CloudStack vs Spacelift comparison

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CloudStack

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

CloudStack and Spacelift are competing products in cloud infrastructure and automation. Spacelift seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and superior support, appealing to tech buyers looking for feature-rich automation tools.

Features: CloudStack offers scalability, virtualization management, and multiple hypervisor support, emphasizing flexibility. Spacelift delivers advanced CI/CD pipelines, strong integration capabilities, and robust infrastructure as code management, making it attractive for comprehensive system deployment.

Room for Improvement: CloudStack could improve its UI and integration with modern cloud-native tools. It should also enhance multi-cloud capabilities and reduce complexity in network configurations. Spacelift can work on minimizing initial setup complexity, broadening its hypervisor compatibility, and offering more customizable dashboards to cater to different user profiles.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CloudStack provides straightforward deployment with extensive documentation, while Spacelift offers a flexible approach that integrates well with existing workflows, supported by responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: CloudStack is cost-effective with a strong ROI, appealing for budget-conscious businesses. Spacelift, despite higher initial costs, offers significant ROI through its powerful features and automation capabilities, providing greater value over time for those prioritizing advanced features and long-term efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed CloudStack vs. Spacelift Report (Updated: June 2026).

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CloudStack vs. Spacelift

June 2026

Helped 900,644 peers since 2012

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

CloudStack

Ranking in Cloud Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Spacelift

Ranking in Cloud Management

14th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Software Development (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of CloudStack is 2.2%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spacelift is 1.3%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
CloudStack	2.2%
Spacelift	1.3%
Other	96.5%

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

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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G Srivastava

Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Automation of cloud infrastructure has transformed how our team manages Terraform workflows

Spacelift has other features beyond Terraform, including Ansible, Pulumi, Terragrunt, and it also helps with Kubernetes, although we haven't used it for the other tools. We have only used it for Terraform Infrastructure as Code, and it has helped us significantly. One standout feature compared to Terraform Cloud is the ability to apply policies. For example, we want to restrict engineers in our team from building servers with a particular SKU, such as in Azure, where we do not want to run servers with a SKU higher than the standard D4sv5. We can apply those policies in Spacelift, and the RBAC and access policies features are really excellent in Spacelift, which we do not find in any of the other competitor tools. The pricing is also competitive compared to Terraform Cloud. The access policy features allow us to assign specific policies since we have three environments in our company: Dev, QA, and Prod. We assign policies so that anyone can run code from Dev and QA servers, but we assign a policy for specific people, such as managers, to run code in Prod. This is a very good feature from Spacelift that we have implemented for the access policy. Spacelift has positively impacted our organization as a CI/CD tool for application deployment and development. Although we use other CI/CD tools like Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions, there wasn't a specific tool for Terraform Infrastructure as Code until Spacelift came along. It allows us to easily configure our servers and build a number of them on our cloud. While other CI/CD tools have started to include configuration features, Spacelift offers many other benefits that make it an excellent tool to use.

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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

"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."

"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."

"CloudStack is simple to stand up and get off the ground in a hurry."

"The back-end database design is simple and straight forward. The user interface is designed with external users in mind. Billing is relatively straightforward with this product. Not being restricted to just one hypervisor was nice."

"I have also explored setting up with OpenStack and I found it harder to use than CloudStack."

"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."

"CloudStack has reduced the time to market for the delivery of new products."

More CloudStack pros

"One key feature is the Spacelift policies, which we can attach to deployments to ensure compliance with our standards."

"I appreciate that I just have to connect to my AWS account with my credentials, and Spacelift handles the rest."

"Spacelift has positively impacted my organization in significant ways in terms of building infrastructure as code."

"Spacelift is like an extension of Terraform, where everything can be visibly managed."

"Spacelift has positively impacted our organization by speeding up our deployments and easing a lot of pain with infrastructure deployments, especially because a lot of teams are working simultaneously on the same code base using the same configs."

"A valuable feature of Spacelift is that you can attach labels, and it is a modernized tool for infrastructure deployments. It is pull request-based, and you can see all the Terraform plan and apply logs on the pull request itself, which is not available across any other CI/CD tools."

"Spacelift has positively impacted my organization by reducing manpower, as it reduced the efforts of resources in the team, where previously a job done by two or three engineers can now be easily managed by one engineer using Spacelift."

"Spacelift has positively impacted my organization by making it very easy to manage the different modules with a very clear interface."

More Spacelift pros

Cons

"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."

"The installation of CloudStack can be quite challenging because you need a good understanding of the product before starting."

"Multi-deployments."

"I think CloudStack needs to promote itself better, since I believe it a better solution than OpenStack."

"My teammates have complained about the upgrade. The source code had massive files that had to be merged with our own development to upgrade to the latest version of CloudStack. It was quite painful for them. CloudStack could add some cost management tools to give me some control over the costs associated with the number of users of my services."

"From time to time there is a bug in calculating limits of resources for customer domain/account. Maybe it’s a problem with 4.9.2."

"Factors that need improvement are: Visualization in terms of the resources usage. The user interface. Providing best error feedback to the users."

"With all that simplicity come limitations that need to be understood and planned for: Accounts, domains, and user accounts are set up with public cloud in mind, not private."

