head to head · open source
ansible vs cloudstack
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars, 24,474 forks, 837 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cloudstack has 3,124 stars, 1,417 forks, 1,048 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ansible leads on adoption by 2,179% (71,204 vs 3,124 stars). ansible is written in Python under GPL-3.0; cloudstack is written in Java under Apache-2.0. ansible has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, cloudstack 45%. ansible was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (python), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| ansible | cloudstack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 71K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ansible if
- You weight community size — 71K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cloudstack if
- You want the cloudstack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and cloudstack fits your workflow better
About ansible
[ ][copying] Ansible Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad hoc task execution, network automation, and multi node orchestration. Ansible makes complex changes like zero downtime rolling updates with load balancers easy. More information on the Ansible website. Design Principles Have an extremely simple setup process with a minimal learning curve. Manage machines quickly and in parallel. Avoid custom agents and additional open ports, be agentless by leveraging the existing SSH daemon. Describe infrastructure in a…
read the full ansible overview →
About cloudstack
Apache CloudStack Who Uses CloudStack? Demo Getting Started Getting Source Repository Documentation News and Events Getting Involved and Contributing Reporting Security Vulnerabilities License Notice of Cryptographic Software Star History Contributors 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. CloudStack is used by a number of service providers to offer public cloud services, and by many companies to provide an on premises (private) cloud offering…
read the full cloudstack overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Orchestration & Scheduling projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Orchestration & Scheduling field.
Frequently asked questions
Is ansible or cloudstack more popular?
ansible has 71,204 GitHub stars and cloudstack has 3,124. ansible has the larger community by that measure.
Are ansible and cloudstack free?
Both are open source. ansible is licensed under GPL-3.0 and cloudstack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ansible and cloudstack?
ansible is written in Python and cloudstack in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ansible or cloudstack?
Choose ansible if you want the larger community (71,204 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose cloudstack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.