We compare the capabilities of rapid highly charged projectiles and intense femtosecond lasers to ionize simple metal clusters while leaving as little intrinsic excitation as possible in the residue. We show that both excitation mechanisms are able to produce highly charged clusters. The deposited excitation energies increase with ionization but with different trends. Cold ionization, corresponding to moderate deposited excitation energy, is better attained with ionic projectiles for low charge states, and with lasers for high charge states.