around Kubernetes. In particular, they have worked with Kubernetes to support the Cluster API, and you can now easily integrate Kubernetes into CloudStack and get access to a lot of good features.
GV
May 10, 2019
You can use a single API to get things done, rather than multiple APIs on multiple modules.
Wido Den Hollander - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2023
Over the years, we have valued CloudStack for its stability.
Learn what your peers think about CloudStack. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
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Tharun Kumar Reddy Thamatam - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 22, 2025
CloudStack has greatly helped integrate our existing infrastructure because we manage a massive cloud platform with thousands of VMs and around 1,200 to 1,500 hypervisors.
Arun S . - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 14, 2023
When compared to OpenStack, CloudStack is also an open-source platform that is continuously improving its features and capabilities with each new version release. Having worked with CloudStack 4.7, 4.14, and most recently, 4.17, I have noticed significant enhancements in the platform's features and customer experience, such as the introduction of a new user interface in the latest release. Notably, the latest versions have made major improvements to VM live migrations, making them more efficient and effective.
OR
Mar 14, 2018
Killer features for me were: support for many hypervisors, ability to match business logic, "everything in one box," available APIs.
Peter Karlsson - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 26, 2025
The APIs for automation in CloudStack are excellent; everything is API-driven, and while the API is very rich and hard to learn, you can do everything you would want to do, including everything in the user interface and more.
PT
Mar 20, 2018
It has become easy to deploy new devices with no or minimal hardware changes. Now, a user can be ready to use a firewall within a few minutes, as compared to the traditional physical model which involved purchase, shipping, hardware configuration, cabling, power, etc.
Saiful Islam - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 25, 2023
We like the virtualization capabilities.
it_user153084 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 19, 2018
It works, and pretty much always has. Reliability and support for enterprise features, with a multi-tenant interface, makes CloudStack a very compelling solution.
 

CloudStack Cons review quotes

Marco Sinhoreli - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 6, 2022
We recognize that CloudStack is an easy-to-use cloud management platform and, in my opinion, there has been a large number of improvements in the past few years, particular when it comes to the modern UI and overall ease of management. However, I believe that CloudStack needs to grow their marketing in the commercial side. They don't have a great piece of market share right now.
GV
May 10, 2019
I would like to see support for native VLAN, and fault-tolerance.
Wido Den Hollander - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2023
I think that container technology in CloudStack is an area that needs to be improved.
Learn what your peers think about CloudStack. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Tharun Kumar Reddy Thamatam - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 22, 2025
For future releases, it would be beneficial if Apache enhanced CloudStack by integrating alerting systems directly. We've had instances where hypervisors experienced overloads without prior alerts, so proactive alerts within the tool would better prepare us for addressing issues swiftly, preventing disruption in business operations.
Arun S . - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 14, 2023
The number of contributors to this solution is relatively small compared to other solutions. However, if more frequent users of CloudStack contribute to the open-source community, it will significantly enhance the overall community experience and make it more useful for everyone involved.
OR
Mar 14, 2018
The main reason why we started looking for another solution: backups, replication, HA, and dependency on secondary storage. CS is quite sensitive for infrastructure, and any kind of network disruption between CS and secondary storage leads to VM hanging.
Peter Karlsson - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 26, 2025
The installation of CloudStack can be quite challenging because you need a good understanding of the product before starting.
PT
Mar 20, 2018
This product needs a lot improvement on the development side. Every new version introduces new bugs. It lacks many features needed for NFV like DPDK, SR-IOV support, etc.
Saiful Islam - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 25, 2023
Companies need to be knowledgeable about cloud technology. It's not for novice users.
it_user153084 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 19, 2018
Lack of support for third-party software vendors such as Veeam and Zerto creates limitations on comprehensive offerings which would include backup and disaster recovery.