Software · head to head
Chef vs Packer
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; Packer packer 1.10.0 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, Packer covers Image building.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Chef and Packer actually diverge.
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 Packer
- Image building
- Multi-platform support
- Provisioners
- Builders
- Post-processors
- Variables
- Data sources
- Validation
Both cover
- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
- Docker
- On-premise deployment
- Cloud deployment
- Linux support
- Windows 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 Packer
- Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot Packer
Packer
- Building identical machine images for multiple clouds from one templatenot Chef
- Baking golden AMIs and VM images into a CI pipelinenot Chef
- Creating immutable infrastructure artifacts consumed by Terraformnot 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
Packer
- Packer 1.10.0 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 Packer to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Packer
- Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published, and the Change Date is set separately per version
- Alternative licensing for uses outside the grant must be arranged with the licensor rather than taken under the public licence
Pricing, plan by plan
Chef
Free- Open SourceFree
- Chef Infra
- Community support
- Full functionality
- Chef Automate$4000/year
- Chef Infra
- Compliance automation
- Insights
Packer
Free- Open SourceFree
- Multi-platform image building
- Template-driven
- Provisioner support
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.
Choose Packer if
- You need image building.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- You also want multi-platform support.
Questions people ask
- Is Chef or Packer better?
- Neither clearly leads. Chef starts at Free and Packer at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Chef or Packer?
- Chef starts at Free and Packer at Free.
- Does Chef or Packer run on more platforms?
- Chef runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Packer runs on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- 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 Packer is typically brought in for.
- What can Chef do that Packer cannot?
- Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. Packer covers Image building, Multi-platform support, Provisioners, Builders. Both handle AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker.