Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Platform9 VS OpenStack

Compare Platform9 VS OpenStack and see what are their differences

Platform9 logo Platform9

Platform9 is the provider of SaaS managed hybrid cloud and container orchestration solutions at both individual and business levels.

OpenStack logo OpenStack

OpenStack software controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, managed through a dashboard or via the OpenStack API.
  • Platform9 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-03
  • OpenStack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-22

Platform9 features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Platform9 offers a user-friendly interface and straightforward setup, making it accessible for organizations without deep cloud-native expertise.
  • Managed Kubernetes
    It provides fully managed Kubernetes services, reducing the operational burdens of managing Kubernetes clusters on your own.
  • Hybrid Cloud Support
    Platform9 supports multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments, allowing for seamless management across private data centers, public clouds, and edge locations.
  • Zero-Touch Upgrades
    Automated, zero-downtime upgrades for Kubernetes clusters ensure that customers can continuously benefit from the latest features and security updates without manual intervention.
  • 24/7 Support
    Platform9 offers round-the-clock support, which can be crucial for businesses that operate in multiple time zones or require constant oversight.

Possible disadvantages of Platform9

  • Cost
    As a managed service, Platform9 could be more expensive compared to self-managed solutions, especially for large-scale deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    While it supports multiple cloud environments, relying heavily on Platform9 for orchestration and management might lead to some degree of vendor lock-in.
  • Complexity in Advanced Use Cases
    For users with very specific or niche use cases, the abstraction layer provided by Platform9 might limit the custom configurations possible with raw Kubernetes.
  • Feature Limitation
    Some users report limitations in the feature set when compared to the direct use of underlying cloud providers' native tools or open source Kubernetes distributions.

OpenStack features and specs

  • Open Source
    OpenStack is open source, which means there is no licensing fee and a broad community of users and developers contributes to its development and support.
  • Flexibility
    It supports a wide variety of hardware and software, allowing organizations to customize their cloud infrastructure to meet specific needs.
  • Scalability
    OpenStack can scale horizontally, allowing organizations to add or remove resources as their needs change, effectively managing large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources.
  • Vendor Neutrality
    Being vendor-neutral, OpenStack offers flexibility to avoid vendor lock-in and choose from a wide range of compatible technologies and service providers.
  • Community Support
    A large and active community provides extensive documentation, forums, and support, which can be very helpful for troubleshooting and development.

Possible disadvantages of OpenStack

  • Complexity
    Setting up and managing OpenStack can be complex and requires a significant level of expertise, which may necessitate specialized training for staff.
  • Performance Overhead
    Being a feature-rich platform, it often involves more performance overhead compared to other simpler, more streamlined services.
  • Resource Intensive
    OpenStack can be resource-intensive in terms of CPU, memory, and storage, which might not be suitable for all organizations, especially smaller ones with limited resources.
  • Interoperability Issues
    Integrating OpenStack with existing systems and third-party tools can sometimes present challenges, especially when dealing with legacy infrastructure.
  • Evolving Platform
    The platform is constantly evolving, which can be both a pro and a con. Keeping up to date with the latest releases and changes can be time-consuming and may require ongoing maintenance.

Analysis of OpenStack

Overall verdict

  • OpenStack can be an excellent choice for businesses and enterprises looking to deploy a cloud infrastructure, particularly if they value flexibility, scalability, and control over their environment. Being open-source, it also offers cost advantages compared to proprietary solutions, provided the organization has the necessary expertise to manage and maintain it. However, it may be challenging for smaller teams without dedicated IT resources due to its complexity and the steep learning curve associated with its deployment and management.

Why this product is good

  • OpenStack is a popular open-source cloud computing platform that enables users to build and manage both public and private clouds. It offers a flexible and scalable solution for organizations that need to handle large amounts of data and infrastructure. OpenStack is developed by a vast community of developers and organizations, ensuring continuous improvement and adaptation to new technologies. It supports a wide range of APIs, which allows for customization and integration with other services and tools.

Recommended for

    OpenStack is particularly recommended for large enterprises, organizations with skilled IT teams, academic institutions, and service providers that need a highly customizable and scalable cloud solution. It's also a great fit for entities with specific compliance requirements or those that need to run a private cloud with tailored configurations.

Platform9 videos

Platform9 Company Introduction

OpenStack videos

OpenStack Summit Primer, The Who, What, Why and How of OpenStack

More videos:

  • Review - Red Hat OpenStack Platform GPU use case
  • Review - Performance Analysis Review for Production OpenStack Private Cloud in SaaS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Platform9 and OpenStack)
Continuous Integration And Delivery
Cloud Computing
10 10%
90% 90
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0
VPS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Platform9 and OpenStack. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Platform9 and OpenStack

Platform9 Reviews

3 Cloud Alternatives to Amazon Web Services (That Arenโ€™t Google or Microsoft)
Another worthy alternative to Amazon Web Services is Platform9, a hybrid cloud provider that also offers a best of both worlds scenario in terms of deploying workflows across both public and private cloud spaces. Platform9 has designed a service that allows for the packaging of applications in a way that lets them deploy across any underlying infrastructure, giving...
Source: medium.com

OpenStack Reviews

35+ Of The Best CI/CD Tools: Organized By Category
OpenStack is a cloud framework. It provides users and enterprises with horizontal scale infrastructure. Its tools allow you to compute, store and share data and resources. It also provides self-service administration that users can interact with directly.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Platform9 should be more popular than OpenStack. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Platform9 mentions (3)

  • free-for.dev
    Platform9 - Managed Kubernetes plane. Free plan offers management capabilities up to 3 clusters & 20 nodes. Note: you must provide cluster infrastructure by yourself. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • Show HN: SetOps โ€“ Run containers, databases and more in your own AWS account
    Https://platform9.com/ And probably a dozen more. It's kind of wild. - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago
  • Free for dev - list of software (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.)
    Platform9 - Managed Kubernetes service designed for developers. Free developer accounts come with up to 3 clusters & 20 nodes cluster. - Source: dev.to / almost 5 years ago

OpenStack mentions (2)

  • Learn OpenStack by Example: Part 1 - Install DevStack
    In my first post, I looked into what is OpenStack and how, if done right, can be quite a powerful ally in our cloud deployment strategies. In this post, I want to start looking at how we can create an application to learn the basics and components of the system. - Source: dev.to / about 5 years ago
  • Learn OpenStack by examples: Part 0 - Summary and Goals
    While searching for solutions and documentation on the various problems I've come across, I would often see references to OpenStack and it got my curiosity going. What is OpenStack? What services does it offer and who owns it? How do I learn to use it? What are it's costs and limitations? - Source: dev.to / about 5 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Platform9 and OpenStack, you can also consider the following products

Puppet Enterprise - Get started with Puppet Enterprise, or upgrade or expand.

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

Terraform - Tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Packer - Packer is an open-source software for creating identical machine images from a single source configuration.

Microsoft Azure - Windows Azure and SQL Azure enable you to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters.