Chef InSpec vs Prowler Cloud
Chef InSpec
docs.chef.io
Prowler Cloud
prowler.comSide by side
| Figure | Chef InSpec | Prowler Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.92/mo | $99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 4 |
| Spec score · Security Configuration Management Software | 9.4 (#1) | 8.1 (#9) |
| Integrations | The kitchen-inspec verifier lets users run InSpec profiles through Test Kitchen. | Prowler Cloud lists Jira, Slack, and email alerts, plus Power BI, API access, and AWS Security Hub integration. |
| Purpose | Chef InSpec tests and audits applications and infrastructure by comparing their actual state with a desired state expressed in InSpec code. | Prowler Cloud is a managed cloud security platform for finding, prioritizing, and fixing cloud security risks. |
| Support | The licensing page lists community Slack support for Free and Trial tiers and contract support for Commercial licenses. | Prowler Cloud includes enterprise support, while the open-source editions include community support. |
Plans
Chef InSpec
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- TrialFree
- TrialFree
- Business$59 a year
- Enterprise$189 a year
- CommercialPriced on request
- Enterprise PlusPriced on request
Prowler Cloud
- Free trialFree
- Prowler Open SourceFree
- Prowler Cloud$99 a month
- Prowler Private CloudPriced on request
In their own words
Chef InSpec
Chef InSpec tests and audits applications and infrastructure against a desired state described in InSpec code. Its runtime framework and rule language express compliance, security and policy requirements. Reusable profiles group controls and can include versioning, platform requirements and dependencies. Resources support testing AWS, Azure, AliCloud and GCP infrastructure, and users can create custom resources. Tests can run locally or against cloud services and infrastructure such as Linux in Docker containers. Results can be exported as JSON, HTML or plain text, or sent to Chef Automate. The kitchen-inspec verifier also runs profiles through Test Kitchen. Chef offers premium CIS- and STIG-based profiles for compliance scanning. The free tier is for non-production workloads and personal, non-commercial use; the 30-day trial is for product evaluation under non-production conditions. Commercial licensing covers production and non-production workloads, with entitlements based on purchase order. Chef InSpec 7 requires EULA acceptance, and license-key requirements depend on the distribution source. Telemetry is enabled for free and trial tiers, but not commercial users.
Prowler Cloud
Prowler Cloud is a managed platform for finding, prioritizing, and fixing cloud security risks. It covers cloud infrastructure, SaaS, Kubernetes, containers, and infrastructure-as-code providers, with scheduled scans and continuous compliance. Prowler says it runs more than 2,500 checks and maps findings to over 70 compliance frameworks. Findings are ranked by severity and include step-by-step remediation guidance; Lighthouse AI can explain fixes. Integrations include Jira, Slack, email alerts, Power BI, API access, and AWS Security Hub. Connected cloud accounts use a read-only role, and Prowler says it does not write to those environments. The pricing note lists a starting price of $79/mo with annual billing; plan details list Prowler Cloud at $99 a month, billed monthly per provider account, GitHub repository, or Microsoft 365 tenant. Annual billing saves 20%. A 15-day free trial and free Apache-2.0 CLI and self-hosted Local Server options are available. Private Cloud pricing is custom and not listed.