Canonical Ltd.

Juju, a service orchestration management tool

MAAS, a bare-metal server provisioning tool

cloud-init, the de facto standard for the initial setup of virtual machines in the cloud

U1DB, a cross-platform, cross-device, and syncable database application programming interface (API), allowing for applications to store JSON documents and synchronize them between machines and devices

Upstart, a discontinued event-based replacement for the init daemon

Quickly, a framework for creating software programs for Linux

Ubiquity and Subiquity, operating system installers for Ubuntu

Mir, a computer display server

MicroK8s, an implementation of Kubernetes (since December 2018)

Snap, a package management system for Ubuntu and other Linux operating systems

Snapcraft, a Python-based tool for packaging software

Launchpad, a centralised website containing several component web applications designed to make collaboration between free software projects easier:

PPA, a special software repository for uploading software packages to be built and published as an APT repository,

Blueprints, a tool for planning features of software,

Code, a hosting of Bazaar branches,

Answers, a support tracker,

Rosetta, an online language translation tool to help localisation of software (cf. the Rosetta Stone),

Malone (as in "Bugsy Malone"), a collaborative bug-tracker that allows linking to other bug-trackers,

Soyuz, a tool for creating custom-distributions, such as Kubuntu and Xubuntu.

Other projects and services

Landscape, a proprietary web service for centralized management of Ubuntu Linux systems

Ubuntu One, a discontinued service since 2014 for file synchronization and other uses

Ubuntu Pro, a commercial support service that covers Ubuntu and other Canonical products

Multipass, launched in 2019, provides a command line interface to launch and manage virtual machine instances of Linux in Windows, macOS and Linux.

Canonical Academy is a platform launched in October 2025 to provide practical, hands-on training and certification in Linux and Ubuntu administration.

Business plans

In 2007, Canonical launched an International online shop selling support services and Ubuntu-branded goods; later in 2008 it expanded that with a United States-specific shop designed to reduce shipment times. At the same time, the word Ubuntu was trademarked in connection with clothing and accessories.

In a Guardian interview in May 2008, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's business model was service provision and that Canonical was not yet close to profitability. Canonical stated that it would wait three to five years to become profitable. Shuttleworth regarded Canonical as positioning itself as demand for services related to free software rose. This strategy has been compared to Red Hat's business strategies in the 1990s. In an early-2009 New York Times article, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's revenue was "creeping" towards US$30 million, the company's break-even point.

Canonical achieved a small operating profit of $281,000 in 2009, but until 2017 struggled to maintain financial solvency and took a major financial hit from the development of Unity and Ubuntu Touch, leading to an operating loss of $21.6 million for the fiscal year 2013. The company reported an operating profit of $2 million in 2017 after shutting down the Unity development team and laying off nearly 200 employees. The company now plans to focus on its server and professional support products and services, which have proved to be most profitable. Through this, Canonical plans to maintain solvency and achieve long-term profitability. In 2022, Canonical UK Limited (a subsidiary of the group) made a profit of £0.52m on revenues of £14.31m.

Canonical reported a revenue of $175M in 2021. In 2023, the company reported a revenue of $251M.

Subsidiaries

Canonical Group Ltd is located in London.

Canonical USA Inc. is located in Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas.

Canonical China Ltd (Chinese: 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司 and 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司北京分公司) is located in Shanghai and Beijing.

Canonical Ltd Taiwan Branch (Chinese: 英商科能有限公司台灣分公司) is located in Taipei.

Canonical Limited is located in Isle of Man and Tokyo (Japan).

Canonical Brasil Ltd is located in São Paulo (this office is no longer listed on their website).

Canonical Canada Ltd is located in Montreal (the office is no longer in service).