CloudBolt vs CloudStack comparison

CloudBolt and Apache are both solutions in the Cloud Management category. CloudBolt is ranked #29, while Apache is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.2. CloudBolt holds a 2.1% mindshare in CM, compared to Apache’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of CloudBolt users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Apache users who would recommend it.

CloudBolt

Read 8 CloudBolt reviews

1,121 Views
964 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

CloudStack

Read 34 CloudStack reviews

2,000 Views
1,820 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

CloudBolt

CloudStack

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

CloudStack and CloudBolt are competing cloud management platforms, both offering a range of features and services in cloud management solutions. CloudBolt seems to have the edge with its expansive feature set and integration capabilities, making it a compelling choice despite its higher cost.

Features: CloudStack offers scalable infrastructure, extensive hypervisor support, and robust security protocols. It supports multiple availability zones, ensuring broad scalability. CloudBolt provides seamless multi-cloud management, customizable workflows, and advanced analytics, with additional flexibility for integration.

Room for Improvement: CloudStack could improve its flexibility and customer support personalization. Enhancements in integration support and more comprehensive workflow options could benefit users. CloudBolt’s initial setup could be simplified, and its documentation could be more detailed. Streamlining customer service processes and optimizing setup costs are areas for growth.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CloudStack features a straightforward deployment with minimal setup requirements, aided by extensive documentation. CloudBolt, while requiring more intricate deployment, offers superior customization options and highly responsive, personalized customer support services.

Pricing and ROI: CloudStack has a lower setup cost, yielding a quicker ROI due to its open-source model and straightforward pricing. In contrast, CloudBolt requires a higher initial investment, justified by its robust features and integration capabilities, offering substantial long-term returns for enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed CloudBolt vs. CloudStack Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CloudBolt vs. CloudStack

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

CloudBolt

Ranking in Cloud Management

29th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Cost Management (45th)

CloudStack

Ranking in Cloud Management

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of CloudBolt is 2.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CloudStack is 2.8%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
CloudStack	2.8%
CloudBolt	2.1%
Other	95.1%

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

AdeolaEkunola

Director at NIGERCUBES LTD

The solution offers reliable resource control but needs to improve its UI

Cloudbox is just an abstraction software. There is no need for scalability. It's quite a simple solution. You might only need to increase the resources you apply to the CloudBold deployment. If, for example, the number of users increases, you might have to check the recommendations from CloudBolt and act accordingly. We have over 100 internal users. Regarding the infrastructure it sits on, the solution sits on the private of the on-prem, a VMware infrastructure that stands across two sites, the DR and the main production. We have over 60 ESXi of Asterisk and about 500 or 1,000 virtual machines.

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Tharun Kumar Reddy Thamatam

Senior Infrastructure Consultant at Infosys

Achieving seamless infrastructure management with optimized network and user access controls

I believe enhancements could be made in CloudStack, particularly in the management servers. I had the opportunity to collaborate with one of the Apache CloudStack developers, leading to the installation of additional agents for better information retrieval from hypervisors. We implemented configurations, ensuring consistency across hosts and VMs. We also utilized Ansible or YAML files to automate password upgrades during patching activities and database management, showcasing our customization efforts for improvement. 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. A portal summarizing system metrics alongside alert capabilities would greatly enhance our operational efficiency.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The solution's biggest advantage is flexibility"

"I find the self-service features valuable."

"The initial deployment was super easy."

"Role-based access control and application blueprinting."

"Hybrid cloud platform for VM and app deployment and management, with very good stability. It's customizable, easy to set up, and can be deployed within half an hour."

"Key features include stability, centralized management design that scales well, and transparent interoperability with different hypervisors and manufacturers.."

"The API with CloudStack made integration into various external facing web applications simple enough."

"You can build your own cloud and make it customizable with APIs."

"CloudStack supports every operating system that supports hypervisors, which makes the product more attractive, compared to vCloud Director or Azure."

"We had a relevant reduction of bureaucracy tasks."

"CloudStack is simple to stand up and get off the ground in a hurry. Its centralized design allows for easier troubleshooting when compared to OpenStack. Out of the box, it’s very well suited for white labeling and IaaS."

"Everything in CloudStack works effectively."

"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."

More CloudStack pros

Cons

"The management of SaaS must be improved."

"The solution is not easy to use. It's not intuitive enough to click anywhere in the solution and make it work."

"The area of integrating on-prem and cloud needs improvement."

"Could increase the number of integrations and add more out-of-the-box work flows."

"The scheduling feature of CloudBolt needs improvement because sometimes, it doesn't work."

"CloudStack lacks a billing solution which would complete it as a full 360-degree product."

"I encountered some stability issues. When I tried to remove high-capacity virtual machines it took a long time to update, and sometimes the VM status failed to update properly in the cloud database. This occurred multiple times, even though I had sufficient resources."

"The product does not have an easily implementable payment gateway."

"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."

"I would like to see support for native VLAN, and fault-tolerance."

"I think that container technology in CloudStack is an area that needs to be improved."

"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."

"It would be a good to have more specific error messages within administration processes (e.g. problem with creating new instance)."

More CloudStack cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The system is cheaper if a customer has fewer servers since you pay by the node."

"The solution is reasonably priced."

"I rate the pricing an eight out of ten because the solution is expensive."

"The Apache CloudStack is open source, so you do not have licenses to purchase."

"There is no license, so the product is free unless you are buying professional technical support services."

"CloudStack is an open-source product."

"As far as I know, CS is still free of charge. If you want to pay some money, Citrix Cloud Platform is based on CS, I think. As for hypervisors – everything as usual, you need to pay for VMware and vCenter. As for XenServer, recently they changed the free feature list, so you may need to pay some money to get useful features like XenMotion."

"The solution is open-source and free."

"CloudStack is an open source solution, so you don't need to pay anything for it. When our company develops something specially for CloudStack, it is donated to the Apache Software Foundation and provided to anyone that wants to use it."

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

"Give an effort to planning. If possible, contract a specialized consultant company for the initial setup and knowledge transfer."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CloudStack?

CloudStack is open-source, so there is no cost apart from learning. Billing solutions, if outsourced, come at a moderate cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with CloudStack?

Enhancements for CloudStack can focus on integrating more hypervisors, as mentioned regarding current features. We're working on a new feature that will allow for certain limited functions, but ove...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for CloudStack?

My usual use cases for CloudStack involve an AWS style private cloud or public cloud. I can deploy an AWS style cloud using the open source tool that is CloudStack. The use case depends on the cust...

See all answers

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CloudBolt

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CloudStack

January 2026

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Also Known As

No data available

Vmops, Cloud.com

Overview

CloudBolt supports a variety of cloud technologies, from on-premises virtualization and private cloud to a wide range public and hybrid cloud configurations.

No need to rip-and-replace. CloudBolt provides easy import, syncing, and management of legacy deployments even as it helps you build out new cloud environments.

CloudBolt lets administrators create and maintain configuration standards while developing a reusable library of service and application templates.

CloudBolt

Apache CloudStack is open source software designed to deploy and manage large networks of virtual machines, as a highly available, highly scalable Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing platform.

Apache

Sample Customers

WM, CyWest, Panic, Camden, University of Maryland, Xerox, Neustar, Medidata, Continu, Aruba Networks, Neuberger Berman, Peak6, EverBank, Ascensus, Hosting Edge

GreenQloud, Exoscale, TomTom, ASG, PC Extreme, ISWest, Grid'5000

Buyer's Guide

CloudBolt vs. CloudStack

December 2025

Free Report: CloudBolt vs. CloudStack

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