cfn-nag vs kubeconform

cfn-nag is free, MIT-licensed software that scans AWS CloudFormation templates for patterns that may indicate insecure infrastructure. It checks for overly permissive IAM policies and security-group rules, disabled access logging or encryption, and password literals. The scanner accepts JSON, .template, YAML, and YML files, and recursively processes subdirectories when given a directory. Results print to standard output, with JSON output available; failures return a non-zero exit code while warnings return success. Installation is documented through RubyGems and Homebrew, with Ruby 2.5 or later required for gem installation. A Dockerfile and Docker Hub image are provided. cfn-nag can run in GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline. Profiles, deny lists, per-resource suppressions, and custom rules support policy tailoring. Static analysis needs supplied parameter values to assess them and does not inspect false Fn::If outcomes by default.

Kubeconform is a command-line tool for validating Kubernetes manifests before deployment. It checks files against Kubernetes OpenAPI specifications, helping catch configuration problems before they reach a cluster. Validation and schema downloads run concurrently, and downloaded files are cached in memory. By default, it uses a self-updating fork of the Kubernetes JSON schema registry to supply schemas for recent Kubernetes versions. For custom resources, users can point it to local or remote schemas; local schemas also make offline validation possible. Results can be produced as JSON, JUnit, TAP, or plain text. Documentation describes using its Docker images in GitHub Actions and GitLab CI, and the images are published to GitHub Container Registry. It is free, with a listed plan of free. Installation instructions cover Linux, macOS through Homebrew, and Windows. Its checks do not cover additional server-side validation, and its Go module interface is still work in progress and unstable.