Software · head to head
Chef vs Puppet
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; Puppet the pricing page publishes no rate and no minimum, and asks you to fill in a form to be sent pricing and plan information
- They diverge on capability: Chef covers Recipes, Puppet covers Manifests.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Chef and Puppet actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac, Api), 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 Puppet
- Manifests
- Modules
- Classes
- Variables
- Facts
- Puppet Master
- Hiera
- Facter
Both cover
- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
- Docker
- On-premise deployment
- Cloud deployment
- Linux support
- Windows support
- Mac 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 Puppet
- Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot Puppet
Puppet
- Declarative configuration management of servers at scalenot Chef
- Enforcing infrastructure compliance policy continuouslynot 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
Puppet
- The pricing page publishes no rate and no minimum, and asks you to fill in a form to be sent pricing and plan information
- Pricing is banded by number of managed nodes, with separate tiers for under 25 nodes and 25 or more nodes
- The product is split into Puppet Enterprise and a higher Puppet Enterprise Advanced edition, so compliance oriented features sit behind the upper tier
Pricing, plan by plan
Chef
Free- Open SourceFree
- Chef Infra
- Community support
- Full functionality
- Chef Automate$4000/year
- Chef Infra
- Compliance automation
- Insights
Puppet
Free- Open SourceFree
- Puppet Agent
- Community support
- Full DSL
- Puppet Enterprise$100/month
- Puppet Server
- Console
- RBAC
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 Puppet if
- You need manifests.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
- You also want modules.
Questions people ask
- Is Chef or Puppet better?
- Neither clearly leads. Chef starts at Free and Puppet at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Chef or Puppet?
- Chef starts at Free and Puppet at Free.
- Does Chef or Puppet run on more platforms?
- Both run on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- 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 Puppet is typically brought in for.
- What can Chef do that Puppet cannot?
- Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. Puppet covers Manifests, Modules, Classes, Variables. Both handle AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker.