VCloud vs Elestio

Both run open-source applications as a managed service, and the differences are structural rather than cosmetic. Elestio prices per deployed service and offers a very large catalog. VCloud charges for the compute allocated to your organization, includes every app in its catalog at no per-app cost, and ships each app extended - single sign-on, secure tunnels and automated backups added on top of the upstream software. VCloud also runs only on infrastructure it administers itself, which is the trade that lets it carry an uptime commitment. If you want the widest possible catalog, or your workloads inside your own cloud account, Elestio fits better. If you want a predictable bill, unlimited seats, and apps that arrive with the enterprise pieces already attached, VCloud is the closer fit.

How Elestio works

Elestio prices per deployed service, and also supports deploying into your own cloud account (AWS, Hetzner, DigitalOcean) where you pay the underlying provider directly plus an Elestio management fee. Their catalog runs to several hundred applications.

Elestio details checked 13 September 2026, against their own pricing and documentation. Pricing and plan structure are theirs to change.

VCloud vs Elestio side by side

Dimension	VCloud	Elestio
What you pay for	The compute allocated to your organization. Every app in the catalog is included, with no per-app license or install fee	Per-service pricing; cost grows with each service added
What actually gets deployed	The upstream app extended by VCloud - single sign-on, secure tunnels with WebSocket and SSE support, automated backups, and UI actions for tasks that would otherwise need a shell	The upstream service, managed and kept updated
Catalog size	Smaller and growing - a focused set of business applications, each extended with enterprise features. All included in your plan	Several hundred applications
Whose infrastructure	VCloud-operated only, by design. An uptime and security commitment cannot extend to infrastructure VCloud does not administer	Elestio-managed, or deployed into your own AWS, Hetzner or DigitalOcean account
Single sign-on	Configured automatically across every app, including apps with no native authentication of their own	Depends on the application being deployed
User seats	Unlimited on every plan	Determined by each application, not metered by Elestio
Multiple apps per plan	2 on Starter, 5 on Business, unlimited on Scale	Each service is billed separately

Choose VCloud if

You want one predictable bill driven by the compute you use, not a line item per service.
You want apps that arrive with single sign-on and backups already wired in, rather than the upstream software as-is.
You would rather not hold a cloud account or manage provider billing yourself.
Unlimited user seats matter because your headcount is larger than your app count.

Choose Elestio if

You need an application outside our catalog - theirs is substantially larger.
You want workloads running inside your own cloud account. We deliberately do not offer that and do not plan to, so this is a real reason to choose them rather than a gap we intend to close.
You want to run many independent services and prefer paying per service to keep them isolated.
You need a region we do not operate in - we currently run in one.

Sources

Claims about Elestio on this page were checked against the following on 13 September 2026.

Other comparisons

See the plans for yourself

Fixed monthly pricing with unlimited user seats, automated backups, and an uptime SLA on every plan.

See pricing