Cozystack is an open-source cloud platform and a CNCF project, created by Ænix and maintained by Ænix together with maintainers from other companies. It runs virtual machines, containers, managed databases, S3 object storage, and GPU workloads on bare metal you own — under one Kubernetes-native control plane with multi-tenant isolation. Apache 2.0 licence, currently CNCF Sandbox (CNCF Incubating application in due diligence), CNCF Certified Kubernetes distribution, CNCF Kubernetes AI Conformance, OpenSSF Best Practices badge.
This page explains Cozystack from Ænix’s side: what the project is and how Ænix supports it commercially. The project itself lives at cozystack.io with documentation, install guides and the community. For the commercial platforms built on Cozystack, see the Ænix platforms.
What’s in Cozystack
KubeVirt VMs KVM-based VMs with live migration, snapshots, templates. Side-by-side with containers on the same Kubernetes platform.
Multi-tenant control plane Tenant CRD, nested tenants, per-tenant quotas, RBAC, audit. Built for service-provider model.
Managed databases PostgreSQL (CloudNativePG), MariaDB, MongoDB, ClickHouse, Valkey, OpenSearch, Kafka, NATS, RabbitMQ, Qdrant, FoundationDB.
S3 object storage SeaweedFS-based S3-compatible storage for backups, applications, AI training data.
GPU as a service NVIDIA data-centre GPUs through the NVIDIA GPU Operator: passthrough of whole GPUs to VMs, NVIDIA vGPU for VMs (requires your NVIDIA vGPU licence). In tenant Kubernetes clusters, the GPU Operator exposes MIG partitions of MIG-capable cards as schedulable resources, and HAMi provides time-sliced sharing with oversubscription.
Cilium networking eBPF-native, network policies, MetalLB, BGP. Replaces NSX-equivalent functionality.
LINSTOR storage Replicated block storage via LINSTOR/DRBD (Piraeus operator). SeaweedFS for S3.
Observability VictoriaMetrics + VictoriaLogs included.
Self-service portal Cozystack Dashboard for self-service, with runtime branding for white-labeling.
Cozystack the project vs Ænix the company
- Cozystack — open-source cloud platform. CNCF project (currently Sandbox; CNCF Incubating application in due diligence). Apache 2.0. Community-governed, with maintainers from several companies. Anyone can deploy, contribute or fork it.
- Ænix — the company that created Cozystack and is one of its maintainers. Sells support for Cozystack, three commercial platforms built on it, and engagement services.
- The Ænix platforms — Public Cloud, Private Cloud and AI Platform: Cozystack plus proprietary Ænix modules, a productized installer, delivery and enterprise SLA. Compare the platforms →
- cozystack.io — official project site. Documentation, install, releases, community. Vendor-neutral.
- aenix.io (this site) — Ænix’s commercial offering.
What Ænix adds on top
Not part of open-source Cozystack, and sold by Ænix:
- WHMCS integration — a proprietary Ænix module that sells Cozystack services from WHMCS and bills them there. Part of the Ænix Public Cloud Platform subscription, included in every support tier.
- Ænix billing system — proprietary, part of the same subscription and included in every support tier.
- Enterprise support, delivery and managed operations.
You can use Cozystack without Ænix. Everything Ænix sells on top is optional.
Who runs Cozystack in production
Hosting providers running Ænix Public Cloud Platform in production
Production deployments across the EU, DACH and Central Asia, including:
- Service providers running multi-tenant cloud products (publicly: GoHost.kz, HDReady, Beby Cloud, HiKube, UseTech, Cloupard, Cloudsy on Ænix Public Cloud Platform)
- Banks and financial groups running internal private clouds (anonymized case studies)
- Telecom integrators and AI / GPU operators running inference and AI platforms
- Enterprise platform teams building internal developer platforms
Cozystack is listed in the CNCF Landscape.
"Running Nuvolos on sovereign bare metal meant we needed hyperscaler-grade multi-tenancy without the hyperscaler. Cozystack delivered exactly that — isolated tenants, shared GPUs, KubeVirt for legacy workloads — and it's why we can promise our customers infrastructure control, not just a workspace."
Alexandru PopescuCEO, Nuvolos
How to use Cozystack
Before you start: what a trial actually costs
There is no kind or single-binary demo, and pretending otherwise wastes an evening. Talos Linux is the recommended operating system; Cozystack can also be installed on generic Kubernetes distributions such as k3s, kubeadm or RKE2. Either way it needs a real disk layout, because the storage and networking layers it manages are not simulated.
The smallest honest lab is three nodes — physical hosts, or virtual machines with host CPU passthrough, which is what most people use. Per node: 8 cores, 24 GB RAM, a 50 GB system disk and a 256 GB raw secondary disk for the data pool. That is enough for a couple of tenants, a few tenant Kubernetes clusters and some VMs or databases.
The getting-started tutorial walks the whole path: Talos install, cluster bootstrap, Cozystack install, first tenant, then a VM and a managed database. Expect an afternoon the first time.
Path 1: Self-deploy
Cozystack is open source. Install, documentation and community at cozystack.io. Community support on the #cozystack channel of Kubernetes Slack and in Telegram.
Suitable when your team has the Kubernetes expertise to operate it and needs no response-time commitment.
Path 2: Already running Cozystack? Get enterprise support
If Cozystack already runs in production, Ænix enterprise support puts the maintainers on call for your clusters. It is priced from the published list — Basic $1,250, Standard $3,000, Plus $5,500 per 10 physical nodes per month on annual billing, Enterprise custom. Every support tier includes the proprietary Ænix commercial modules (billing system and WHMCS integration); the price list is the Ænix Public Cloud Platform subscription, and a team running Cozystack itself buys the same subscription and can simply leave the commercial modules unused. Tiers cover incident response SLAs, CVE fixes, supervised upgrades from Standard and 24×7 coverage from Plus.
Path 3: Ænix-delivered platform
Ænix runs the engagement end-to-end:
- Platform Readiness Assessment — 14 or 28 days, fixed price, written report
- Build — live in weeks for Ænix Public Cloud Platform at provider scale; a 3-12 month build for Ænix Private Cloud Platform, depending on scope
- Managed operations — Ænix operates the platform under contract
For specific use cases see:
- Private cloud consulting — broad scope
- VMware alternative — VMware exit
- Sovereign AI — AI workload focus
- DORA compliance — financial services
Pricing
Cozystack is free (Apache 2.0). Anyone can run it.
Enterprise support for self-run Cozystack and Ænix Public Cloud Platform are one subscription with four tiers, each including the Ænix commercial modules (a self-run team can leave them unused): Basic $1,250, Standard $3,000 and Plus $5,500 per 10 physical nodes per month on annual billing, and a custom Enterprise tier. Ænix Private Cloud Platform and Ænix AI Platform are quoted per RFP.
- cozystack.io — install, documentation, community
- Cozystack architecture article
- Enterprise support for Cozystack — for teams that already run it
- The Ænix platforms — commercial platforms built on Cozystack
- Public Cloud Platform — for organisations selling cloud, from regional hosters to national operators
- Private Cloud Platform — for regulated organisations running cloud for themselves, developer self-service included
- AI Platform — for inference, fine-tuning and RAG on your own GPUs
Cozystack is a CNCF project (currently CNCF Sandbox; CNCF Incubating application in due diligence), Apache 2.0. Ænix created it and maintains it together with maintainers from other companies.