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LocalStack vs OpenStack: What are the differences?

Introduction

LocalStack and OpenStack are both cloud computing platforms, but they have key differences that set them apart. In this article, we will outline the main differences between LocalStack and OpenStack.

1. API Compatibility: While LocalStack aims to emulate AWS cloud services and provides an API compatible with AWS, OpenStack has its own API that is not compatible with AWS. This means that applications built for AWS may require modifications to run on OpenStack.

2. Deployment: LocalStack is designed for local development and testing, and it can be easily deployed on a developer's machine. On the other hand, OpenStack is typically deployed on dedicated servers or in a data center environment. OpenStack requires more complex deployment and configuration compared to LocalStack.

3. Scalability: OpenStack is designed to scale horizontally by adding more physical servers to the cloud infrastructure. It is built to handle large-scale deployments with a high number of instances, while LocalStack is primarily focused on providing a local environment for development and testing purposes.

4. Community Support and Maturity: OpenStack has a large and active community with a wide range of contributors, making it a mature and well-supported platform. LocalStack, on the other hand, has a smaller community and may have limitations in terms of support and updates. OpenStack benefits from the collective experience and knowledge of its community.

5. Cost and Licensing: LocalStack is an open-source project released under the Apache 2.0 license, making it free to use and modify. OpenStack, while also open-source, may require additional paid services for support, training, and consulting. This can add to the overall cost of deploying and maintaining an OpenStack environment.

6. Feature Set: OpenStack offers a comprehensive set of services for building and managing cloud infrastructure, including compute, networking, storage, and more. LocalStack focuses on emulating AWS-specific services and may not provide the same breadth of functionality as OpenStack. The feature set of OpenStack is more extensive and covers a wider range of cloud computing needs.

In summary, LocalStack provides an API compatible with AWS and is suitable for local development and testing, while OpenStack has its own API and is designed for large-scale cloud deployments. OpenStack has a larger community and more comprehensive feature set but may require additional paid services.

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Pros of LocalStack
Pros of OpenStack
  • 4
    Integration with Python/nosetests
  • 4
    Local/offline testing
  • 4
    No dependency on cloud
  • 3
    Available as Docker image
  • 3
    Continuous integration
  • 3
    The correct URL is https://github.com/localstack/locals
  • 3
    Integration with Java/JUnit
  • 3
    Increases dev speed
  • 3
    Easy to use
  • 3
    Cost effective testing
  • 56
    Private cloud
  • 38
    Avoid vendor lock-in
  • 22
    Flexible in use
  • 6
    Industry leader
  • 4
    Supported by many companies in top500
  • 4
    Robust architecture

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Cons of LocalStack
Cons of OpenStack
  • 2
    Doesn't work well on Windows
  • 1
    No proper admin panel/web UI
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    What is LocalStack?

    LocalStack provides an easy-to-use test/mocking framework for developing Cloud applications.

    What is OpenStack?

    OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.

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    What companies use LocalStack?
    What companies use OpenStack?
    See which teams inside your own company are using LocalStack or OpenStack.
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    What tools integrate with LocalStack?
    What tools integrate with OpenStack?

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    What are some alternatives to LocalStack and OpenStack?
    Serverless
    Build applications comprised of microservices that run in response to events, auto-scale for you, and only charge you when they run. This lowers the total cost of maintaining your apps, enabling you to build more logic, faster. The Framework uses new event-driven compute services, like AWS Lambda, Google CloudFunctions, and more.
    Minio
    Minio is an object storage server compatible with Amazon S3 and licensed under Apache 2.0 License
    AWS Amplify
    A JavaScript library for frontend and mobile developers building cloud-enabled applications. The library is a declarative interface across different categories of operations in order to make common tasks easier to add into your application. The default implementation works with Amazon Web Services (AWS) resources but is designed to be open and pluggable for usage with other cloud services that wish to provide an implementation or custom backends.
    AWS CLI
    It is a unified tool to manage your AWS services. With just one tool to download and configure, you can control multiple AWS services from the command line and automate them through scripts.
    AWS Shell
    The AWS Command Line Interface is a unified tool to manage your AWS services.
    See all alternatives