PatchMon vs Salt
PatchMon
patchmon.net
Salt
saltproject.ioSide by side
| Figure | PatchMon | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · IT Automation Software | 8.9 (#8) | 8.4 (#20) |
| Access control | The platform includes built-in and custom RBAC, OIDC/SSO, TOTP 2FA, session management and audit logging. | Salt provides publisher ACLs and external authentication that can restrict users to selected functions on selected minions. |
| Compliance | PatchMon supports OpenSCAP CIS benchmark scans with per-rule results, severity, remediation guidance, and score tracking. | SaltStack Config provides security policies with industry-standard compliance profiles such as CIS and DISA STIGS. |
| Integrations | Documented integrations include Discord, getHomepage, Ansible and Proxmox LXC auto-enrollment. | SaltStack Config integrates with LDAP, SAML, OIDC, and Active Directory. |
| Purpose | PatchMon provides a central dashboard for patch monitoring across Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows fleets. | Salt is a Python-based, open-source framework for remote execution, configuration management, automation, provisioning, and orchestration. |
| Support | Cloud support channels vary by tier: Starter includes email and Discord, Plus adds Slack, and Max also includes phone support. | The project directs users to GitHub issues for bugs and problems and to Discord for community technical support and discussions. |
Plans
PatchMon
- Community EditionFree
- Community EditionFree
- Starter$1 a month
- Plus$2 a month
- Max$3 a month
- PROPriced on request
In their own words
PatchMon
PatchMon provides a central dashboard for patch monitoring across Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows server fleets. Policies can schedule patches immediately, after a delay, or at a fixed time, with dry-run validation, approval workflows, and assignment by host or host group. Automated patch deployment is available on Linux and FreeBSD; Windows deployment is on the roadmap. Patch runs record who triggered and approved them, timestamps, policy details, affected packages, and command output. OpenSCAP CIS benchmark scans include per-rule results, severity, remediation guidance, and score tracking. Listed integrations span Proxmox LXC, Ansible, Docker, REST API, OpenSCAP, SSH, Windows RDP, and messaging and AI services. Monitoring agents connect outbound over WebSocket, use TLS in transit, and do not require root for monitoring operations. The free Community Edition is self-hosted under AGPLv3, with users responsible for the server, updates, backups, and uptime. Cloud plans start at $1 a month per endpoint. Cloud trials last 14 days, include Plus features, require a card at signup, and are not charged if cancelled before they end.
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.