Overview

Formed by the Linux Foundation in 2017 from the ECOMP and OPEN-O projects, ONAP provides a vendor-agnostic environment for service design, implementation, analytics, orchestration, and lifecycle management. The emphasis is on policy-driven operations at scale, rather than general-purpose IT workflows. Teams can select individual orchestration components, which offers a more practical route to adoption than taking on the entire platform at once.

ONAP is a cloud-native application deployed on Kubernetes through the ONAP Operations Manager. Kubernetes can run on bare metal or environments such as OpenStack, Azure, and AWS. That deployment flexibility helps organizations fit ONAP into different infrastructure setups, but it still requires Kubernetes expertise and operational capacity.

Key features

ONAP supports synchronous orchestration of physical and virtual network functions, alongside configuration management, workflow orchestration, and network testing. Runtime monitoring, analytics, alarm and event correlation, and closed-loop automation support ongoing service optimization. Together, these capabilities are most useful to teams managing services that need coordinated lifecycle operations, not those seeking a small task runner.

The Portal Framework provides access to design-time and runtime environments, with role-based permissions for service designers and operations personnel. This separation supports collaboration across build and operations teams, while keeping access tied to different responsibilities.

Published blueprints cover 5G, virtual CPE, broadband, VoLTE, cross-domain VPN, and multi-domain optical network services. The 5G blueprint was developed with 3GPP, TM Forum, ETSI, and the O-RAN Software Community. That standards and ecosystem alignment is relevant for organizations working across network technologies and domains; the blueprints also give teams concrete service patterns to assess against their own needs.

The Paris release supports generative AI solutions powered by large language models, as well as enhancements for intent-driven networks and Model-As-a-Service. These additions extend the platform’s direction, but the core case for ONAP remains its network service lifecycle and automation capabilities.

Pricing

ONAP: 0.00 USD per free. The open-source platform has no paid plan or free trial. This fits organizations able to provide their own deployment and operating resources; the tradeoff is that software cost does not remove the infrastructure and engineering burden.

A full deployment calls for 224 GB RAM, 160 GB disk, and 112 vCores. Those requirements are substantial, especially for teams without dedicated network platform infrastructure. Deploying selected components can reduce the resource needs considerably, making modular adoption the more credible starting point for many organizations.

Platforms

ONAP supports API access and runs on Linux in self-hosted and web environments. Its supported network functions include physical network functions, virtual network functions, and cloud-native network functions. Kubernetes-based deployment gives it reach across bare metal and public or private cloud environments, but it is not a hosted service that removes infrastructure operations from the buyer.

Who it's for

ONAP is best suited to network operators, cloud providers, enterprises, and software or IT teams that need policy-driven orchestration across complex services and can operate Kubernetes infrastructure. The modular architecture helps teams focus on the functions they need. Small teams seeking quick, low-overhead automation should look elsewhere, particularly if they cannot support the deployment footprint or ongoing platform operations.

Community participation is open, with developer guidance, documentation, mailing lists, project calls, and Technical Steering Committee meetings. The Linux Foundation offers free introductory eLearning and a paid ONAP Fundamentals course. ONAP does not describe a product support service, so teams needing direct vendor support should account for that distinction.

Pros and cons

Pros: Broad service lifecycle coverage combines design, orchestration, analytics, monitoring, and closed-loop automation for physical, virtual, and cloud-native network functions.
Pros: Modular components let teams adopt selected orchestration functions instead of committing to a full deployment.
Pros: Standards-connected blueprints cover practical network service cases, including 5G, broadband, VoLTE, and cross-domain VPN.
Pros: The Paris release highlights security measures including HTTPS ports, removal of hard-coded passwords, non-root Kubernetes pods, CVE mitigation, and Istio and Ingress Gateway for secure component communication.
Cons: A full deployment’s 224 GB RAM, 160 GB disk, and 112 vCores are a major infrastructure commitment.
Cons: Kubernetes deployment and lifecycle operations demand platform expertise and ongoing operational capacity.
Cons: Known issues and limitations vary by project and are documented in project release notes, so teams must assess the components they plan to use.
Cons: No product support service is described; teams must rely on community channels or paid training options.

ONAP directs code vulnerability reports to its security mailing list and says trusted community security experts handle reports confidentially. Its CPS and Policy Framework projects have achieved OpenSSF Gold Badging, and ONAP has adopted the OpenSSF Best Practice Badge Program. These practices are useful signals for security-conscious adopters, though they do not eliminate the need to review the chosen projects and deployment.

Alternatives

For device-level network automation, Netmiko is a free, MIT-licensed open-source Python library for Linux and API use; it is a narrower choice than ONAP’s service lifecycle framework. NAPALM is another free open-source Python library, installable with pip, with device and driver support that varies; choose it when that library model better fits the task.

Containerlab is a free option for building network labs on a Linux server or VM, with Docker required and sudo needed for some operations. Nautobot offers a free, self-managed Community edition for exploring, initial workflows, and limited production deployments, which may fit teams seeking that narrower starting point.

Gluware has a free Community Edition for one year, renewable, with up to 20 devices and the full application suite except Topology, plus community support and on-demand training. OpenDaylight is a free open-source SDN platform distributed as tar or zip downloads and Docker images. Infoblox Cloud Network Automation uses token-based licensing, with tokens purchased as an allowance over an agreement term and custom pricing. Batfish is another free alternative.

Browse Network Automation Software or IT Orchestration Software for more options.

Verdict

Choose ONAP if your organization needs broad, policy-driven network service lifecycle automation and can support Kubernetes operations, especially if modular adoption can contain the initial footprint. Its combination of orchestration, observability, published blueprints, and closed-loop automation is the central reason to choose it. Look elsewhere if a full-scale network platform is more infrastructure and operational responsibility than your team can justify.

	HCL Workload Automation	ONAP
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial	Yes	No
Paid from	—	Free
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, Web, Windows	api, Linux, self-hosted, Web

HCL Workload Automation vs ONAP

HCL Workload Automation

ONAP