# BOSH vs cloud-init

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** BOSH

| Attribute | BOSH | cloud-init |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 61.9 (78% (high)) | 51.9 (66% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 77 | 34 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 131 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 2,080 | 3,833 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A tool chain for automating the release engineering, deployment, and ongoing management of complex distributed services. It supports multiple cloud platforms and can manage itself through self-hosting. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What is BOSH?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"BOSH is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"Is BOSH free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"BOSH supports Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What platforms does BOSH support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. BOSH can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"Can BOSH be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 7 integrations for BOSH, including UAA, CredHub, OpenStack, vCloud, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Storage. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What does BOSH integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. BOSH is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh","question":"Is BOSH open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"An open-source utility that customizes cloud instances during boot by applying user-provided configuration data, supporting all major cloud providers and Linux distributions. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.","source":"https://cloud-init.io/","question":"What is cloud-init?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"cloud-init is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://cloud-init.io/","question":"Is cloud-init free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"cloud-init supports Linux. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://cloud-init.io/","question":"What platforms does cloud-init support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. cloud-init can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://cloud-init.io/","question":"Can cloud-init be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"cloud-init is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United Kingdom.","source":"https://cloud-init.io/","question":"Where is cloud-init available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A complete toolchain for deploying, managing, and monitoring large-scale distributed services across multiple cloud platforms and infrastructure providers. | A boot-time initialization framework for Linux and Unix systems that automatically detects the cloud environment, retrieves configuration metadata, and provisions instances with network setup, storage configuration, SSH keys, and other initialization tasks. Supports all major public clouds, private cloud infrastructure, and bare-metal systems. |
| features.capabilities | `{"model":"push","hosting":"self","language":"YAML","idempotent":true,"architecture":"declarative_os","desired_state":true,"masterless_mode":false,"windows_support":true,"content_registry":true,"open_source_core":true,"policy_compliance":false,"cloud_provisioning":true,"enterprise_edition":false}` | `{"model":"push","hosting":"self","idempotent":true,"architecture":"agentless","desired_state":true,"masterless_mode":true,"windows_support":false,"open_source_core":true,"cloud_provisioning":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"UAA"},{"name":"CredHub"},{"name":"OpenStack"},{"name":"vCloud"},{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Azure Storage"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Ruby | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://bosh.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T22:36:19.220Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://cloud-init.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T12:43:06.271Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | no | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 38 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.13","date":"2026-10-10T17:12:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.12","date":"2026-10-09T06:08:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.11","date":"2026-09-19T19:30:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.10","date":"2026-09-15T23:50:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.9","date":"2026-09-15T11:41:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.8","date":"2026-09-02T20:59:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.7","date":"2026-08-29T18:39:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.6","date":"2026-08-20T03:50:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.5","date":"2026-08-18T00:55:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.4","date":"2026-08-13T12:05:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.3","date":"2026-08-01T16:43:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.2","date":"2026-07-24T08:38:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.1","date":"2026-07-17T05:30:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.0","date":"2026-07-13T17:49:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.0.0","date":"2026-07-09T21:32:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.17","date":"2026-06-26T01:19:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.16","date":"2026-06-18T05:49:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.15","date":"2026-06-11T15:05:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.14","date":"2026-06-04T23:55:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.13","date":"2026-05-26T08:57:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.13"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/26.2","date":"2026-07-29T03:33:43Z","type":"stable","version":"26.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/26.1","date":"2026-02-28T02:05:06Z","type":"stable","version":"26.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.3","date":"2025-09-26T11:33:24Z","type":"stable","version":"25.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.2","date":"2025-08-12T19:05:26Z","type":"stable","version":"25.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.4","date":"2025-08-06T19:27:52Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.3","date":"2025-06-12T20:48:07Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.2","date":"2025-05-01T17:45:51Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.1","date":"2025-03-24T17:21:47Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1","date":"2025-02-20T21:12:24Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.4.1","date":"2025-01-15T16:21:06Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.4","date":"2024-11-25T16:33:16Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.3.1","date":"2024-09-05T17:05:38Z","type":"stable","version":"24.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.3","date":"2024-08-30T22:38:19Z","type":"stable","version":"24.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.2","date":"2024-07-03T15:35:00Z","type":"stable","version":"24.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.7","date":"2024-06-05T16:36:32Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.6","date":"2024-05-24T17:01:37Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.4","date":"2024-04-05T21:48:54Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.3","date":"2024-03-27T13:17:42Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.2","date":"2024-03-21T15:55:41Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.1","date":"2024-03-12T02:40:29Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.1"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.2 | 6 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=rubygems&package_name=bosh-template&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=ubuntu&package_name=cloud-init&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Configuration Management Tools)

| Capability | BOSH | cloud-init |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Architecture | Declarative-OS | Agentless / SSH-push |
| Push / pull model | Push | Push |
| Config language | YAML | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Masterless mode | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Self-hosted only |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Idempotent | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Model** |  |  |
| Desired-state declarative | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Content registry | ✓ | - |
| **Platform** |  |  |
| Windows support | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Scope** |  |  |
| Cloud provisioning | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Policy / compliance | ✗ | - |
| **Commercial** |  |  |
| Enterprise edition | ✗ | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source core | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:12:36.238Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*