Checkov vs Test Kitchen
Checkov
checkov.ioTest Kitchen
kitchen.ciSide by side
| Figure | Checkov | Test Kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Infrastructure Testing Tools | 8.0 (#10) | 8.2 (#7) |
| Installation | The project documents installation through pip and Homebrew; Homebrew is specified for macOS or Linux. | Users can install the gem with gem install test-kitchen or install Cinc Workstation. |
| License | The Checkov GitHub repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. | The project is released under the Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | Checkov scans infrastructure-as-code files for misconfigurations that can cause security or compliance problems. | Test Kitchen is a test harness for executing infrastructure code on one or more platforms in isolation. |
| Support | The project directs users to its documentation for tutorials and examples and identifies Prisma Cloud as the maintainer. | The documentation directs users to the #test-kitchen channel on Chef Community Slack for assistance from community members. |
Plans
In their own words
Checkov
Checkov is a free tool for scanning infrastructure-as-code files for configuration problems that could affect security or compliance. Its documented targets include Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM, Serverless, Helm, Kubernetes, and Docker. The policy library contains more than 750 predefined checks, including checks for standards such as CIS and the AWS Foundations Benchmark. Checkov can also identify common credentials in IaC files, including AWS access keys, Azure service credentials, and private keys. Teams can create custom attribute policies in Python or YAML and composite policies in YAML. Documented continuous-integration integrations include Jenkins, Bitbucket Cloud Pipelines, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI. Add-ons for Visual Studio Code and JetBrains provide real-time scanning and inline fixes. Installation is documented through pip and Homebrew, with Homebrew specified for macOS or Linux. The project supports Python 3.9 through 3.13 and is distributed under the Apache-2.0 license. Prisma Cloud extends Checkov with runtime scanning, visibility, native VCS integrations, drift detection, and pull request annotations. Alpine is not officially tested or supported; it requires Python 3.11 or later.
Test Kitchen
Test Kitchen is a free test harness for running infrastructure code in isolation on one or more platforms. Its workflow uses create, converge, setup, verify, and destroy commands to provision environments and test infrastructure code. Documented drivers cover Amazon EC2, Apache CloudStack, DigitalOcean, Docker through Dokken, Google Cloud Platform, Hetzner Cloud, Vagrant, Azure, Hyper-V, OpenStack, and VMware products. Which drivers are available depends on the driver gems installed in the Ruby environment. Provisioning options include Chef Infra, Cinc Client, Habitat, PowerShell DSC, and shell scripts; listed verification integrations include Cinc Auditor, Chef InSpec, and Serverspec. Community plugins add Ansible, Puppet, and Salt provisioners. Installation is available through RubyGems, system packages, or Cinc Workstation, but Test Kitchen itself does not bundle Cinc or Chef tooling. Requirements include a 64-bit operating system and enabled CPU virtualization. The project uses Apache License 2.0 and points users to Chef Community Slack for community assistance. The documentation notes known issues and no current maintainer for kitchen-docker, recommending kitchen-dokken instead.