OpenNebula vs Red Hat CloudForms comparison

OpenNebula and Red Hat are both solutions in the Cloud Management category. OpenNebula is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while Red Hat is ranked #36. OpenNebula holds a 1.9% mindshare in CM, compared to Red Hat’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of OpenNebula users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

OpenNebula

Read 15 OpenNebula reviews

3,169 Views
3,011 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Red Hat CloudForms

Read 10 Red Hat CloudForms reviews

1,634 Views
1,618 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

OpenNebula

Red Hat CloudForms

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Red Hat CloudForms and OpenNebula are competing tools in the cloud management platform space. Red Hat CloudForms is favored for its pricing satisfaction and support, while OpenNebula is often preferred for its robust feature set.

Features: Red Hat CloudForms excels in hybrid cloud management, automation capabilities, and offers advanced monitoring and reporting, whereas OpenNebula impresses with integrated multi-cloud orchestration, a focus on scalability, and simplicity.

Room for Improvement: Red Hat CloudForms can improve by simplifying its initial setup processes, enhancing ease of use, and expanding flexibility in integration. OpenNebula could benefit from enhanced support options, expanding its feature documentation, and increased focus on advanced analytics.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OpenNebula is known for straightforward deployment and efficient, tailored customer service. Red Hat CloudForms offers comprehensive support but may require more complex initial setup, which can be beneficial for enterprises needing deep customization.

Pricing and ROI: Red Hat CloudForms generally presents a higher initial setup cost with significant ROI through its extensive feature suite, while OpenNebula offers a cost-effective entry with lower scripting overhead and operational expenses, delivering faster ROI due to streamlined deployment.

To learn more, read our detailed OpenNebula vs. Red Hat CloudForms Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

OpenNebula vs. Red Hat CloudForms

April 2026

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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

OpenNebula

Ranking in Cloud Management

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Red Hat CloudForms

Ranking in Cloud Management

36th

Average Rating

6.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of OpenNebula is 1.9%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat CloudForms is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
OpenNebula	1.9%
Red Hat CloudForms	1.9%
Other	96.2%

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

FOURES Jean-Philippe

Products Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Reliable, simple to manage, and offers great technical support

The support of VXLAN fits with our network management. Thanks to this we can propose mixed solutions using virtual resources on OpenNebula and bare metal servers hosted in our facilities linked to each other on the sale network. This use case is very useful when some applications need bare metal power (Kubernetes workers, huge databases, AI models computations, et cetera). The cluster management is very useful for splitting our different clusters (mutual vs dedicated). We can manage deployments and capacity planning without pain. The API is also really simple and it helped us to develop the Terraform provider to manage OpenNebula like any other cloud infrastructure.

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Ilhami Arikan

Cloud Services Automation Technologies Manager at Garanti Teknoloji

A stable solution that helps to provision servers

We use the solution to provision servers. I am impressed with the product's ability to create dynamic catalogs. The solution's provisioning engine needs to be improved. I would rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten. I would rate the product's scalability a seven out of ten and…

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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 ability to use it almost like a public cloud for an organization is a big asset, as it will create a value proposition and can control costs in a great way."

"It has enabled us to decrease the optics by around 55 to 60%."

"The live migration feature has been great and is something we use very often."

"With a single click, we could set things up and initiate them."

"It makes maintenance very easy and stress-free for our teams."

"OpenNebula freed my customer from doing the maintenance operations of the servers because now that can be done by his clients."

"It's easy to integrate OpenNebula with our IT systems."

"OpenNebula has very good integration with SAP Storage."

More OpenNebula pros

"I am impressed with the product's ability to create dynamic catalogs."

"The optimization of the solution is quite interesting."

"They are a very mature product."

"The optimization of the solution is quite interesting, as it means we can prepare a bunch of VMs with self-service provisioning."

"The integration with other open-source tools is pretty good; it integrates particularly well with Kubernetes and Docker, and they are a very mature product."

"The solution is compatible and integrates with various infrastructures or providers."

"The stability of the solution is very good, and we haven't had any issues with it."

"The most valuable features of Red Hat CloudForms are the benefit of the collective functionality."

