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Chef vs Consul

Chef logo

Chef

Software

Infrastructure automation and management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Consul logo

Consul

Software

Service discovery, networking, and security

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Chef priced per node per year, at $59 on Business and $189 on Enterprise, so cost scales with fleet size rather than with team size; Consul namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only
  • They diverge on capability: Chef covers Recipes, Consul covers Service discovery.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chef and Consul actually diverge.

Attributes where Chef and Consul differ
AttributeChefConsul
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiLinux, Windows, Mac, Cloud
Founded20092014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chef

  • Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Roles
  • Data bags
  • Attributes
  • Chef Server
  • Chef Infra
  • Chef Compliance

Only in Consul

  • Service discovery
  • Health checking
  • Key/value store
  • Multi-datacenter
  • DNS interface
  • Service mesh
  • Load balancing
  • Configuration management

Both cover

  • Docker
  • On-premise deployment
  • Cloud deployment
  • Linux support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chef

  • Configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleetsnot Consul
  • Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot Consul

Consul

  • Service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructurenot Chef
  • Running a service mesh with mutual TLS between servicesnot Chef
  • Distributed key value configuration storage for applicationsnot Chef

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chef

  • Priced per node per year, at $59 on Business and $189 on Enterprise, so cost scales with fleet size rather than with team size
  • Tripling the price between the two published tiers puts compliance and audit features well above basic automation
  • Enterprise Plus and every self managed deployment are custom quoted with no published price

Consul

  • Namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only
  • Audit logging, OIDC authentication and FIPS 140-2 builds require Consul Enterprise, so compliance driven deployments cannot use the free edition
  • Automated backups, redundancy zones, read replicas and automated server upgrades are Enterprise only
  • Long Term Support releases are Enterprise only, so community users must upgrade to stay supported
  • Service mesh and advanced traffic management sit in the Premium Enterprise tier above Standard Enterprise
  • HashiCorp does not publish a Consul rate on its pricing page, which lists per resource prices for Terraform instead

Pricing, plan by plan

Chef

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Chef Infra
    • Community support
    • Full functionality
  • Chef Automate$4000/year
    • Chef Infra
    • Compliance automation
    • Insights

Consul

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Service discovery
    • Health checking
    • KV store

Which should you pick?

Choose Chef if

  • You need recipes.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want cookbooks.
Chef review

Choose Consul if

  • You need service discovery.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
  • You also want health checking.
Consul review

Questions people ask

Is Chef or Consul better?
Neither clearly leads. Chef starts at Free and Consul at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chef or Consul?
Chef starts at Free and Consul at Free.
Does Chef or Consul run on more platforms?
Chef runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Consul runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
Can I use Chef for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Chef best used for?
Chef is most often used for configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleets, enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodes. Of those, configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleets and enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodes are not what Consul is typically brought in for.
What can Chef do that Consul cannot?
Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. Consul covers Service discovery, Health checking, Key/value store, Multi-datacenter. Both handle Docker, On-premise deployment, Cloud deployment, Linux support.
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