Stackspin review
Free, open-source app hosting for teams willing to manage Kubernetes.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Stackspin is an open-source platform for deploying and managing self-hosted collaboration applications. It is aimed at civil society organizations and value-driven teams that want a shared operating layer for tools such as Nextcloud, OnlyOffice, Zulip, Wekan, WordPress and HedgeDoc. Its dashboard combines application installation with unified user management and OpenID single sign-on, while the underlying deployment remains on infrastructure that your team manages.
The published pricing model is straightforward: the Self-hosted plan is free and open source, with installation on infrastructure you manage. The dashboard provides one-click application deployment for the documented catalog, and automatic application and platform updates reduce routine maintenance work. Stackspin also connects to Grafana and Prometheus for cluster-status monitoring. This combination suits small or mid-market teams that prefer a curated stack rather than assembling separate deployment, identity and monitoring tools.
Operations still require technical ownership. Stackspin runs on a Kubernetes cluster that you configure and manage, so it is better suited to teams comfortable maintaining self-hosted infrastructure than to buyers seeking a turnkey hosted service. Nightly cluster and application backups are available through Velero to S3-compatible storage, but the backup option requires configuration. The focused catalog is a strength for standardized collaboration environments, yet organizations needing many additional applications or a broader platform ecosystem may prefer an alternative. Choose Stackspin when control, open-source software and centralized management matter more than minimizing infrastructure responsibility.
Stackspin pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Dashboard installs and manages a focused collaboration app catalog
- Unified users and OpenID single sign-on across supported apps
- Automatic updates, optional Velero backups, and Grafana/Prometheus monitoring
- Where it doesn't
- Requires configuring and managing your own Kubernetes cluster
- App choices are limited to a defined catalog of supported tools
- Backups are optional and require Velero and S3-compatible storage setup
Stackspin fact sheet, pricing and score →
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