Cloudomation DevStack:
The Github Codespaces Alternative

Deploy and manage remote development environments – with Cloudomation DevStack.

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Cloudomation DevStack vs. Github Codespaces

Feature Cloudomation DevStack Github Codespaces
Hosting
Self-Managed, Managed On-Premise,
Managed Cloud (SaaS)
SaaS
Approx cost SaaS
/ developer / year*
Per hour RDE runtime
(€ 1.200+ plus infrastructure cost)
Per hour
$ 360 - $ 6000+
Approx cost self-hosted
/ developer / year*
€ 1.200+
N/A
Supported IDEs
All IDEs
(z.B. Visual Studio Code, Jetbrains with and without
SSH, Eclipse, Netbeans,
Web IDEs) How it works: Sources are shared with the RDE via a file mount. The local mount can be accessed by any local editor. SSH-capable IDEs can also be operated on the RDE.
VS Code, Jupyter,
JetBrains IDEs
CDE config
Proprietary yaml or GUI
devcontainer.json
RDEs based on
VMs
Container
Kubernetes required
no
-

Sources: https://github.com/features/codespaces, https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/overview
*The pricing is calculated assuming a full-time working software developer. For per-hour or per-minute pricing models, 1,920 hours of RDE runtime per year (160 hours per month) were taken as a basis, which is very high. Depending on usage patterns, real cost in such cases will probably be lower. However, if developers use several RDEs in parallel, cost could conceivably be higher. Prices vary a lot mostly because infrastructure costs make up a large chunk of the cost of running CDEs. Some SaaS providers tie cost to the size of the machines used for CDEs. For self-hosted solutions, the prices listed here are for license only. The “+” in some of the pricing columns mask large differences in the pricing ranges within the same product, since many simply list a “contact us” for custom or enterprise packages which can come at several times the cost of the listed package prices. Since the CDE products also vary quite a lot in what they offer, differences in price make sense – though they do not clearly reflect the quality or power of the underlying solution, but rather the pricing power of the vendor and/or their underlying cost.

Github Codespaces or Cloudomation DevStack

Github Codespaces and Cloudomation DevStack are both platforms for creating and managing remote development environments.

Github Codespaces is tightly integrated with and offered directly via Github. It is only available as SaaS and cannot be self-hosted. It works with VS Code, Jupyter and the JetBrains IDEs. Configuration of the CDE is done with a devcontainers.json config file. Each CDE has a dedicated VM, but it runs only one single CDE container – the VMs serve only the purpose of fully separating CDEs from each other.

As a single-container CDE, Github codespaces have some limitations. Developers have only this one single container available as their development environment, which makes it infeasible to run Docker, deploy several components or otherwise heavy-duty software within the CDE. For many developers working on comparably light-weight software with backends which are not containerised and are not too heavy-duty, a single container will be sufficient. For most backend developers or anyone who needs Docker or wants to run several components in their CDE, Github codespaces are not a good choice.

Cloudomation DevStack is available on-premise, with the option to choose self-hosting or managed on-premise where the vendor takes care of management of the CDE platform, but on the customer’s infrastructure.

DevStack CDEs are full VMs. Therefore, developers can deploy almost anything to the CDE. They can run several containers – optionally, one of them can be a development container – or deploy software directly to the VM. If need be, a full Kubernetes cluster or Kubernetes development tools like minikube or kind can also run on the CDE. In addition, the source code can be synced to the developer’s local machine, allowing the developer to work locally with any IDE. Optionally, ssh-capable IDEs such as VS Code or JetBrains IDEs can also be used, with the IDE backend running on the CDE. The developer als has full ssh access to the CDE.

This setup is very similar to local development environments. Working with such a CDE will need little adjustment in developer workflows compared to working locally.

Features

Fatures from Cloudomation DevStack at a glance.

Managed Cloud and On-Premise

Decide on your preferred hosting.

RDEs based on VMs

VM-based development environments in which the software to be developed and all the necessary tools are available.

Air Gapped

Set up an air gapped development environment. The source code is not on the developer laptop. Test data is protected.

Central Configuration

Configure RDEs and which tools are available for your developers.

Self-Service Portal for Developers

Developers can independendly start and stop the remote development environments.

 

Automation Platform

Access to the flexible Python-based automation tool Cloudomation DevStack.

Learn more about Cloudomation DevStack

Cloudomation DevStack

  • Spin up standardised remote development environments
    in which your software runs
  • No more "but it works on my machine"
  • Works with every IDE

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