Private Cloud Free Trial
Experience the full power of an OpenStack Private Cloud.
OpenMetal offers complimentary access for testing our production-ready private cloud infrastructure prior to making a purchase.
Organizations > Individuals > Open Source Advocates >
Students and learning institutions, please refer to our education portal.
Free Trials for Organizations
Serious buyer.
Robust testing before purchase.
Proof of Concept (PoC) Cloud Trial
| Long term trials up to 30 days | |
| Multiple users allowed | |
| Seamlessly transition into production | |
| Dedicated account manager & engineer | |
| Choice of hardware & region |
Casual tester.
Quick peek under the hood.
Self-Serve Cloud Trial
| Self-serve short term 8 hour trials | |
| Single user only | |
| Reclaimed at end of trial | |
| No account manager or engineer | |
| Limited hardware & region choices |
View extended comparison between PoC and Self-Serve trials. Have a question? Chat with us or schedule a consultation.
How Organizations Benefit from PoC Clouds
Companies seeking to evaluate OpenMetal Cloud for a legitimate business use case can enjoy complete access to a private cloud for up to 30 days without incurring any costs.
- Transition and optimize your workloads in the cloud without upfront costs.
- Experiment with new features and management methods.
- Develop your automation, such as Terraform plans, within a secure environment.
- Conduct performance assessments.
- Familiarize your team with OpenStack and Ceph.
- PoC’s can take advantage of the full suite of available hardware and data center regions.
- Collaborate with our technical and business teams to identify the most advantageous return on investment for your cloud infrastructure.
- Receive personalized support from a dedicated Account Manager committed to your success.
Organizations that take advantage of OpenMetal’s Proof of Concept (PoC) Cloud Program typically report up to 50% reduction in cloud expenses within the first 6 months of production usage.
Todd Robinson, President @ OpenMetal
Have a question? Chat with us or schedule a consultation.
…in relation to profitability we are pleasantly surprised with the monthly ongoing costs of using their (OpenMetal’s) infrastructure. They have been very agile and flexible in accommodating our rapid growth and aligning the contract with our planned growth.
Matt Weston, CFO @ MyMiniFactory
Free Trials for Individuals
Individuals in need of a swift assessment of OpenMetal Cloud or desiring short-term access to a complete private cloud utilizing OpenStack can take advantage of our 8 hour free trials.
An important part of our mission is to make large-scale enterprise open source systems like OpenStack and Ceph easily accessible to small businesses and teams.
Todd Robinson, President @ OpenMetal
- Get access to a full private cloud.
- Familiarize yourself with OpenStack, attached to Ceph-based cloud storage.
- Quickly evaluate OpenMetal for your team or small business.
Universities
Higher education institutions with established educational programs for OpenStack and open source cloud.
Tech Evangelists
Content creators building OpenStack content. Evangelists advocating open source alternatives to mega clouds.
Open Source Projects
Organizations and communities that are building projects on open source code and software.
Free Trial Comparison
OpenMetal currently offers two ways to access free trials: a Self-Serve short-term 8 hour trial, and a long term PoC trial for up to 30 days.
PoC Cloud Trial | Self-Serve Cloud TrialFor the Casual Tester | |
|---|---|---|
| Trial length | Up to 30 days Usually starts with 2 weeks and can be extended up to 30 days. Can be paused and restarted with account manager approval. | 8 consecutive hours Timer starts as soon as cloud is deployed. Cannot be paused. |
| Number of trials | One per use-case A validated organization can start with one PoC. After becoming a customer, companies can be eligible for PoCs for new business use cases. | 3 per month Verified individuals can avail up to three 8 hour trials in one month. |
| Users | Multiple users Multiple users can be added to the cloud with distinct access levels. | Single user Only the primary user on the account has access to the cloud. |
| Cloud Available at end of Trial | Yes At the end of a successful PoC, if chosen, the PoC cloud can seamlessly transition into a paid cloud for production use. | Possible At the end of a self-serve trial, the cloud is automatically reclaimed and deleted. However if a valid payment method is provided while the trial is active, the cloud will stay live and will be pre-billed monthly. |
| Payment terms at end of trial | Custom discounted pricing Depending on contract length terms and type of cloud. Custom discounted pricing options are available when the PoC cloud is turned into a production cloud. | On-Demand pricing Self-serve trials that have a payment option attached and that turn into paid clouds are pre-billed at the monthly on-demand rates. |
Account manager | Dedicated account manager Organizations with a PoC are assigned a dedicated account manager responsible for the overall success of the cloud. | |
| Engineer support | Dedicated engineer Organizations have the option to get one-on-one engineer support for PoC’s with a valid business use-case. | |
| 24/7 online ticket support | Yes | Yes |
| Slack channel support | Yes A dedicated joint Slack channel is set up for the organization’s team to communicate and collaborate with OpenMetal’s business and technical teams. | |
| Choice of hardware | Possible Organizational PoC’s can avail the entire hardware suite, dependent on hardware availability and commitments towards a production timeline. | |
| Choice of data center | Possible Organizational PoC’s can be possible within any of the data center regions, dependent on hardware availability and commitments towards a production timeline. | |
| Root access | Enabled | |
| SSH access | Enabled | |
| Time to get trial | As soon as 3 business days After validating that the organizations have an eligible business use case. Actual time to get the PoC set up will depend on hardware availability and specific cloud architecture requirements. | Few hours to a few days After validating that the individual is who they say they are and there are no indications of free trial abuse. Actual time to get the trial will depend on hardware availability. |
|
| PoC Cloud Trial | Self-Serve Cloud TrialFor the Casual Tester |
OpenMetal Free Trial FAQs
Free usage is not guaranteed, is dependent on hardware availability, can be removed at any time, and is subject to our Terms of Service.
