ZStack
ZStack is a Shanghai-based cloud infrastructure software company founded in 2015 that sells a self-developed IaaS platform, virtualization, hyper-converged appliances, and AI infrastructure software to 5,000+ enterprise and government customers across China under Alibaba Cloud's controlling ownership.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersShanghai, China
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
ZStack firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ZStack
- Legal name
- 上海云轴科技股份有限公司
- Website
- https://zstack.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Short description
- ZStack is a Shanghai-based cloud infrastructure software company founded in 2015 that sells a self-developed IaaS platform, virtualization, hyper-converged appliances, and AI infrastructure software to 5,000+ enterprise and government customers across China under Alibaba Cloud's controlling ownership.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ZStack industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cloud Infrastructure Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (51321), Software Publishers (5132), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Managed Application Platforms (App PaaS & Runtime Services) (HDABAAAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Industry/Vertical Cloud Platforms (e.g., Gov/Healthcare/Financial Cloud Regions) (HDABAAAL), MLOps/LLMOps & Model Lifecycle Management Services (BPAEAHAH), Software/Application Support (SaaS, Enterprise Apps) (BPAAACAC), Cloud Computing & Infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP, Virtualization) (EDABAFAB)
Keywords
Where ZStack is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Shanghai
- HQ country
- China
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
ZStack business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Licenses and Subscriptions: ZStack generates revenue primarily from software licenses and subscriptions for its cloud infrastructure platforms. Product tiers include Enterprise Edition (full-featured IaaS), Xinchuang/Innovation Edition (for domestic chip deployments), Hybrid Cloud Edition (with seamless Alibaba Cloud integration), and Standard Edition. Customers pay annual or multi-year subscription fees for software licenses, technical support, and updates. Enterprise deals are typically multi-year contracts.
- Hardware Sales (Hyperconverged Appliances): ZStack sells hardware appliances including ZStack Cube hyperconverged systems, ZStack Mini edge appliances, and AI一体机 (AI appliances). Hardware is sold as integrated software-hardware solutions for customers preferring appliance form factor. Revenue from hardware is a growing component as the company expands its AIOS智塔 AI appliance line.
- Professional Services: ZStack generates revenue from professional services including implementation, migration (from VMware/KVM/Hyper-V), training, and certification programs. The company operates ZStack Academy offering certification courses (ZCCT, ZCCE, ZCCA, ZCPC-ISP, ZCIE, ZCOE) with joint certification from MIIT Talent Exchange Center.
- Support and Maintenance: Annual support contracts provide technical support, software updates, security patches, and access to ZStack's technical support team. Support tiers likely differentiated by response time (SLA) and availability (7x24 vs business hours).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Free | ZStack Cloud 社区版 (Community Edition) - Free |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack Cloud 企业版 (Enterprise Edition) - Commercial subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack Cloud 信创版 (Xinchuang Edition) - Commercial subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack Cloud 混合云版 (Hybrid Cloud Edition) - Commercial subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack Cloud 标准版 (Standard Edition) - Commercial subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack ZSphere 虚拟化平台 - Commercial subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | ZStack AIOS 智塔 - Commercial subscription |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels10 records
ZStack product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ZStack develops and sells productized cloud infrastructure software, including a self-developed IaaS platform (ZStack Cloud), enterprise virtualization platform (ZSphere), hyperconverged appliances (ZStack Cube), distributed storage, multi-cloud management (CMP), container platform (Zaku), and an AI infrastructure OS (ZStack AIOS Zhita). The offerings are available as software-only subscriptions, hardware-software bundled appliances, and hybrid cloud editions, with editions for enterprise, Xinchuang (domestic IT), hybrid, standard, and free community use. The company serves over 5,000 customers across government, telecom, finance, education, manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries in China and 30+ countries.
Product overview
ZStack是云轴科技自主研发的云计算产品矩阵，采用平台+模块化产品架构，涵盖虚拟化、云平台、超融合、分布式存储、容器云、多云管理、AI基础设施等完整产品线。核心产品包括：ZStack Cloud云平台（企业版、信创版、混合云版、标准版、社区版）和ZStack ZSphere虚拟化平台提供IaaS基础能力；ZStack Cube超融合一体机（含信创版、虚拟化版、旗舰版、双引擎版、智算版）提供软硬一体交付；ZStack AIOS智塔是新一代AI基础设施操作系统，统一纳管异构GPU算力、支撑模型全生命周期管理、治理AI调用并预置AI应用；ZStack CMP多云管理平台实现多云资源统一纳管；ZStack Zaku容器云平台提供云原生PaaS能力；ZStack ZVF虚拟化套件（含ZSphere、ZCenter、ZMigrate、ZLR）面向VMware替代提供全栈替代链路；ZStack Mini超融合一体机面向边缘计算场景。各产品共享同一技术引擎，支持从虚拟化到云平台到AI智算的平滑演进。
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ZStack AIOS 智塔: AI infrastructure platform for enterprise AI workloads, supporting heterogeneous GPU scheduling, model lifecycle management, and private deployment.
