OpenNebula Feature Comparison
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Organizations today are looking for flexible, open solutions to simplify their IT infrastructure, consolidate workloads, and build scalable private, hybrid, and edge clouds. By adopting a unified cloud management and virtualization platform, they can reduce operational complexity, lower costs (TCO), and gain complete control over their digital infrastructure.
OpenNebula is a mature, open platform that provides complete cloud and virtualization management—combining in a single and a lightweight solution all the capabilities of a hypervisor manager such as VMware vSphere, a cloud orchestrator such as Nutanix Cloud Platform, as well as a hybrid/edge enabler.
Unlike proprietary alternatives, OpenNebula offers:
- A predictable subscription model with full access to all features.
- Unified virtualization and cloud management.
- Native edge and hybrid cloud support, including automatic resource provisioning on public clouds such as AWS.
- Integrated Kubernetes orchestration via the OpenNebula Cluster API Provider.
- Enterprise-grade scalability and automation, with high availability, multi-tenancy, and federation across sites.
Thousands of organizations worldwide already rely on OpenNebula as an open alternative to VMware vSphere®, Nutanix Cloud Platform®, and Red Hat OpenStack/OpenShift®. These organizations benefit from an agile, secure, and future-ready cloud infrastructure that gives them complete control over their technology stack.
To assist with the preparation and completion of the numerous Requests for Proposal (RFPs) we receive every week, we have created the following table to help guide comparisons between OpenNebula and other cloud solutions.
Contents
Overview | |
|---|---|
| Product Scope | OpenNebula offers an end-to-end cloud and virtualization management solution, covering the entire stack—from the hypervisor layer to Kubernetes cluster management. While OpenNebula natively provides core capabilities for virtualization, networking, storage, and backup, it also integrates seamlessly with leading ecosystem technologies to extend its functionality. Examples include disaggregated and HCI software-defined storage (SDS) solutions like Ceph, StorPool, and Linbit; enterprise SAN systems such as NetApp and Pure Storage; networking technologies including NVIDIA Spectrum, InfiniBand, and Open vSwitch; backup platforms like Veeam; automation tools such as Terraform and Ansible; and Kubernetes management solutions like Rancher and RKE2. |
| Roadmap | OpenNebula’s roadmap focuses on expanding its hybrid and private cloud capabilities, with continued integration of container orchestration, AI/ML workloads, and advanced automation features. The two main solution areas are VMware replacement and AI Factories, with ongoing work on new advanced features, deeper integration with the vendor ecosystem, and enhanced migration tools. It also emphasizes improved scalability, security, and interoperability across diverse infrastructures, ensuring seamless operation from core data centers to distributed edge environments. OpenNebula Systems is one of the core participants in the €3B IPCEI-CIS consortium, which brings together leading cloud and edge computing organizations to build the next generation of cloud and edge technologies. |
| Mature Software Base | OpenNebula is developed by OpenNebula Systems in collaboration with its global open-source community. Since its initial release in 2008, the platform has delivered hundreds of major, minor, and maintenance updates, demonstrating a long-term commitment to stability, innovation, and enterprise-grade reliability. |
| Quality Assurance | Backed by a rigorous internal quality assurance process and a mature technology base strengthened by a large, active community, OpenNebula ensures proven scalability and performance validated through extensive large-scale production deployments. |
| License | 100% software-based solution, with its main source code released under the Apache 2.0 open-source license. |
| Base Operating Systems | Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL and compatible enterprise Linux distributions such as AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. While OpenNebula does not require vendor-supported Ubuntu Pro or RHEL and supports any production environment end-to-end on Ubuntu, AlmaLinux, or Rocky Linux, the Enterprise Subscription includes add-ons with built-in versions of Ubuntu Pro and RHEL that provide extended security maintenance, compliance certifications, and live patching. |
| Full Virtualization | KVM/QEMU – native integration for hardware-assisted virtualization on Intel and AMD architectures. |
