RudderStack Cloud vs. RudderStack Open Source

Detailed guide comparing features available in RudderStack's two offerings - Cloud and Open Source.

This guide compares the features present in the two primary RudderStack offerings - RudderStack Cloud and RudderStack Open Source. It will help you in choosing the best option suited to your requirements.

RudderStack also offers three plans as a part of RudderStack Cloud : Free, Pro, and Enterprise. Refer to the Pricing page for detailed comparison and additional information on these plans.

Feature comparison

Setup and customizability

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Data plane setup in your own environment	✕	✓	Cloud uses the RudderStack-hosted data plane.
Control plane setup in your own environment	✕	✓	Cloud uses the RudderStack-hosted web app to manage your connections.
Customize the data plane config parameters	✕	✓	-

For more information on the data plane and control plane setup options in RudderStack Cloud and Open Source, refer to the FAQ section below.

Event-related features

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Event-related metrics	✓	✓	Get information on the number of events ingested during a specified timeframe.
Event backup in your own bucket	✓	✓	RudderStack can manage it for you as a part of the Enterprise plan.
Live events	✓	✕	This feature is applicable only for cloud mode destinations.
RudderStack-hosted object storage	✓	✕	You can use the RudderStack-hosted bucket to temporarily store your events before forwarding them to your warehouse destination.
Event Replay	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.
Maintaining event ordering	✓	✓	For Cloud, this is an Enterprise-only feature. Event ordering is supported in an open source setup but not guaranteed.
Transformations	✓	✓	In case of Open Source, this feature is only applicable for the RudderStack-hosted control plane and users can set upto 3 transformations. In case of RudderStack Cloud Free, users can set upto 3 transformations. Pro and Enterprise users can set up unlimited transformations. It can be used only for cloud mode destinations.

ETL and Reverse ETL

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Cloud Extract (ETL)	✓	✕	RudderStack Cloud Free users can set up only 1 Cloud Extract source. Pro and Enterprise users can set up unlimited sources.
Reverse ETL	✓	✕	RudderStack Cloud Free users can set up only 1 Reverse ETL source. Pro and Enterprise users can set up unlimited sources.
Data syncs scheduling	✓	✕	-
Models	✓	✕	Models let you define and run custom SQL queries on your warehouse and send the resulting data to specific destinations.

Data governance

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Data governance	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.
Tracking plans	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.
Data regulation and suppression	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.

Deployment and security

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Multi-node scaling	✓	✕	Available for Pro and Enterprise users.
Single sign-on(SSO)	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.
VPC deployment	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.

Monitoring and observability

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Grafana dashboards for monitoring	✓	✕	Available for Pro and Enterprise users.
Alerting and error notifications	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.

Auditing and user management

Feature	RudderStack Cloud	RudderStack Open Source	Comments
Ability to add other team members in the workspace	✓	✕	You can invite upto 3 members in your workspace in RudderStack Cloud Free, upto 10 members in Pro, and unlimited members in the Enterprise plan.
Audit logs	✓	✕	This is an Enterprise-only feature.

FAQ

What is the data plane and control plane in RudderStack? How do I set them up?

The data plane is RudderStack's core engine responsible for receiving the event data, transforming it into the required destination format, before relaying those events to the destination.

The control plane manages the configuration of your sources and destinations in RudderStack.

For more information on the data plane and control plane in RudderStack, refer to the Architecture guide.

In case of RudderStack Cloud, RudderStack self-hosts the data plane and the control plane so you don't have to worry about their setup.

For RudderStack Open Source, you get the following data plane and control plane setup options:

• You need to set up the data plane in your own environment. RudderStack will not host it for you.

• For the control plane, you can either use the RudderStack-hosted control plane or set up your own control plane.

Features like Transformations and Live Events are not available if you self-host the control plane.

Contact us

For more information or queries on this guide, you can contact us or start a conversation in our Slack community.