![Top 8 GitOps Tools You Should Know [2024 List]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2F3f8e6bc091ca75d43f30317a656a2b24%3Fs%3D48%26d%3Dmm%26r%3Dg&w=96&q=75)
As there’s no single right way to implement GitOps, it can be tricky to work out which tools will deliver the best results for your team. In this article, we’ll look at seven options that should be on your radar in 2024.
What we will cover:
GitOps is a methodology for software development and infrastructure management that positions Git repositories as your workflow’s single source of truth. Instead of manually running commands to apply changes, GitOps revolves around declarative config files that are versioned in your repositories. CI/CD-driven tooling then consumes the files to automatically create and update your resources.
Here’s the GitOps workflow in a nutshell:
GitOps increases development velocity while guarding against the mistakes that can occur when DevOps teams directly interact with infrastructure. These compelling characteristics have led to rapid adoption across the industry, with 91% of respondents to a 2023 CNCF survey saying they’re already using GitOps and a further 67% reporting they plan to start within the next year.
A GitOps tool provides a framework for automating software delivery using declarative configuration, IaC, and CI/CD, following GitOps principles. Although the exact features included vary significantly between choices, the overarching aim is to standardize how code moves from source repositories to live environments.
Many GitOps tools support an agent-driven pull-based architecture that makes it possible to fully automate deployments after new code changes are committed. The agent runs in your production environment; it periodically checks your repositories for new changes, then automatically applies them. This model requires less configuration and is more secure than classical CI/CD pipelines that connect to your infrastructure to “push” new changes.
The GitOps solution you choose will have a significant effect on how well your workflows perform. It’s crucial you make the right choice so you can manage your projects cohesively, without hitting roadblocks that slow you down or force an expensive switch to an alternative tool.
| Key factors to consider when choosing a GitOps tool | ||
| ✅ Available repository integrations | Many GitOps solutions work with any Git repository, but those that directly integrate with hosts such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket often provide a simpler experience by letting you manage deployments directly from pull requests and issues.
It’s important to check that your preferred host is compatible. |
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| ✅ Supported deployment strategies | Tools that offer advanced rollout strategies, such as blue-green and canary deployments, give you more options for structuring and safely testing new releases.
These techniques can be tricky to implement manually, so it’s useful for native support to be included. |
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| ✅ Declarative configuration | Although GitOps solutions always utilize declarative configuration for your apps, you should also check that the tool itself can be installed in this way. This enables repeatable agent deployment into multiple environments. | |
| ✅ Drift detection | Drift occurs when changes in your live environments mean deployed resources no longer match the state defined in your repository.
Drift detection capabilities mean the tool responds by automatically restoring the correct state, ensuring your infrastructure performs reliably. |
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| ✅ Sync methods | GitOps tools create deployments and apply infrastructure changes by syncing your resources so they match the state of your repositories.
It’s helpful to favor tools that support multiple repository sync options, such as both automatic periodic syncs and manually initiated syncs via an API, CLI, or web UI. |
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| ✅ IaC integrations | Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and GitOps are closely related.
GitOps tools that offer native support for IaC solutions fully automate your infrastructure changes, ensuring developers don’t have to run potentially dangerous IaC commands themselves. |
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| ✅ Scalability | Any GitOps solution needs to be sufficiently scalable to match the size of your deployments.
Multi-cluster scenarios involving hundreds or thousands of projects may demand a different tool to those used by teams with fewer infrastructure components. |
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| ✅ Ease of use | GitOps is meant to simplify deployment workflows and make them more robust, so it is vital tools provide a straightforward developer experience that solves problems instead of creating new doubts. | |
| ✅ Support options | Good tools should be backed by convenient support options, such as forums, issue trackers, and documentation sites, that allow users to get help when they need it. | |
Not all these characteristics are applicable to every tool, but they’re good pointers to look for when evaluating the GitOps landscape.
Spacelift is an IaC management platform that uses GitOps to automate CI/CD for your infrastructure components. It supports OpenTofu, Terraform, Terragrunt, CloudFormation, Pulumi, Kubernetes, and Ansible.
