Side by side
Matchbox vs OSDCloud
Both stand on os deployment software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted
Choose Matchbox to match bare-metal machines to profiles and provision Fedora CoreOS or Flatcar Linux over the network. Its free self-hosted deployment and Terraform support suit lab and datacenter setups.
Visit Matchbox Free plan Windows
OSDCloud provides a free way to deploy Windows 11 through WinPE, with support for drivers, provisioning packages, and Autopilot preparation. Its internet and boot-image requirements are important constraints for deployment planning.
Visit OSDCloudThe facts
| Matchbox | OSDCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Self-hosted | Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | github.com | osdcloud.com |
| On os deployment software | #10 of 29 | #14 of 29 |
Matchbox: what it does well
- Matches machines to profiles using MAC addresses or UUIDs.
- Supports iPXE chainloading and iPXE and GRUB2 configurations.
- Provides HTTP endpoints and an authenticated, TLS-secured gRPC API.
- Can run as a Linux binary, container, or Kubernetes service.
- Free open-source software with documented Terraform support.
What to know first
- Provisioning facts cover Fedora CoreOS and Flatcar Linux.
- Kubernetes example manifests use ephemeral storage by default.
OSDCloud: what it does well
- Supports Windows 11 on amd64 and arm64.
- Drivers can come from Microsoft Update Catalog.
- Can prepare devices for Windows Autopilot.
- Provisioning packages can be applied during deployment.
What to know first
- Internet access is required during deployment.
- Requires a WinPE boot image and hardware drivers.
- Windows-only platform.
Alternatives to Matchbox Alternatives to OSDCloud The whole list