Our private cloud trials are on physical hardware and not virtual machines. In order to be able to provide access to those who are truly eligible, we require some information to qualify you for our free trials. We appreciate your patience as it may sometimes take a few days to process your details.
- All trials can start as individual trials, offering three 8 hour test periods per month.
- With approval from your OpenMetal account manager, your company can be upgraded to an organizational PoC cloud trial, providing access to trials lasting up to 30 days and additional user accounts.
- You can also directly start with an organizational PoC cloud by applying here.
- During the free deployment period, you can extend your free usage or transition to a paid production state by adding your billing information. If not converted to a paid plan, the cloud will be automatically recycled at the end of the free period
- Where can I access my private cloud trial from?
All private cloud trials are accessible from OpenMetal Central. OpenMetal Central is the central overarching dashboard (with API endpoints) that is typically used by IT leadership. Within Central, hardware is organized by “Cloud Projects”. This allows IT leadership to spin up multiple separate clouds and set budget limits on what can be added to an individual project. - What is the length of the free trial clouds?
- Self-Serve individual trials: These are short-term 8 hour trials. It is possible to get about 3 such trials per month, however access will be restricted if abuse is detected.
- Organizational PoC trials: These are robust long term trials up to 30 days. Most PoC’s start off at 2 weeks and then extend.
- How long does it take to get a free cloud trial?
- Self-Serve individual trials: Free trials are available within a few hours to a few business days after request. Trial activation is dependent on hardware availability and could also be delayed if incorrect / incomplete information is provided during the account signup process.
- Organizational PoC trials: PoC trials can be activated as soon a 3 business days after all account and business information has been validated. PoC’s require the approval of an account manager who you will need to meet with before the trial gets approved.
- What happens to my cloud at the end of the free trial? How am I billed?
Free trials are not billed and currently do not require a credit card to begin.- Self-Serve individual trials: At the end of the free short-term 8 hour trial, the system will auto-reclaim your cloud. If you wish to continue using the cloud, you can a credit card to have it automatically begin billing after the free period. Billing will be monthly at on-demand rates. View Pricing.
- Organizational PoC trials: Your dedicated account manager will work with you to determine the length of the trial and the options to transition it into production usage at the end of the trial. Pricing will be based on the term length that you commit to for your production cloud.
- What kind of technical support is available with my trial?
All cloud trials are accessible from OpenMetal Central, which is OpenMetal’s cloud management platform. All trial users can submit a technical support ticket from within OpenMetal Central. The tickets are monitored 24/7 and responded to within 1-3 business days.- Organizational PoC trials: You could also have direct access to your account manager and engineer in a dedicated joint Slack channel.
- Why is my self-serve cloud trial delayed?
If all the information you provided in your account is accurate, and you have approved for a self-serve trial, then it should be available to you within a few hours to a few business days. We cannot exactly determine the start date of your trial, as all trials are subject to hardware availability. - I applied for a self-serve cloud trial but I was not approved.
The most common reason for a self-serve trial to not be approved is inaccurate or incomplete information provided during the signup process. In order to continue to provide this service to those who can truly benefit from it, we need to know that you are who you say you are. The other common reason is if our system detects that there are multiple accounts by the same person, with the suspected intention of fraud or abuse.
- Can I choose the hardware for my free cloud trial?
- Self-Serve individual trials: Self-serve trials do not have a choice of hardware. Most self-serve trials are on the Standard Cloud Core which is set of three hyper-converged nodes with the control plane, storage, and compute. These trials only give you access to the Cloud Core and you are unable to add compute or storage nodes.
- Organizational PoC trials: PoC trials that are initiated with a commitment to a future paid cloud, can have a choice of all available hardware.
- Can I choose the data center region location for the trial?
- All trials are currently being delivered out of OpenMetal’s US East Coast data center. Organizational PoC trials, with a commitment to a future paid cloud, may be able to choose any of the three data centers, subject to hardware availability.
- Corporate eligibility requires approval from your dedicated account representative and may necessitate validated corporate email, website, multiple team members, and other details.
- Partners, like open-source projects and tech evangelists, may receive free development and production cloud usage based on mutual agreement and hardware availability.
- Individuals can access up to 8 hours per use of a full Private Cloud Core for non-production use, up to three uses per month, with approval based on publicly available profiles and typical profile information.
- Trials can be accessed through an individual’s or organization’s OpenMetal Central account.
- Each person is allowed to have one OpenMetal Central account.
- The creation or attempted creation of multiple OpenMetal Central accounts by the same individual is not allowed.
- It is essential that all contact and billing information provided is accurate, valid, and used with consent for the duration of the account.
- Non-compliance with these requirements may lead to the suspension or termination of your account.
- Different regions have varying legal requirements for content and workloads.
- Certain usage may result in different billing brackets, especially if it significantly affects server power utilization.
- Activities like crypto-mining may have specific pricing and options, and no grace period is provided for these cases. Please consult your account manager for guidance.
- Free trial clouds, especially the short term 8 hour trials, are best for non-production use.
- Examples of Non-Production Use
- Preparing infrastructure for workload migration.
- Creating proof of concepts for new cloud usage.
- Validating processes or testing new features.
- Assessing hardware performance.
- Conducting training with disruptive tests.
- Examples of Production Use:
- Running workloads central to business operations.
- Delivering content to internal and external users.
- Using infrastructure for development and data processing.
- Hosting applications and storing non-test data.
- Examples of Non-Production Use