Top 12 Puppet Alternatives for Automation in 2025

Ansible is an open-source IT automation tool that simplifies configuration management, application deployment, and infrastructure orchestration. Ansible offers a lightweight, agentless architecture that uses SSH to communicate with remote systems. 

Ansible is designed with simplicity and readability in mind, employing YAML-based playbooks that are human-readable yet powerful enough to manage complex workflows. 

As an alternative to Puppet, Ansible provides a more procedural, push-based model of automation and configuration, making it accessible and adaptable to a variety of infrastructure setups.

Where Puppet traditionally uses a declarative approach and requires a master-agent setup, Ansible’s procedural style allows for step-by-step task control. This can be easier to understand and debug for smaller teams or those new to automation. 

It’s especially well-suited for organizations that want rapid configuration without the overhead of additional infrastructure or custom DSLs.

Key features of Ansible

• Agentless architecture – Operates over SSH or WinRM without the need to install agents on managed nodes, reducing complexity and security surface area.
• Human-readable playbooks – Uses YAML for defining automation tasks, making it intuitive for teams to write and understand infrastructure code.
• Idempotent task execution – Ensures that repeated playbook runs do not cause unintended changes, maintaining system stability.
• Extensive module library – Offers hundreds of built-in modules covering everything from cloud provisioning to package management, enabling broad support across environments.
• Community and enterprise ecosystem – Backed by Red Hat, Ansible provides robust support through Ansible Galaxy (community content) and Ansible Automation Platform for enterprise-grade capabilities.

License/Pricing: Open-source (GNU General Public License (GPL) v3.0); Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is commercially licensed

Website: https://www.ansible.com/

Read more: How to Implement Ansible Automation Workflows

Chef is a configuration management and automation platform that enables infrastructure as code (IaC) through the use of declarative Ruby-based “recipes.” 

It is commonly used to configure and maintain servers by automating tasks such as software installation, service management, and system updates across physical, virtual, or cloud environments.

In the context of Puppet alternatives, Chef provides a comparable approach to managing system state and configuration consistency across fleets of machines. 

However, it differs in its use of a pull-based model (via Chef Client) and a DSL that is declarative in outcome yet allows procedural Ruby logic for flexibility. Chef is best suited for teams with complex infrastructure needs and experienced developers familiar with Ruby, as it emphasizes flexibility and customization.

Chef has evolved significantly with its transition into the Chef Enterprise Automation Stack, which includes additional tools like Chef Infra, Chef Habitat (application automation), Chef InSpec (compliance as code), and Chef Automate (orchestration and reporting).

Key features of Chef

• IaC with Chef Infra: Define desired system states using readable, reusable code written in Ruby DSL, making system configuration reproducible and scalable.
• Automated compliance with Chef InSpec: Integrate compliance scanning directly into infrastructure pipelines, enabling continuous audit and security validation as code.
• Application deployment via Chef Habitat: Package and deliver applications with consistent automation across dev, staging, and production, regardless of environment.
• Centralized workflow and visibility with Chef Automate: Orchestrate change delivery, view real-time insights, and track configuration and compliance status from a single dashboard.
• Extensive ecosystem and community support: Access thousands of pre-built cookbooks and integrations through the Chef Supermarket, backed by a strong open-source community.
  

License/Pricing: Commercial (offered by Progress Software), with open-source components available under the Apache 2.0 license

Website: https://www.chef.io/

Salt (also known as SaltStack) is an open-source configuration management and remote execution system designed for high-speed, scalable automation. It enables IT teams to provision, configure, and manage infrastructure across a variety of environments, with a strong emphasis on performance and flexibility.

Compared to Puppet, Salt offers both agent-based and agentless operation and a unique event-driven automation architecture. It uses a declarative approach to configuration (via YAML-based state files) while also supporting powerful remote execution capabilities, allowing administrators to issue real-time commands across thousands of machines. 

Salt is well-suited for organizations that require fast, reactive infrastructure control and orchestration at scale.

Salt was acquired by VMware in 2020 and is now a key component of the VMware Aria Automation Config offering. Its open-source version remains actively maintained and widely used.

Key features of Chef

• Event-driven automation framework – React to system events in real time using Salt’s Reactor system, enabling responsive, automated workflows based on custom triggers.
• Remote execution at scale – Run ad-hoc commands across large infrastructures instantly, making Salt especially powerful for dynamic troubleshooting and real-time orchestration.
• Flexible configuration management – Use YAML and Jinja-based templating to declare system states with fine-grained logic, allowing for clean, adaptable configurations.
• Master-minion or agentless architecture – Choose between using persistent agents (minions) or connecting via SSH, depending on your infrastructure and operational needs.
• Integration and extensibility – Plug into cloud providers, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring systems with a wide array of built-in modules and custom plugin support.
  

