CFEngine vs Quattor
CFEngine
cfengine.comQuattor
quattor.orgSide by side
| Figure | CFEngine | Quattor |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Configuration Management Tools | 9.0 (#1) | 7.8 (#13) |
| Spec score · Orchestration / Provisioning Software | 9.0 (#3) | 7.8 (#17) |
| Architecture | The CFEngine agent runs on each managed device and connects to the CFEngine hub by default every five minutes to ensure configuration compliance. | Quattor comprises a configuration management database server, an automated installation infrastructure server, and managed clients; the first two can run on one system. |
| Purpose | CFEngine automates infrastructure, security and compliance by continuously keeping infrastructure secure, compliant and up to date. | Quattor is a system administration toolkit for automated installation, configuration, and management of clusters, farms, grids, and clouds. |
| Scale | CFEngine runs on embedded devices, servers, cloud systems and mainframes and handles tens or hundreds of thousands of nodes. | The site says Quattor has been used in academic and commercial environments managing infrastructures from tens of systems to over 30,000. |
| Security | CFEngine's secure bootstrap uses mutual authentication, key exchange and encrypted communication over TLS. | The 26.2.0 release announcement says its RPM packages and repository metadata are signed with a GPG key. |
| Support | Enterprise provides a dedicated support team that answers questions, recommends best practices and can prioritize development of requested features. | Quattor is developed and supported by its user community, with discussion through a mailing group and issue or pull request reporting on GitHub. |
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.
Quattor
Quattor is free, open-source Linux software for automating installation, configuration, and lifecycle management across clusters, farms, grids, and clouds. Its self-hosted architecture uses a configuration-management database server, an Automated Installation Infrastructure server, and managed clients; the two servers may share one machine. AII plugins handle DHCP and PXE setup and create Kickstart files for Enterprise Linux-derived systems. Client components retrieve and validate profiles, then run configuration components. Quattor validates system descriptions before deployment, and its Pan compiler converts declarative configuration into nested structures including XML and JSON. Modular interfaces allow replacement implementations and site-specific tools, with components for core and grid services. The site describes deployments ranging from tens of systems to more than 30,000. It supports Enterprise Linux, including Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, and is licensed under Apache 2.0 and the EU DataGrid Software License. Community users provide development and support.