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Chef vs Nomad

Chef logo

Chef

Software

Infrastructure automation and management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Nomad logo

Nomad

Software

Flexible workload orchestration

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; Nomad nomad 1.7.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
  • They diverge on capability: Chef covers Recipes, Nomad covers Container orchestration.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chef and Nomad actually diverge.

Attributes where Chef and Nomad differ
AttributeChefNomad
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiLinux, Windows, Mac, Cloud
Founded20092015

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 Nomad

  • Container orchestration
  • Job scheduling
  • Multi-cloud support
  • Auto-scaling
  • Service discovery
  • Rolling deployments
  • Monitoring integration
  • High availability

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 Nomad
  • Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot Nomad

Nomad

  • Scheduling containers, binaries, Java and VM workloads on the same clusternot Chef
  • Running an orchestrator with a single binary and no external dependenciesnot Chef
  • Batch and edge workload scheduling across multiple datacentresnot 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

Nomad

  • Nomad 1.7.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
  • The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Nomad to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions
  • Each version converts to MPL 2.0 only four years after that version is published
  • Resource quotas, Sentinel policies and audit logging sit in a Governance and Policy add-on module that is separate from the Enterprise base platform package
  • Multi-region deployments, multiple Vault namespaces and Nomad Autopilot advanced server management require Nomad Enterprise

Pricing, plan by plan

Chef

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

Nomad

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Workload orchestration
    • Multi-cloud
    • Flexible scheduling

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 Nomad if

  • You need container orchestration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
  • You also want job scheduling.
Nomad review

Questions people ask

Is Chef or Nomad better?
Neither clearly leads. Chef starts at Free and Nomad at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chef or Nomad?
Chef starts at Free and Nomad at Free.
Does Chef or Nomad run on more platforms?
Chef runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Nomad 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 Nomad is typically brought in for.
What can Chef do that Nomad cannot?
Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. Nomad covers Container orchestration, Job scheduling, Multi-cloud support, Auto-scaling. Both handle Docker, On-premise deployment, Cloud deployment, Linux support.
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