| OS-level Virtualization | Linux Containers (LXC) – lightweight virtualization for fast, efficient workloads and edge environments. |
| Supported Architectures | x86_64, ARM64 including Ampere, NVIDIA Grace, and Raspberry Pi). |
| Front-end Deployment | The OpenNebula front-end can be installed either on a dedicated front-end server or within virtual machines (VMs) hosted on the hypervisor nodes. |
| Installation Methods | Standard packages for major Linux distributions; automated Ansible deployment via OneDeploy; lightweight evaluation through miniONE. |
| Upgrade Process | Unifies all key enterprise cloud functionalities within a single installation, and ensures long-term stability and performance through a streamlined patching and upgrade process. |
| VMware Migration Process | Comprehensive tools and workflows to enable a seamless transition from VMware to OpenNebula—including OneSwap for automated VM migration, OVA import for direct workload onboarding, and migration processes designed to ensure business continuity with minimal downtime and configuration effort. |
Features | |
| Management Interface | A single pane of glass for management and automation, featuring the Sunstone Web GUI, CLI tools, and REST/XML-RPC APIs, providing complete administrative control and orchestration capabilities. |
| Cluster and Federation Support | Multi-cluster and multi-zone federation with centralized governance and distributed scheduling. |
| Scalability | Proven scalability in production environments with over 2,500 hypervisor nodes managed within a single OpenNebula instance. |
| HA and Disaster Recovery | HA for front-end and host nodes; redundant database and failover mechanisms for service continuity across data centers. |
| Hybrid & Edge Cloud | Automatic provisioning on AWS, Equinix Metal, Scaleway and remote OpenNebula zones; optimized for edge deployments. |
| Enhanced Platform Awareness (EPA) Integration | Support for NUMA-aware CPU pinning, SR-IOV, and HugePages to provide precise hardware-level optimization and secure, performance-aware orchestration of virtualized workloads. |
| AI and Accelerated Computing | Support for NVIDIA GPUs, MIG scheduling, NVLink, Infiniband, Spectrum-X, and DPU offloading for accelerated networking, storage, and AI workloads. |
| Networking Models | Comprehensive networking support, including software-defined networking (SDN), virtual, and physical appliances, including Linux Bridge, 802.1Q VLAN, VXLAN, Open vSwitch; SDN integration with BlueField DPUs and Spectrum-X fabrics. |
| Storage Backends | Full support for both software-defined storage (SDS) and appliance-based storage solutions, including local storage, NFS/NAS, Disaggregated and HCI Ceph, iSCSI/FC, LVM, and NetApp ONTAP integration; support for encrypted datastores. |
| Backup Options | Built-in incremental backup system, with integration with Veeam for agentless, image-level backups, providing enterprise-grade backup and restore capabilities. |
| Cloud Provisioning Model | Self-service cloud platform that lets users deploy and share applications, auto-scale services, and monitor performance in real time, with broad support for Windows and Linux guests across diverse environments |
| Authentication Realms | Authentication based on LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, and other identity backends for centralized access control. |
| Capacity and Performance Management | Live migration, DRS, and scheduling, affinity rules, and host overcommitment to optimize performance and resource efficiency. |
| Monitoring & Observability | Built-in telemetry, Prometheus and Grafana integration, as well as NVIDIA DCGM for GPU metrics. |
| Secure Multi-tenancy | Fine-grained ACLs, user/group roles, quotas, VDCs, network isolation, and hardware partitioning. |
| Container & Kubernetes Support | Native integrations with Kubernetes through its Cluster API Provider (CAPONE), Cloud Provider Interface (CPI), and Container Storage Interface (CSI), along with fully certified support for SUSE Rancher Prime and RKE2. |
| Confidential Computing | Encrypted VM disks, and support for Confidential Computing and vTPM |
| Automation & Configuration | Native support for Terraform and Ansible event hooks and APIs for DevOps integration. |
| Marketplace | Public and private App Marketplaces for VM templates, OS images, and application stacks. |
| Graphical User Interface | Modular and customizable interface with dynamic views, secure VNC, RDP, and SSH access, white-labeling, and intuitive tools for self-service, delegated administration, and resource organization. |
| Interfaces and Integration | Modular architecture with event-driven hooks and a comprehensive API set enables seamless integration, automation and extensibility across third-party systems. |
Subscriptions | |
| Community Forum | The OpenNebula Community Forum provides best-effort support for organizations evaluating the software or developing integrations. |
| Enterprise Subscription | An annual subscription is priced based on the number of hypervisor hosts in the infrastructure—with no limits on cores, virtual machines, or memory—and includes access to:
The Enterprise Subscription has three Special Editions, each including built-in popular enterprise infrastructure products designed to address specific enterprise requirements:
The Enterprise Subscriptions can be enhanced with three types of optional add-ons designed to extend functionality and support coverage:
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| Enterprise Edition | While the software is fully open source, certain enterprise-grade releases are made available exclusively to subscribers under the Enterprise Program. These private releases are thoroughly tested and certified for production environments, offering enterprise-grade scalability and reliability, and include:
Enterprise subscribers have direct influence on the product roadmap, helping shape the platform’s evolution and enabling them to request enhancements aligned with their specific needs. |
| Enterprise Tools | While OpenNebula is fully open-source software, specific drivers that interact with enterprise-grade or vendor-specific devices, such as NetApp or Veeam, are distributed as enterprise tools available only to companies with an active subscription. |
| Permanent Licence | OpenNebula Systems provides perpetual rights to use the OpenNebula software downloaded during the Enterprise Subscription period. While the license itself does not expire, access to upgrades, security updates, and professional support is available only with an active Enterprise Subscription. This model ensures long-term stability while offering flexibility for ongoing maintenance and enhancements. |
| Enterprise Support | Global, production-grade SLA Support is available to Enterprise Subscribers in Standard (9×5) or Premium (24×7) tiers, providing professional, SLA-based assistance for fast, reliable incident resolution. Response and resolution times can be further improved with the optional Mission Critical Support Add-on. The support service includes an escalation process with direct access to a senior technical team, including the developers themselves. |
| Enterprise Portal | The Enterprise Portal provides access to the OpenNebula Knowledge Base, which contains “how-to” articles, best practices, and configuration guides to help customers maximize their investment. It also offers alerts and notifications to keep users informed about updates, advisories, and important events. |
| Enterprise Subscription - Special Editions | The Enterprise Subscription – Special Editions include built-in vendor-backed subscriptions that extend OpenNebula’s coverage to widely used enterprise infrastructure products. These add-ons provide official vendor support and are available exclusively for integrated use with OpenNebula. OpenNebula delivers end-to-end support for the complete integrated solution, backed by Level 3 (L3) support from the respective technology vendors. This ensures extended security maintenance, compliance certification, and live patching capabilities for mission-critical environments. Available Editions:
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| Enhanced Support Add-ons | OpenNebula Systems offers a set of add-ons that enhance the scope and level of support provided under the Enterprise Subscription. These add-ons are designed for organizations that require higher service levels or personalized technical engagement. Available options include:
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| Integration Support Add-ons | The Enterprise Subscription includes several add-ons that extend OpenNebula’s support to other widely used open-source infrastructure software components. These add-ons do not introduce new software but instead provide support for integrating third-party solutions with OpenNebula, ensuring customers receive expert guidance and assistance when deploying and operating OpenNebula alongside complementary technologies. The available add-ons include:
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| Professional Services | Companies with Enterprise Subscriptions have access to Professional Services delivered by OpenNebula experts, ensuring that each cloud deployment is designed, implemented, and validated for production readiness from day one. We also offer cloud upgrade, training, and consulting services. |
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