OPSI vs Salt
OPSI
opsi.org
Salt
saltproject.ioSide by side
| Figure | OPSI | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | €0.42/mo | 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 | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 9.0 (#7) | 8.4 (#20) |
| API | Administrators can inspect endpoints at the opsiconfd /docs address; server data is changed through JSON-RPC and the WebGUI add-on provides a REST API. | Salt netapi modules provide network API access over REST through HTTP and WSGI and through WebSockets. |
| Configuration management | Administrators can centrally configure operating systems, drivers and applications and run administrative tasks. | Salt states are described as simple, extensible, deterministic, and layerable. |
| Security | OPSI documentation recommends SSL/TLS server identity verification and describes multi-factor authentication and SAML single sign-on security options. | 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 | uib offers phone and email support through support contracts, as well as training, workshops, and webinars. | The project directs users to GitHub issues for bugs and problems and to Discord for community technical support and discussions. |
Plans
OPSI
- BasicFree
- CommunityFree
- Professional€4.99 a year
- Enterprise€8.99 a year
- Enterprise Cloud€11.99 a year
In their own words
OPSI
OPSI is an open-source client management system for software distribution, operating-system installation, inventory, patch management, and configuration. It can deploy Windows updates, MSI packages, setup programs, and system packages without interactive installation steps. It also automates installations of Windows client and server systems and common Linux distributions, including unattended and image-based setups.
Regular inventory collects hardware and software details, including hardware information from devices without an operating system. Administration can be centralized across multiple sites, each with its own depot servers, configurations, and software packages. Directory integrations support Active Directory, Samba 4, and OpenLDAP; single sign-on extensions support Microsoft Entra ID and Keycloak through SAML 2.0. OPSI-WebGUI runs in a modern browser without client-side installation. Community is free with unlimited devices and one worker process. Basic is free for up to 30 devices and one setup per user. Professional costs €499 a year and requires a minimum purchase of 100 devices; Enterprise costs €899 a year with the same minimum. Enterprise Cloud costs €1,199 a year, starting at 100 devices.
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.