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Chef vs FaunaDB

Chef logo

Chef

Software

Infrastructure automation and management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
FaunaDB logo

FaunaDB

Software

The distributed serverless database for modern applications

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; FaunaDB the Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.
  • They diverge on capability: Chef covers Recipes, FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chef and FaunaDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Chef and FaunaDB differ
AttributeChefFaunaDB
Pricing modelopen-sourcefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiWeb
Founded20092012

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 FaunaDB

  • ACID Transactions
  • Document-relational Model
  • GraphQL API
  • Global Distribution
  • Temporal Queries
  • Multi-tenancy
  • Serverless
  • GraphQL

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 FaunaDB
  • Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot FaunaDB

FaunaDB

  • Serverless applicationsnot Chef
  • Rapid prototypingnot Chef
  • Mobile backendsnot Chef
  • JAMstacknot Chef
  • Microservicesnot 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

FaunaDB

  • The Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.

Pricing, plan by plan

Chef

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

FaunaDB

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100K read ops
    • 50K write ops
    • 1GB storage
  • Pro$25/month
    • Pay per use
    • Priority support
    • Advanced features

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 FaunaDB if

  • You need acid transactions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want document-relational model.
FaunaDB review

Questions people ask

Is Chef or FaunaDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Chef starts at Free and FaunaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chef or FaunaDB?
Chef starts at Free and FaunaDB at Free.
Does Chef or FaunaDB run on more platforms?
Chef runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. FaunaDB runs on Web.
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 FaunaDB is typically brought in for.
What can Chef do that FaunaDB cannot?
Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions, Document-relational Model, GraphQL API, Global Distribution.
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