More CloudStack cons

"I chose a rating of six out of ten because I think multiple other tools similar to Spacelift exist, for example, many automation tools such as Jenkins or other cloud-native tools that perform efficiently compared to Spacelift."

"In the free version, there's no straightforward way to be notified once a deployment is finished."

"Spacelift currently lacks features that can help with complex type deployments and coordination for major deployments."

"Spacelift could be improved by implementing some of the many AI-based tools available that support a variety of tools like Pulumi, CloudFormation, OpenTofu, and Terraform."

"The self-hosted version does not have a lot of features compared to the SaaS version, such as cloud integrations for Azure and GCP."

"Pricing could be a little lower to make it a very robust tool, and it can improve areas in scalability and integrate some open-source tools."

"There are a few areas where there is room for improvement, particularly the initial setup and onboarding experience, which has a learning curve around understanding the concept of contexts."

"I think an improvement for Spacelift would be a feature to run multiple stacks."

More Spacelift cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The solution is open-source and free."

"CloudStack is an open-source product."

"It is a bit expensive product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

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

Questions from the Community

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.

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...

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...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spacelift?

I don't have much experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing as that's handled by a different team. With pricing and setup costs, I don't have anything to compare it with regarding other to...

What needs improvement with Spacelift?

Regarding improvements needed in Spacelift, it's difficult to say because I have been using it for a while now and haven't seen many areas where I would want to see something new because much of wh...

What is your primary use case for Spacelift?

My main use case for Spacelift is that I primarily use it for Terraform, focusing on module versioning and deployment. Recently, we started exploring the blueprints option, but the primary focus re...

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Download CloudStack product report

CloudStack

June 2026

Download Spacelift product report

May 2026

Also Known As

Vmops, Cloud.com

No data available

Overview

CloudStack offers an easy-to-manage platform compatible with multiple hypervisors, enabling seamless networking and efficient workload scaling. Its advanced APIs and open-source nature facilitate automation and customization, making it ideal for extensive cloud environments.

CloudStack is recognized for ease of setup, robust networking, and hypervisor compatibility. Supporting a range of workloads, it scales efficiently, offering flexible features like VM migration, private networking, and multi-zone support. Its user-friendly open-source design aids troubleshooting and customization, making it ideal for managing broad cloud deployments. Despite needing upgrades in interface and integration with third-party vendors and container technology, CloudStack remains a strong choice for businesses seeking effective virtualization solutions. Improvements in documentation, regional management, and emerging tech support would enhance usability and performance.

What are CloudStack's notable features?

Hypervisor compatibility: Supports diverse virtualization technologies for flexible deployment.
Robust networking: Ensures reliable and scalable network infrastructure management across zones.
Advanced APIs: Facilitates automation and integration to streamline cloud operations.
VM migration: Enhances operational flexibility with seamless virtual machine relocations.
Private networking: Provides secure and isolated network environments for critical tasks.
Multi-zone support: Offers scalable solutions for distributed cloud management.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Open-source model: Allows extensive customization without licensing costs, enhancing ROI.
Ease of management: Simplifies operations, reducing time and resources spent on maintenance.
Scalability: Enables growth and adaptability, fostering agility in expanding businesses.
Flexibility: Supports various workloads and environments, meeting diverse operational needs.

CloudStack is implemented across industries, used in managing virtual environments, offering IaaS in public, private, and hybrid cloud models. Companies use it for internal virtualization and customer service, integrating with hypervisors across data centers to orchestrate virtual machines and support development and testing globally.

Apache

Spacelift provides a sophisticated infrastructure management platform with key features such as Drift Detection and Terraform integration, simplifying complex deployments and enhancing user workflows through an intuitive interface.

Spacelift excels in modernizing infrastructure management by integrating smoothly with Terraform, using a pull request-based approach for visibility into logs. It automates change detection using GitOps from GitHub and supports AWS connectivity with credential management. Despite its strengths, some users find room for improvement in supporting smaller enterprises and offering more seamless cloud integrations with self-hosted versions. Handling of HashiCorp Vault secrets and cumbersome notification webhooks may require additional setup effort.

What are the most valuable features?

Drift Detection: Ensures user edits are managed effectively, reducing configuration discrepancies.
Terraform Integration: Seamless compatibility with Terraform for robust infrastructure management.
GitOps: Automates change detection from GitHub, ensuring efficient workflows.
Compliance Policies: Helps maintain infrastructure within regulatory guidelines.
Stack Execution: Enables runs with label attachments for organized operations.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Improved Deployment Control: Default plan prompts support structured and controlled deployments.
Streamlined Terraform Management: Enhanced visibility into logs aids in transparent and efficient operations.
Efficient AWS Interactions: Credential management simplifies connections, making operations more fluid.
Dynamic Infrastructure Handling: Supports significant projects by replacing tools like Terraform Enterprise.

In specific industries, Spacelift is primarily utilized for infrastructure management and deployment across platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP. In banking architecture, it replaces Terraform Enterprise, ensuring secure and efficient operations. Projects like Google Fiber benefit from its capability to import and manage data effectively, engaging users with HashiCorp Language and GitHub for CI/CD integration.

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available