CFEngine vs OpenVox
CFEngine
cfengine.com
OpenVox
docs.openvoxproject.orgSide by side
| Figure | CFEngine | OpenVox |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Configuration Management Tools | 9.0 (#1) | 7.7 (#14) |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 9.0 (#6) | 7.7 (#44) |
| Spec score · Orchestration / Provisioning Software | 9.0 (#3) | 7.7 (#19) |
| Platforms | CFEngine supports major platforms including RHEL, Ubuntu, Debian and Windows Server, with tailored support available for OpenBSD, IBM AIX, macOS and Solaris. | The documentation provides installation instructions for Linux, Windows, and macOS. |
| Purpose | CFEngine automates infrastructure, security and compliance by continuously keeping infrastructure secure, compliant and up to date. | OpenVox is a community-maintained implementation of Puppet, a configuration management system that manages system state through a declarative language. |
| Security | CFEngine's secure bootstrap uses mutual authentication, key exchange and encrypted communication over TLS. | In agent/server mode, agents and servers communicate over HTTPS with mutual TLS. |
| Support | Enterprise provides a dedicated support team that answers questions, recommends best practices and can prioritize development of requested features. | The documentation directs users to community help and a list of commercial support partners. |
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.
OpenVox
OpenVox is a community-maintained implementation of Puppet for declarative configuration management: it describes system state and applies it through agents managed by a server or in standalone mode. In standalone use, `puppet apply` compiles and applies a catalog locally. Existing Puppet Open Source manifests, modules, Hiera data, and tooling work unchanged. It is self-hosted and lists support for Enterprise Linux, Amazon Linux, Fedora, SLES, Debian, Ubuntu, macOS, and Windows. Agent/server communication uses HTTPS with mutual TLS; agents must first obtain a signed certificate from a local Puppet certificate authority or an external CA. OpenVox Server exposes HTTP APIs for catalogs, certificate authority, status, and metrics. OpenVoxDB stores reports, inventory, and exported resources, while OpenBolt automates infrastructure over SSH and WinRM without agents. Documented packages include agent, server, database, termini, and orchestration components. The software is free and community-maintained. Documentation points users to community help and commercial support partners.