CFEngine vs Salt
CFEngine
cfengine.com
Salt
saltproject.ioSide by side
| Figure | CFEngine | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| 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) | 8.3 (#9) |
| Spec score · IT Configuration Management Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.3 (#12) |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 9.0 (#6) | 8.4 (#20) |
| Spec score · Orchestration / Provisioning Software | 9.0 (#3) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Spec score · Infrastructure Automation | 8.9 (#3) | 8.4 (#8) |
| API | The Enterprise Hub exposes a REST API that also supports SQL-based queries for custom reports over distributed database data. | Salt netapi modules provide network API access over REST through HTTP and WSGI and through WebSockets. |
| Configuration management | The system manages files, processes, packages, services, users, storage and other promise types. | Salt states are described as simple, extensible, deterministic, and layerable. |
| Purpose | CFEngine automates infrastructure, security and compliance by continuously keeping infrastructure secure, compliant and up to date. | Salt is a Python-based, open-source framework for remote execution, configuration management, automation, provisioning, and orchestration. |
| Scale | CFEngine runs on embedded devices, servers, cloud systems and mainframes and handles tens or hundreds of thousands of nodes. | Salt can execute multiple commands across thousands of systems in seconds with a single execution. |
| Security | CFEngine's secure bootstrap uses mutual authentication, key exchange and encrypted communication over TLS. | Salt uses RSA keys for authentication, AES keys for encryption, and rotates the AES key every 24 hours by default or when a minion is deleted. |
| Support | Enterprise provides a dedicated support team that answers questions, recommends best practices and can prioritize development of requested features. | The project directs users to GitHub issues for bugs and problems and to Discord for community technical support and discussions. |
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.
Salt
Salt is a free, open-source framework for remote execution, configuration management, provisioning and infrastructure orchestration. A single execution can run commands across thousands of systems in seconds. A typical setup has a master managing minions, but Salt also supports agentless operation through salt-ssh or salt-proxy and stand-alone use. Salt states define configurations that can be extended and layered, while orchestration can order work by dependency, such as preparing a load balancer before a web-server cluster. Salt Cloud provisions systems on cloud hosts and hypervisors and can connect new virtual machines to a master. Its documented providers include Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Azure, OpenStack, DigitalOcean, Linode, VMware and Proxmox. SaltStack Config adds a web interface, role-based access control, multi-master support, reporting and an enterprise API, along with LDAP, SAML, OIDC and Active Directory integrations. Salt uses RSA key authentication and encrypted master-minion communication. It is self-hosted and licensed under Apache 2.0.