MAAS vs MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator

MAAS9.4Visit MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator8.8Visit

Higher score MAAS #1 in Bare Metal Provisioning Software 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 7 features Visit Canonical

vs

MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator #5 in Bare Metal Provisioning Software 8.8/10 Pricing on request ✓ 6 of 7 features Visit MetalSoft

• MAAS fits best

  Teams needing broad, affordable bare-metal control

• MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator fits best

  Multi-site commercial bare-metal operations

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature	MAAS 9.4/10 Visit ↗	MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.8
Ranking	#1 in Bare Metal Provisioning Software	#5 in Bare Metal Provisioning Software
Best for	Teams needing broad, affordable bare-metal control	Multi-site commercial bare-metal operations
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	—	Pricing on request
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Linux	Web
Support	Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs · 24/7	Email, Tickets, Docs · 24/7
Integrations	5 integrations	11 integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features MAAS 1/7 · MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator 6/7
Bare-metal discovery	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
OS image deployment	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
PXE bootstrapping	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Lifecycle management	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Hardware inventory	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
API access	✓	✓
Out-of-band management	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Our review
Pros	Discovers, commissions, and provisions physical and virtual machines Automates deployment through REST API, CLI, PXE, and network boot Configures BMC power, storage, RAID, LVM, networking, and permissions	Automatic discovery, zero-touch enrollment, and hardware inventory extraction Multi-vendor firmware baselines and complete server lifecycle workflows Self-service access, multi-site operations, API access, and broad integrations
Cons	Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the platform environment Paid tiers are support plans rather than expanded provisioning features Ubuntu Pro is required for MAAS controllers using standalone support	Pricing requires contacting sales PXE bootstrapping is not explicitly covered The broad feature set may exceed narrow provisioning needs
Our verdict	MAAS is Canonical’s open-source infrastructure management platform for discovering, commissioning, provisioning, and managing physical servers and virtual machines. It suits data-center operators, IT teams, private-cloud builders, HPC… Read the review →	MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator is designed for provisioning, re-provisioning, and managing physical servers across vendors and sites. It supports general-purpose and specialized infrastructure in on-premises, edge, hybrid, AI, and HPC… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• MAAS — where it wins

  • Discovers, commissions, and provisions physical and virtual machines
  • Automates deployment through REST API, CLI, PXE, and network boot
  • Configures BMC power, storage, RAID, LVM, networking, and permissions

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the platform environment
  • Paid tiers are support plans rather than expanded provisioning features
  • Ubuntu Pro is required for MAAS controllers using standalone support

• MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator — where it wins

  • Automatic discovery, zero-touch enrollment, and hardware inventory extraction
  • Multi-vendor firmware baselines and complete server lifecycle workflows
  • Self-service access, multi-site operations, API access, and broad integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contacting sales
  • PXE bootstrapping is not explicitly covered
  • The broad feature set may exceed narrow provisioning needs

• MAAS9.4/10 · Free plan

  Broad bare-metal control with free self-support and paid support from $30 per machine annually.

  Visit CanonicalFull verdict →
• MetalSoft Bare Metal Orchestrator8.8/10 · Pricing on request

  A multi-site bare-metal control plane with lifecycle workflows, automation, and infrastructure integrations.

  Visit MetalSoftFull verdict →