Softwr

Network & Connectivity · head to head

Consul vs Vagrant

Consul logo

Consul

Network & Connectivity

Service discovery, networking, and security

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vagrant logo

Vagrant

Cloud & Infrastructure

Development environments made easy

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Consul namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only; Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 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: Consul covers Service discovery, Vagrant covers Box management.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Consul and Vagrant actually diverge.

Attributes where Consul and Vagrant differ
AttributeConsulVagrant
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, CloudLinux, Windows, Mac
CategoryNetwork & ConnectivityCloud & Infrastructure
Founded20142010

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

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 Consul

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

Only in Vagrant

  • Box management
  • Provider support
  • Multi-machine setups
  • Provisioners
  • Networking
  • Synced folders
  • Snapshots
  • Plugins

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.

Consul

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

Vagrant

  • Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot Consul
  • Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot Consul
  • Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot Consul

Where each one falls short

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

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

Vagrant

  • Vagrant 2.4.3 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 Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
  • Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
  • Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor

Pricing, plan by plan

Consul

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

Vagrant

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Development environment provisioning
    • Multiple providers
    • Provisioner support

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Vagrant if

  • You need box management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
  • You also want provider support.
Vagrant review

Questions people ask

Is Consul or Vagrant better?
Neither clearly leads. Consul starts at Free and Vagrant at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Consul or Vagrant?
Consul starts at Free and Vagrant at Free.
Does Consul or Vagrant run on more platforms?
Consul runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac.
Can I use Consul for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Consul best used for?
Consul is most often used for service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure, running a service mesh with mutual tls between services, distributed key value configuration storage for applications. Of those, service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure and running a service mesh with mutual tls between services are not what Vagrant is typically brought in for.
What can Consul do that Vagrant cannot?
Consul covers Service discovery, Health checking, Key/value store, Multi-datacenter. Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. Both handle Docker, On-premise deployment, Cloud deployment, Linux support.
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