The power of Spacelift lies in its fully automated hands-on approach. Once you’ve created a Spacelift stack for your project, changes to the IaC files in your repository will automatically be applied to your infrastructure.
Spacelift’s pull request integrations keep everyone informed of what will change by displaying which resources are going to be affected by new merges. Spacelift also allows you to enforce policies and automated compliance checks that prevent dangerous oversights from occurring.
Spacelift includes drift detection capabilities that periodically check your infrastructure for discrepancies compared to your repository’s state. It can then launch reconciliation jobs to restore the correct state, ensuring your infrastructure operates predictably and reliably.
Check out how to get started with Spacelift.
Key features
- Automates your IaC workflows for Terraform, Pulumi, Kubernetes, Ansible, and more
- Native pull request integrations let you see what will change before you deploy
- Built-in drift detection and remediation
- Supports multi-user self-service access with policy and compliance guardrails
- The visual interface allows you to monitor pipeline runs and obtain insights into resource states, usage, and costs
Pricing: Free tier for individual and small teams. Cloud and Enterprise tiers starting at $250 per month
Website: https://spacelift.io/
Use case example: How Spacelift Can Improve Your Infrastructure Orchestration
Argo CD is a GitOps-powered continuous delivery solution for Kubernetes. It synchronizes the Kubernetes manifests, Kustomize templates, and Helm charts in your Git repositories to your cluster, then ensures your deployed resources don’t drift away from the defined state.
Once installed in your Kubernetes cluster, you can use Argo’s powerful CLI and robust web interface to set up repository connections, manage projects, and check their sync statuses. Argo CI/CD can also be combined with the separate Argo Rollouts solution to achieve canary and blue-green releases that give you more deployment flexibility.
Key features
- Declarative continuous delivery to Kubernetes
- Automatic syncs and state reconciliation
- Continuous drift detection
- Supports multi-tenancy and RBAC
- Web interface included
License: Open source (Apache 2.0)
Website: https://argoproj.github.io/cd/
Use case example: Getting Started With Argo CD
Flux CD is an alternative to Argo CD that has a narrower scope but more customization opportunities. It’s a CNCF-supported toolkit designed to enable continuous progressive delivery to your Kubernetes clusters, with strong integrations with cloud providers and other services.
Flux takes a fully declarative approach to configuration. Its state is stored in a Git repository, allowing you to deploy equivalent installations in different environments. It’s also auditable, compatible with multi-tenant workflows, and capable of deploying apps from a variety of sources including Git providers, S3-compatible object storage, and OCI container registries.
Key features
- Fully automated state reconciliation with drift detection
- Per-environment deployment customization using Kustomize
- Includes a simple CLI to register apps and set up your installation
- Multi-cluster app management using a single Flux instance
- Good support from the broader DevOps ecosystem
License: Open source (Apache 2.0)
Website: https://fluxcd.io
Use case example: FluxCD Tutorial With Examples
Codefresh is positioned as an enterprise-scale SaaS GitOps solution. It’s free for teams with up to five developers.
Codefresh is designed to make GitOps workflows easier to manage by ensuring long-term scalability, security, and support. It’s powered by Argo CD but provides additional management layers that ease the adoption of GitOps inside larger organizations with many projects.
Key capabilities include built-in monitoring dashboards, reusable configuration templates, and live debugging with breakpoint support.
Key features
- Good ease of use with a powerful web interface
- Provides insights into GitOps performance and team effectiveness
- Supports hosted, on-premises, and hybrid operation
- Argo-powered internals with many open-source components
- Enables a cohesive platform-based approach to GitOps that requires minimal configuration
Pricing: Free plan for up to 5 developers; Pro and Enterprise plans for bigger teams
Website: https://codefresh.io/
GitLab is one of the leading Git hosting solutions and CI/CD platforms, but it’s also making inroads in the GitOps space through a native integration with Flux CD.
Installing a GitLab-provided agent component in your Kubernetes cluster allows you to automate the progressive delivery of your GitLab projects while reducing access management and configuration overheads.
Utilizing GitLab for GitOps lets you orient your entire development stack around a single platform, with all operations managed through GitLab. However, the functionality is still relatively young and has been changing significantly between GitLab releases. As the effort is mainly oriented around more closely combining Flux and GitLab, you’ll still need to learn Flux in order to benefit.
Key features
- Centrally manage Flux-based GitOps alongside your source code and CI/CD pipelines
- Simplify access management and reduce the exposure of your GitLab instance
- Use Flux via an existing GitLab Kubernetes Agent connection
- Monitor deployed Kubernetes resources within the GitLab interface
Pricing: Free tier for personal projects; Premium and Ultimate tiers starting at $29 per user per month
Website: https://about.gitlab.com
Use case example: How to Implement GitLab CI/CD Pipeline with Terraform
Terraform is known as one of the leading IaC solutions, but its use often coincides with that of GitOps.
Terraform allows you to define your infrastructure’s state in code. Changes to live resources are achieved by committing new files to your repository and then using the Terraform CLI to apply them to your environments. Common use cases include provisioning cloud compute nodes, network components, and Kubernetes clusters.
Although GitOps is often discussed in the context of app deployments, Terraform extends the methodology to encompass your infrastructure too. This enables the most powerful form of GitOps, where your entire stack is based on versioned states defined in code.
Key features
- Define infrastructure configuration declaratively via IaC
- Extensive built-in and community-contributed support for cloud providers, hosting environments, and other stack components
- Integrations with GitOps solutions like Flux, Argo, and Spacelift enable automated infrastructure changes based on repository content
- Massive support from industry and the community
License: BSL
Website: https://www.terraform.io
Use case examples: How to Use Terraform with GitOps and adding GitOps support using Spacelift
OpenTofu is an open-source alternative to Terraform that focuses on community-driven development and maintaining an open-source identity. It was created as a response to HashiCorp’s change to BSL and is developed under the Linux Foundation’s umbrella. This involvement with the Linux Foundation demonstrates credibility and fosters a collaborative environment for continuous innovation and improvement in the field of IaC.
You can use solutions such as Flux’s Tofu Controller to automatically sync your infrastructure’s state to your repository’s content, eliminating the need to run Terraform commands on-demand.
Key features
Same features as Terraform, plus:
- State encryption – the ability to encrypt the state and ensure your secrets stay safe
- Early variable and local validation in module sources and the terraform block
- Its open-source nature means the community’s voice is heard, and contributions are valued.
License: MPL2.0 (open source)
Website: https://opentofu.org
Use case example: OpenTofu Getting Started, How to Install & Examples
Werf is an open-source CI/CD system that automates application delivery to Kubernetes clusters, enabling GitOps-driven deployment of the Dockerfiles and Helm charts that exist in your repositories. Werf automatically builds your images, pushes them to registries, and then launches a deployment in your Kubernetes cluster.
Werf is intended to be a simple solution that builds upon these familiar components, making them easier to use in practice without having to repeatedly run Docker or Helm commands. It integrates with your existing CI system, instead of providing its own pipeline mechanism. As there’s no agent to install and maintain, Werf is an attractive candidate for existing projects that currently utilize a push-based deployment model.
Key features
- Deterministic CI/CD based on your Git repository’s state
- Automatically builds container images before they’re deployed
- Works with any repository provider and CI system
- Automated resource tracking, release management, and artifact storage capabilities
- Supports deployments to multiple environments, including across different Kubernetes namespaces and separate clusters
License: Open source (Apache 2.0)
Website: https://werf.io
GitOps is simplifying how software is built and deployed for developers, operators, and platform teams. Using Git repositories as the source of truth for all your projects—from apps to cloud infrastructure configuration—enables more convenient automated workflows that are scalable, repeatable, and reliable. However, successful adoption depends on your team having access to the right tools.
We’ve explored eight great GitOps tools to try in 2024, but remember there are plenty more options available in the ecosystem. GitOps is still a relatively young field that’s attracting significant innovation as more participants get involved.
Ready to begin your GitOps journey? Start for free with Spacelift or book a demo with one of our engineers to unify your IaC services and cloud providers with one sophisticated CI/CD platform.
The Most Flexible CI/CD Automation Tool
Spacelift is an alternative to using homegrown solutions on top of a generic CI. It helps overcome common state management issues and adds several must-have capabilities for infrastructure management.
