Side by side

Canonical MAAS vs Foreman

Both stand on it automation software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Canonical MAAS

Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

MAAS provides server provisioning and infrastructure-management tools, with free self-support and paid support tiers. Account for the free plan’s support exclusions and the Ubuntu Pro requirement for controllers.

Visit Canonical MAAS

Foreman

Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

Foreman offers server provisioning, configuration integrations and several administration interfaces without a listed software charge. Its installation requirements and Linux expertise needs make deployment planning important.

Visit Foreman

The facts

	Canonical MAAS	Foreman
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes	Not published
Runs on	API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web	API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web
Lowest paid plan	See the plans	Free or on request
Plans published	5	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	canonical.com	theforeman.org
On it automation software	#1 of 77	#13 of 77

Canonical MAAS: what it does well

Automates server lifecycle tasks.
Web UI, command line, and API management.
Integrates with Terraform, Juju, and Ansible.
Supports network and storage configuration.
Free plan covers all machines.

What to know first

Free plan has no HA support.
Free plan lacks RBAC and Knowledge Base.
Free plan has no phone or ticket support.
Ubuntu Pro is required for MAAS controllers.

Foreman: what it does well

Free and open-source self-managed installation.
Provisions bare-metal and cloud resources.
Supports Puppet, Ansible, Chef and Salt.
Offers web, REST API and Linux CLI interfaces.
Audits record how, who and when changes occurred.

What to know first

Setup requires Linux system administration knowledge.
Installation requires 4 GB of memory.
Foreman itself is not FIPS-certified.
Community packages are provided only for x86_64.

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