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Cloud · head to head

Packer vs Qovery

Packer logo

Packer

Cloud

Build automated machine images

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Qovery logo

Qovery

Cloud

Deployment platform that provisions and operates Kubernetes inside your own cloud account

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Packer has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Packer packer 1.10.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence; Qovery no plan publishes a price, deployment minute overage rates are not disclosed, and there is a 14 day trial rather than a free tier, so you cannot budget or compare against alternatives without going through sales.
  • They diverge on capability: Packer covers Image building, Qovery covers Bring your own cloud.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Packer and Qovery actually diverge.

Attributes where Packer and Qovery differ
AttributePackerQovery
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelopen-sourcequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, MacWeb, CLI, REST API, Kubernetes
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

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 Packer

  • Image building
  • Multi-platform support
  • Provisioners
  • Builders
  • Post-processors
  • Variables
  • Data sources
  • Validation

Only in Qovery

  • Bring your own cloud
  • Preview environments
  • Cluster lifecycle
  • Terraform provider
  • MCP server
  • Policy as code

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Packer

  • Building identical machine images for multiple clouds from one templatenot Qovery
  • Baking golden AMIs and VM images into a CI pipelinenot Qovery
  • Creating immutable infrastructure artifacts consumed by Terraformnot Qovery

Qovery

  • A regulated business that must keep application data inside its own AWS account but has nobody to build a deployment platformnot Packer
  • Giving twenty engineers preview environments per pull request without writing and maintaining Terraform and Helm by handnot Packer
  • Standardising deployment across AWS and GCP when acquisitions have left the organisation on two cloudsnot Packer
  • Replacing a managed platform when data residency rules put every hosted option out of reachnot Packer

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Packer

  • Packer 1.10.0 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 Packer to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Packer
  • Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published, and the Change Date is set separately per version
  • Alternative licensing for uses outside the grant must be arranged with the licensor rather than taken under the public licence

Qovery

  • No plan publishes a price, deployment minute overage rates are not disclosed, and there is a 14 day trial rather than a free tier, so you cannot budget or compare against alternatives without going through sales.
  • The GPL-3.0 engine and console do not constitute a self-hostable product, because the control plane and API are closed and the self-hosted option is gated behind Enterprise, so the open licence gives you no exit if the company changes direction.
  • Qovery provisions managed Kubernetes into your account, which means the cloud bill sits on top of the licence and Qovery initiates control plane and ingress controller upgrades on infrastructure your team is accountable for.
  • The company repositioned to agentic infrastructure in June 2026 and now ships a deployment platform, a browser development portal and autonomous coding agents concurrently, so a buyer of the deployment product is not at the centre of the roadmap.
  • Team and Business are capped at two and three connected clusters with fixed 4 vCPU CI runners and no single sign-on on Team, which pushes teams of moderate size onto quoted Enterprise pricing earlier than the plan names imply.

Pricing, plan by plan

Packer

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Multi-platform image building
    • Template-driven
    • Provisioner support

Qovery

On request
  • Team$undefined/year
    • Billed on usage with no published rate card
    • 10 users, up to 100 environments, 2 connected clusters
    • 5,000 deployment minutes and 7 day audit logs
  • Business$undefined/year
    • Billed on usage with no published rate card
    • 20 users, up to 250 environments, 3 connected clusters
    • 10,000 deployment minutes and 30 day audit logs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom users, environments and clusters
    • Self-hosted or air-gapped control plane
    • On-premises and bring-your-own-Kubernetes

Which should you pick?

Choose Packer if

  • You need image building.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
  • You also want multi-platform support.
Packer review

Choose Qovery if

  • You need bring your own cloud.
  • You work on Web, CLI, REST API, Kubernetes.
  • You also want preview environments.
Qovery review

Questions people ask

Is Packer or Qovery better?
Neither clearly leads. Packer starts at Free and Qovery at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Packer or Qovery?
Packer has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Packer and On request for Qovery.
Does Packer or Qovery run on more platforms?
Packer runs on Linux, Windows, Mac. Qovery runs on Web, CLI, REST API, Kubernetes.
Can I use Packer for free?
Yes. Packer has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qovery starts at On request.
What is Packer best used for?
Packer is most often used for building identical machine images for multiple clouds from one template, baking golden amis and vm images into a ci pipeline, creating immutable infrastructure artifacts consumed by terraform. Of those, building identical machine images for multiple clouds from one template and baking golden amis and vm images into a ci pipeline are not what Qovery is typically brought in for.
What can Packer do that Qovery cannot?
Packer covers Image building, Multi-platform support, Provisioners, Builders. Qovery covers Bring your own cloud, Preview environments, Cluster lifecycle, Terraform provider.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Packer: How much does HashiCorp Packer cost?

Packer does not publish specific pricing on its website. The open-source Packer tool is free, while HCP Packer (HashiCorp's cloud-hosted version) offers a free trial, but detailed pricing requires contacting HashiCorp.

Source
Qovery: Does Qovery run my applications on its own servers?

No. It provisions and operates Kubernetes inside your AWS, GCP, Azure or Scaleway account, so compute and data stay with your cloud provider and that bill is entirely separate from the Qovery licence.

Qovery: Can I self-host Qovery?

Only on Enterprise. The deployment engine and console are GPL-3.0, but the control plane is closed source and the self-hosted and air-gapped deployments are commercial Enterprise features.

Qovery: What does it cost?

Qovery does not publish a rate card. Team and Business are billed on usage and quoted through sales, and Enterprise is fully custom. There is a 14 day trial with no card required.

Qovery: What survives if I stop paying?

The Kubernetes cluster and the workloads keep running in your cloud account, but you lose the console, the deployment pipeline, preview environments and every process built on top of them.

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