CFEngine vs Foreman
CFEngine
cfengine.com
Foreman
theforeman.orgSide by side
| Figure | CFEngine | Foreman |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · IT Configuration Management Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.7 (#4) |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 9.0 (#6) | 8.8 (#10) |
| Spec score · Orchestration / Provisioning Software | 9.0 (#3) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Spec score · Data Center Automation | 9.0 (#3) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Architecture | The CFEngine agent runs on each managed device and connects to the CFEngine hub by default every five minutes to ensure configuration compliance. | A typical Foreman deployment contains a Foreman server, Smart Proxy servers, and managed hosts. |
| Configuration management | The system manages files, processes, packages, services, users, storage and other promise types. | Foreman includes configuration management support for Puppet and Salt and collects Ansible reports and facts. |
| Extensibility | CFEngine Build supplies community and vendor policy modules that can be added through Mission Portal or command-line tools. | Foreman has a pluggable architecture that allows it to be extended in many directions. |
| Purpose | CFEngine automates infrastructure, security and compliance by continuously keeping infrastructure secure, compliant and up to date. | Foreman is an open-source tool for managing servers through provisioning, configuration, orchestration, and monitoring. |
| Support | Enterprise provides a dedicated support team that answers questions, recommends best practices and can prioritize development of requested features. | Community support is available through the Discourse support board and a public Matrix room; the project says its support room is not an official support channel. |
Plans
CFEngine
- Community EditionFree
- Enterprise free trialFree
- Enterprise EditionPriced on request
In their own words
CFEngine
CFEngine automates infrastructure, security, and compliance by moving managed systems toward a state defined in policy. Users describe desired infrastructure states in CFEngine’s domain-specific language, and lightweight agents work to bring each device into compliance. By default, an agent contacts the CFEngine hub every five minutes. The system runs on embedded devices, servers, cloud systems, and mainframes, and is designed for tens or hundreds of thousands of nodes. Enterprise adds the Mission Portal web interface, reporting backed by an SQL database, REST APIs, compliance reports, policy analysis, alerts, inventory and change reporting, file-integrity monitoring, and performance monitoring. Dashboards provide compliance and performance views, alerts, and customizable sharing. Secure bootstrap uses mutual authentication, key exchange, and encrypted TLS communication. Community Edition is free under GNU GPL, supports Linux, and includes community support. Enterprise is free for up to 25 hosts; pricing beyond that is available on request. The supported operating systems listed include Linux distributions and Windows.
Foreman
Foreman is a free, open-source lifecycle management tool for physical and virtual servers. System administrators can use it to automate repetitive tasks, deploy applications, and manage on-premise or cloud systems. It provisions bare-metal machines and resources from providers including Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, OpenStack, Libvirt, oVirt, and VMware. Configuration integrations include Puppet, Ansible, Chef, and Salt; Foreman also collects Ansible reports and facts. Administrators can work through a web frontend, REST API, or Linux CLI, including Hammer CLI access to API calls. Role-based access control and integrations such as LDAP, FreeIPA, and Microsoft Active Directory support access management. Host groups, bulk management, health reports, and audits help organize systems and review changes. A typical deployment has a Foreman server, Smart Proxy servers, and managed hosts. The quickstart lists Enterprise Linux 9, Debian 12 and 13, and Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, and requires 4 GB of memory. Installation configures multiple system components, and setup requires Linux system administration knowledge.