More Red Hat CloudForms pros

Cons

"Hosting platforms are limited so the deployment process needs improvement."

"They should add more features like object storage."

"Most of the competitors are offering some sort of billing software to transform their installation to work as a small-sized public cloud, but those offerings from OpenNebula are still missing."

"The protocol for clusterization is rough and doesn't work well."

"Most of the competitors are offering some sort of billing software to transform their installation to work as a small-sized public cloud, but those offerings from OpenNebula are still missing."

"An area for improvement in OpenNebula is the number of features it has. The solution doesn't have that many cloud features compared to other solutions. You'd say, "Okay, simplicity over a rich feature list?" Some say, "No, I need a big machine or a cloud interface for my customers to manage resources. I don't have to go and do it for them." Some people do it that way, and it works, but I'd like to improve the limited features in OpenNebula."

"They have been saying for the past two and a half years that they would develop a feature to hot-add RAM and CPU, but it does not work."

"As with all enterprise software licensing, the pricing is not intuitive and must be negotiated; grandfathered contracts are better than anything offered today."

More OpenNebula cons

"The complexity of the solution is a bit high in comparison to VMware."

"Red Hat CloudForms could improve by allowing more customization of reports. We have to do a lot of coding to accomplish what we want."

"Our clients had challenges or issues with the updates. Its updates should be better managed. They should provide quicker and more stable updates. Its stability can also be better. We initially faced ease-of-use and compatibility issues while integrating it. We had a lot of compatibility issues with other products. Our clients are concerned about whether it is under IBM or it is still Red Hat. Clients are not very clear about the support, and they're not really happy with it. Currently, they're getting support from Red Hat, but going forward, they're not really clear about what would be the life cycle of the product, which is a concern for them."

"All of the areas of Red Hat CloudForms could improve. It doesn't do half of the things that it says it can do out of the box."

"The solution is still quite immature."

"It is difficult to create a complete dashboard that includes all the needed features or catalogs."

"Red Hat CloudForms could improve by allowing more customization of reports. We have to do a lot of coding to accomplish what we want. Additionally, the compatibility with the multi-cloud could improve. The latter versions of the solution removed Google support and the cost comparison between other clouds was high."

"The complexity of the solution is a bit high in comparison to VMware."

More Red Hat CloudForms cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing for OpenNebula used to be free, but now it's no longer free. A customer contacted me asking to move to another provider because of the changes in the licensing terms for OpenNebula. I have no information on how much the OpenNebula license is because the customer pays for it, and I only do the integration."

"The solution is open source so is free."

"We use the Community Edition, rather than the Enterprise Edition."

"OpenNebula gives good value for money."

"VRA is very expensive but OpenNebula is free."

"OpenNebuoa has recently come up with a new subscription model that is economical and a lot of new customers are choosing this as it is an easy subscription model."

"The product's licensing is based on the number of servers."

"The price of Red Hat CloudForms was not competitive, it was expensive."

"It is definitely cheaper than VMware. Everything is included. There is no challenge there."

"Red Hat CloudForms has a subscript-based pricing model. The cost is approximately $20,000 annually which allows you to use as many users as you want."

"Red Hat CloudForms is a bit expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with OpenNebula?

The web interface could be better. It's not very difficult to use, but there's room for enhancement. Another area for improvement is the integration with hardware to manage the lower layer of the n...

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What is your primary use case for OpenNebula?

Previously, we were using VMware, but recently, we've started using OpenNebula for cloud management. As a big cloud provider, it helps give customers increased control over their clusters. We use L...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering OpenNebula?

I recommend it, especially if you need a management interface for a small to medium private cloud. I would rate OpenNebula an eight out of ten.

See all answers

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Comparisons

CloudStack vs OpenNebula

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) vs OpenNebula

Compared 7% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs OpenNebula

Compared 6% of the time

Morpheus vs OpenNebula

Compared 6% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs OpenNebula

Compared 3% of the time

More OpenNebula Competitors

VMware Aria Automation vs Red Hat CloudForms

Compared 9% of the time

Cloudify vs Red Hat CloudForms

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Multicloud Manager vs Red Hat CloudForms

Compared 4% of the time

IBM Cloud Automation Manager vs Red Hat CloudForms

Compared 4% of the time

Morpheus vs Red Hat CloudForms

Compared 3% of the time

More Red Hat CloudForms Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

OpenNebula

April 2026

Download OpenNebula product report

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat CloudForms

April 2026

Download Red Hat CloudForms product report

Overview

OpenNebula offers scalability, ease of deployment, and integration capabilities that enhance cloud management for enterprises. It supports both virtual and bare metal resources, providing a versatile cloud management experience.

OpenNebula provides a robust platform for building, managing, and automating private and public clouds. Its compatibility with platforms like VMware, KVM, and containers makes it ideal for businesses hosting virtual private clouds and deploying Kubernetes clusters. OpenNebula's API and SDK facilitate automation and integration, allowing organizations to connect with IT systems effectively. Despite its strengths, improvements in object storage, REST API integration, and UI enhancements are needed. The documentation can be disorganized, and users encounter challenges with upgrades and community support.

What are key OpenNebula features?

Scalability: Easily manage resources for growing cloud environments.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies cloud management tasks.
Integration: Connects seamlessly with IT systems using robust API and SDK.
Hypervisor Support: Works with multiple hypervisors and container platforms.

What benefits do users find in OpenNebula?

Efficiency: Streamlines cloud operations, reducing management complexities.
Versatility: Offers support for both virtual and bare metal resources.
Community and Documentation: Though needing improvement, provides valuable resources for users.
Cost-Effectiveness: Lightweight nature minimizes resource expenditure.

OpenNebula implementation spans industries where cloud automation and management are critical. Companies utilize OpenNebula for deploying private clouds and managing infrastructure. Its support for Kubernetes clusters is beneficial in tech-driven sectors, highlighting OpenNebula's adaptability to different operational needs.

OpenNebula

Red Hat CloudForms is a robust management platform that integrates seamlessly with open-source technologies like Kubernetes and Docker. It offers flexibility with diverse infrastructures, scalability, and dynamic catalog creation.

Red Hat CloudForms supports service providers in UAE by offering a central console for infrastructure management. Known for its multi-tenancy and streamlined interface, it facilitates seamless integration with infrastructures like Nexus, Solaris, IBM, and VMware. Despite its strengths, challenges such as complexity and user-friendliness have been noted, with users requesting predefined modules, enhanced dashboards, and improved customization. The cost and platform lifecycle remain concerns, especially when compared to competitors like VMware. Permission refinement and provisioning engine improvements are also needed, as well as better cloud service integration and stability.

What features make Red Hat CloudForms stand out?

Seamless Integration: Works well with open-source components like Kubernetes and Docker.
Multi-Tenancy: Allows multiple users with separate environments.
Scalability: Designed to grow with infrastructure needs.
Dynamic Catalog Creation: Offers customized service delivery.
Report Capabilities: Provides in-depth analytics and reporting options.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Flexibility: Supports diverse infrastructures like VMware and IBM.
Self-Service Provisioning: Reduces time to deploy and manage VMs.
Automated Infrastructure: Automates code for more efficient management.
Integration Opportunities: Works with Ansible Tower for application management.

In industries, Red Hat CloudForms serves as a central hub for service providers, managing and orchestrating platforms like NETGEAR, KVM, Hyper-V, and VMware. Automation of infrastructure code, server management, and cloud infrastructure evaluation are core use cases, with users integrating technologies like Ansible Tower for daily task management and access delegation.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Akamai, BBC, Fermilab, Terradue, Surf Sara, Produban, Netways, ESA, China Mobile, BlackBerry, Deloitte, Fuze, Telefonica, Trivago, Nokia, Encore Tech, Beeks.

Cox Automotive, Penn State, FICO, G-ABLE, Seneca College, ITandTEL, The Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS), MyRepublic, Macquarie, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, CBTS, Network Data Solutions (NDS)

Buyer's Guide

OpenNebula vs. Red Hat CloudForms

April 2026

Free Report: OpenNebula vs. Red Hat CloudForms

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