Available worldwide
What is cloud-init?
An open-source utility that customizes cloud instances during boot by applying user-provided configuration data, supporting all major cloud providers and Linux distributions.
cloud-init pricing
We don't have cloud-init's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.
What cloud-init does
The capabilities that matter for configuration management tools, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Architecture
- Agentless / SSH-push
- Push / pull model
- Push
- Config language
- -
- Masterless mode
- ✓
- Hosting
- Self-hosted only
- Idempotent
- ✓
- Desired-state declarative
- ✓
- Content registry
- -
- Windows support
- ✗
- Cloud provisioning
- ✓
- Policy / compliance
- -
- Enterprise edition
- -
- Open-source core
- ✓
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- Linux
- Cloud / SaaS
- On-premise
- Self-hosted
Security & compliance
Known vulnerabilities: 0 (0 in the last 12 months) sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality
cloud-init alternatives
Other configuration management tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- Chef HabitatAn open-source tool for defining, packaging, and deploying applications consistently across any environment or infrastructurelow · 18%
- BOSHhigh · 78%
- NixOS / Nixmedium · 58%
- HCL BigFixAutomated endpoint management and security across hybrid and air-gapped environmentslow · 27%
- LandscapeSystems management platform that automates security updates and compliance across Ubuntu deploymentsmedium · 56%
- OpenVoxmedium · 62%
The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for cloud-init, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | 75 | 0.08 | 6.2 | ✓ |
| Development activity | 44 | 0.12 | 5.3 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 79 | 0.07 | 5.3 | ✓ |
| Security score | 59 | 0.05 | 3.1 | ✓ |
| Stars | 68 | 0.03 | 2.2 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 0 | 0.05 | 0.0 | - |
| Dependent projects | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | ✓ |
| Security posture | 0 | 0.09 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.17 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 24 | mediumsource · 2026-08-26 · 65% |
Adoption
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Model: push · Hosting: self · Idempotent: Yes · Architecture: agentless · Desired state: Yes · Masterless mode: Yes | mediumsource · 2026-08-21 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Python | highsource · 2026-08-26 · 90% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | HqCountry: GB · PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | highsource · 2026-08-21 · 75% |