- ZStack Cloud
- ZStack ZSphere
- ZStack Cube
- ZStack CMP
- ZStack Zaku
- ZStack RDS
- ZStack Mini
Products and services
- ZStack Cloud Platform Productized IaaS private cloud platform with 4S characteristics (Simple, Strong, Scalable, Smart). Manages compute, network, and storage resources through unified platform with one-click seamless upgrades, hardware-agnostic deployment, and high availability. Available in Enterprise, Xinchuang/Innovation, Hybrid, Standard, and Community editions for government, telecom, finance, education, manufacturing, and other enterprises.
- ZStack ZSphere Virtualization Platform Enterprise-grade virtualization platform with high autonomy, stability, performance, and security. Shares the same engine as ZStack Cloud platform. Compatible with four CPU architectures (ARM, LoongArch, Alpha, x86) and eight platform environments. First certified under Trusted Cloud One Cloud Multi-Chip standard. Provides smooth replacement for VMware vSphere with VMDK/OVF/OVA format conversion tools.
- ZStack Cube Hyperconverged Appliance Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) appliance in multiple variants (Virtualization, Flagship, Dual-Engine, AI Compute). All-flash architecture with distributed storage. Supports GPU passthrough for database and AI workloads. Includes built-in CDP, container support, and cloud-native architecture. Unified management of compute, storage, and network.
- ZStack Cube Xinchuang Hyperconverged Appliance Xinchuang version of ZStack Cube HCI that integrates cloud platform and distributed storage functions. Supports six domestic chips (Kunpeng, Haiguang, Feiteng, Loongson, Zhaoxin, Shenwei) and 140+ domestic hardware/software products for building autonomous and controllable cloud infrastructure.
- ZStack CMP Multi-Cloud Management Platform Multi-cloud management platform supporting heterogeneous resource access, self-service application, low-code configuration, hybrid cloud billing, process approval, automated operations, and advanced monitoring dashboards. Supports multi-cloud resource lifecycle management, cost management, and aggregated monitoring dashboards for enterprise customers.
- ZStack Distributed Storage Distributed software-defined storage product supporting unified storage, high-performance block storage, and storage appliance form factors. Supports tens of PB storage resource pools with continuous linear growth, service quality assurance, and reliability for large enterprises and carriers.
- ZStack Zaku Container Cloud Platform Cloud-native container cloud platform designed to shield container complexity and simplify traditional user experiences. Provides multi-tenancy, multi-cluster, resource quotas, CI/CD, microservice governance, GPU scheduling, disaster recovery, and operations management.
- ZStack ZCenter Service Portal Service portal product providing multi-cluster unified management and operations support. Core management component of the ZVF virtualization suite for VMware replacement scenarios.
- ZStack RDS Database Cloud Platform Database cloud platform product providing database-as-a-service management capabilities for simplified database operations.
- ZStack DTS Database Transport Service Database transport service product supporting database migration, synchronization, and other data transport scenarios.
- ZStack Mini Edge Hyperconverged Appliance Lightweight edge computing hyper-converged appliance combining ZStack core engine with Shuangzixing hardware. Only requires two nodes to start. Designed for edge computing scenarios in retail, medical, transportation, manufacturing, and education industries.
- ZStack ZVF Virtualization Suite Enterprise-grade virtualization infrastructure platform for VMware replacement consisting of four components: ZSphere virtualization core, ZCenter multi-cluster unified management, ZMigrate migration tool, and ZLR disaster recovery platform. Covers full-stack capabilities of compute, network, storage, security, and migration. Components can be combined as needed without forced bundling.
- ZStack ZMigrate Migration Tool Cross-platform migration tool supporting VMware, KVM, Hyper-V, and physical P2V migrations. Features online migration, batch migration, incremental sync, and full visual monitoring. Supports VMDK/OVF/OVA format conversion.
- ZStack ZLR Disaster Recovery Platform Disaster recovery platform covering full lifecycle of deployment, pairing, protection, drill, recovery, and failback. Supports second-level RPO and minute-level RTO disaster recovery. Uses change block tracking (CBT) for incremental replication with automated sandbox drill support.
- ZStack AIOS Zhita AI Infrastructure Platform Next-generation AI infrastructure operating system with four-layer architecture: intelligent compute base for unified heterogeneous GPU management, model layer covering complete workflow (import, fine-tune, inference, evaluation), gateway layer for unified AI call governance, and application layer with pre-built AI applications. Supports NVIDIA, Ascend, Haiguang, Moore Threads, and other GPU brands. Integrates with Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, MiniMax, and other LLMs.
- ZStack AI Appliance - DeepSeek Edition On-premises private deployment solution based on DeepSeek models. Supports DeepSeek 671B/70B/32B/14B models and QWQ-32B model. Built on Haiguang, Ascend, NVIDIA, Intel, and other domestic and international CPU/GPU combinations for private deployment.
Quantifiable outcome
- 30-minute installation and 15-minute seamless upgrades vs. OpenStack deployments that typically require days/weeks
- +9 more outcomes
Companies that use ZStack
Customer profileNamed customers35 records
Ideal customer profiles7 records
ZStack technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
AI capability8 records
Feature12 records
ZStack partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators11 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ZStack competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Inspur AICloud: Inspur's AI cloud platform (AICloud) directly competes with ZStack AIOS for enterprise AI infrastructure workloads in China, and Inspur is also a server OEM partner for ZStack Cube hardware.
- Sangfor Technologies: Chinese hyper-converged infrastructure and private cloud vendor (including its AICP AI infrastructure platform) competing head-to-head with ZStack Cube and ZStack AIOS in Chinese enterprise and AI workloads, frequently appearing alongside ZStack in citmt rankings.
- Huawei (FusionSphere / Cloud Stack): Huawei's private cloud platform (FusionSphere / Huawei Cloud Stack) is a top domestic Chinese competitor that ZStack is directly benchmarked against in citmt virtualization and AI infrastructure evaluations, targeting the same government, telecom, and large enterprise buyers.
- SmartX: Beijing-based HCI and distributed storage vendor whose SMTXOS is one of the five domestic virtualization platforms consistently benchmarked against ZStack Cloud in Chinese enterprise virtualization evaluations.
- Lenovo (ThinkAI / Lenovo Cloud): Lenovo's ThinkAI infrastructure platform competes with ZStack AIOS in the citmt 2025 enterprise AI infrastructure evaluation, and Lenovo is also a hardware partner for ZStack Cube appliances.
- H3C (CAS / UIS): New H3C's CAS virtualization and UIS hyper-converged platforms are major domestic Chinese alternatives to ZStack in virtualization and HCI, often deployed in telecom, government, and education environments.
Broad incumbents
- Red Hat OpenStack Services: OpenStack-based private cloud platform that ZStack explicitly differentiates against by positioning its self-developed engine as simpler (4S: Simple, Strong, Scalable, Smart) and more productized than OpenStack deployments.
- Nutanix: Global hyper-converged infrastructure leader with comparable HCI, virtualization, and multi-cloud management capabilities to ZStack Cube and ZStack Cloud, and a reference point for Chinese enterprise HCI buyers evaluating domestic alternatives.
- VMware (Broadcom): The dominant enterprise virtualization platform globally, now under Broadcom after the November 2023 acquisition. ZStack is explicitly positioned as a domestic VMware alternative (ZStack ZSphere, ZVF suite) for Chinese enterprises facing 3-5x subscription price increases from Broadcom.
Emerging players
- Yunhong (CTAccel / CNware): Chinese emerging domestic virtualization and private cloud vendor whose CNware platform is one of the five domestic alternatives benchmarked against ZStack Cloud in Chinese enterprise virtualization rankings.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ZStack compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance7 records
ZStack financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ZStack leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
ZStack funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors21 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ZStack M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ZStack
What does ZStack do?
ZStack develops and sells productized cloud infrastructure software, including a self-developed IaaS platform (ZStack Cloud), enterprise virtualization platform (ZSphere), hyperconverged appliances (ZStack Cube), distributed storage, multi-cloud management (CMP), container platform (Zaku), and an AI infrastructure OS (ZStack AIOS Zhita). The offerings are available as software-only subscriptions, hardware-software bundled appliances, and hybrid cloud editions, with editions for enterprise, Xinchuang (domestic IT), hybrid, standard, and free community use. The company serves over 5,000 customers across government, telecom, finance, education, manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries in China and 30+ countries.
Is ZStack a public or private company?
ZStack is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was ZStack founded?
ZStack was founded in 2015. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is ZStack based?
ZStack is headquartered in Shanghai, China, in the Asia region.
How does ZStack make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Software Licenses and Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are hardware Sales (Hyperconverged Appliances), professional Services and support and Maintenance.
Who are ZStack's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Inspur AICloud, Sangfor Technologies, Huawei (FusionSphere / Cloud Stack), SmartX, Lenovo (ThinkAI / Lenovo Cloud) and H3C (CAS / UIS). Broad incumbents are Red Hat OpenStack Services, Nutanix and VMware (Broadcom). Yunhong (CTAccel / CNware) is listed as an emerging player.
Does ZStack have an API?
Yes. ZStack Cloud provides native RESTful API support with over 1000 public APIs. ZStack Cloud is based on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and all operations are essentially messages. The CLI tool (zstack-cli) is used to invoke all ZStack Cloud API commands. ZStack Cloud includes built-in HTTP service that encapsulates all API messages into HTTP POST requests. Additionally, Java and Python SDKs are provided for developers to build or automate cloud resource management, including compute, storage, and network operations. Supports webhook callbacks for asynchronous API results, X-Job-UUID for job tracking, and session-based authentication (OAuth). Developer documentation is at www.zstack.io/help/dev_manual.
What industry is ZStack in?
ZStack's product category is Cloud Infrastructure Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAAAD, Managed Application Platforms (App PaaS & Runtime Services), with a secondary code of HDABAAAL, Industry/Vertical Cloud Platforms (e.g., Gov/Healthcare/Financial Cloud Regions). Its NAICS code is 51321 and its SIC code is 7372.