Software · head to head
Nomad vs Oracle Cloud
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Nomad nomad 1.7.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence; Oracle Cloud the free trial gives US$300 of credit that expires when consumed or after 30 days, whichever comes first
- They diverge on capability: Nomad covers Container orchestration, Oracle Cloud covers Autonomous Database.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Nomad and Oracle Cloud actually diverge.
| Attribute | Nomad | Oracle Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud | Linux, Windows, Api, Cli |
| Founded | 2015 | 2019 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Nomad
- Container orchestration
- Job scheduling
- Multi-cloud support
- Auto-scaling
- Service discovery
- Rolling deployments
- Monitoring integration
- High availability
Only in Oracle Cloud
- Autonomous Database
- Compute Instances
- MySQL Database Service
- Object Storage
- Block Volume
- Load Balancers
- Virtual Cloud Network
- API Gateway
Both cover
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
- Cloud deployment
- Hybrid deployment
- Linux support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Nomad
- Scheduling containers, binaries, Java and VM workloads on the same clusternot Oracle Cloud
- Running an orchestrator with a single binary and no external dependenciesnot Oracle Cloud
- Batch and edge workload scheduling across multiple datacentresnot Oracle Cloud
Oracle Cloud
- Running virtual machines, databases and storage on Oracle's cloud infrastructurenot Nomad
- Hosting Oracle Database workloads on infrastructure from the same vendornot Nomad
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Nomad
- Nomad 1.7.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
- The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Nomad to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions
- Each version converts to MPL 2.0 only four years after that version is published
- Resource quotas, Sentinel policies and audit logging sit in a Governance and Policy add-on module that is separate from the Enterprise base platform package
- Multi-region deployments, multiple Vault namespaces and Nomad Autopilot advanced server management require Nomad Enterprise
Oracle Cloud
- The free trial gives US$300 of credit that expires when consumed or after 30 days, whichever comes first
- The US$300 cloud credit is available only in select countries
- Only one Oracle Cloud Free Trial or Always Free account is permitted per person
- Accounts left idle for 30 days or more are eligible for suspension or termination as abandoned
- Always Free NoSQL Database is restricted to the Phoenix region
- Free Tier availability is subject to capacity limits, and the published per-service capacity figures are estimates that assume the entire credit is spent on that one service
Pricing, plan by plan
Nomad
Free- Open SourceFree
- Workload orchestration
- Multi-cloud
- Flexible scheduling
Oracle Cloud
Free- Always FreeFree
- Oracle Autonomous Database
- 2 compute instances
- 100 GB storage
- Pay-as-You-GoFree
- Flexible pricing
- No long-term commitment
- Enterprise support
Which should you pick?
Choose Nomad if
- You need container orchestration.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
- You also want job scheduling.
Choose Oracle Cloud if
- You need autonomous database.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
- You also want compute instances.
Questions people ask
- Is Nomad or Oracle Cloud better?
- Neither clearly leads. Nomad starts at Free and Oracle Cloud at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Nomad or Oracle Cloud?
- Nomad starts at Free and Oracle Cloud at Free.
- Does Nomad or Oracle Cloud run on more platforms?
- Nomad runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. Oracle Cloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
- Can I use Nomad for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Nomad best used for?
- Nomad is most often used for scheduling containers, binaries, java and vm workloads on the same cluster, running an orchestrator with a single binary and no external dependencies, batch and edge workload scheduling across multiple datacentres. Of those, scheduling containers, binaries, java and vm workloads on the same cluster and running an orchestrator with a single binary and no external dependencies are not what Oracle Cloud is typically brought in for.
- What can Nomad do that Oracle Cloud cannot?
- Nomad covers Container orchestration, Job scheduling, Multi-cloud support, Auto-scaling. Oracle Cloud covers Autonomous Database, Compute Instances, MySQL Database Service, Object Storage. Both handle Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Cloud deployment.
Related pages
More on Oracle Cloud
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