License/Pricing: Open-source (Apache 2.0), with enterprise features available via VMware Aria Automation Config

Website: https://saltproject.io/

Spacelift is a modern infrastructure as code (IaC) orchestration platform designed to enhance, extend, and automate workflows for tools like Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, CloudFormation, Ansible, and Kubernetes.

While it is not a Puppet alternative per se, Spacelift offers a more declarative, scalable, and GitOps-aligned approach than traditional configuration management tools like Puppet. Rather than focusing on imperative infrastructure provisioning or per-host configuration, Spacelift emphasizes orchestration, policy enforcement, and collaboration across entire infrastructure stacks.

Where Puppet primarily manages system configuration and enforces state on individual nodes, Spacelift operates at a higher level of abstraction. It helps teams define, provision, and monitor entire cloud environments using version-controlled code and policy-driven workflows. 

Spacelift is ideal for organizations shifting to cloud-native infrastructure and seeking deeper integration with modern development practices.

Key features of Spacelift

• Native GitOps workflow – Spacelift automatically integrates with Git repositories, triggering infrastructure changes via pull requests and enabling full auditability and version control.
• Policy as code with Open Policy Agent (OPA) – Enforce custom security, compliance, and approval policies using Rego, allowing fine-grained control over who can do what, and under which conditions.
• Context-aware stack management – Manage multiple environments and projects with reusable configurations and automatic context inheritance, enabling dynamic workflows tailored to each environment.
• VCS and IaC tool agnosticism – Supports a wide range of tools, including Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation, and Kubernetes, as well as major version control systems like GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure Repos.
• Drift detection and resource visualization – Continuously monitors for drift between declared and actual infrastructure state, with a visual representation of resources and their dependencies for better oversight.

License/Pricing: Commercial (subscription-based), with a free tier available for small teams and individual users

Website: https://spacelift.io/

Read more: How Spacelift Can Improve Your Infrastructure Orchestration

Pulumi is an IaC platform that enables users to define, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages like TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, and .NET.

Unlike traditional tools like Puppet that rely on domain-specific languages (DSLs) and configuration files, Pulumi integrates infrastructure into general-purpose development workflows, allowing teams to use standard software engineering practices such as testing, package management, and modular design.

When evaluating Puppet alternatives, Pulumi represents a significant shift toward cloud-native and developer-centric infrastructure management. 

While Puppet is primarily designed for system configuration and enforcing desired state across servers, Pulumi focuses on provisioning and managing cloud resources across platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes, treating infrastructure as part of the broader application codebase.

Pulumi could be attractive for engineering teams that want tighter integration between application development and infrastructure provisioning, embracing a more programmable and composable approach.

Key features of Pulumi

• Use real programming languages – Write infrastructure code in general-purpose languages, enabling the use of standard development tools, control structures, and logic.
• Multicloud and Kubernetes support – Manage infrastructure across all major cloud providers and Kubernetes environments with a unified, consistent model.
• State management with Pulumi Service or Self-Hosted – Store and track infrastructure state securely, with options for using Pulumi’s managed backend or your own infrastructure.
• Secrets management – Automatically encrypt and manage sensitive data like API keys and credentials using built-in or third-party secret stores.
• Policy as code with CrossGuard – Define and enforce security, compliance, and governance policies across your stacks using familiar languages and centralized controls.

License/Pricing: Open-source core (Apache 2.0), with commercial offerings available via Pulumi Cloud for teams and enterprises

Website: https://www.pulumi.com/

Read more: What is Pulumi? Key Concepts and Features Overview

Terraform is an IaC tool created by HashiCorp that enables users to define and provision cloud, infrastructure, and platform resources using a declarative configuration language called HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL).

It is widely recognized for introducing the concept of a unified workflow for provisioning across cloud providers, data centers, and SaaS platforms.

In the context of Puppet alternatives, Terraform occupies a distinct space focused on infrastructure provisioning rather than system configuration. 

While Puppet is designed to enforce system state and manage server configurations, Terraform is used primarily to build and change infrastructure resources such as virtual machines, networks, databases, and Kubernetes clusters. Its declarative model allows users to express the desired infrastructure state, with Terraform determining the execution plan to reach that state.

Key features of Terraform

• Declarative IaC – Define infrastructure resources and dependencies in human-readable configuration files that represent the desired end state.
• Provider ecosystem – Leverage hundreds of community and official providers to manage resources across AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, GitHub, and more.
• Execution plans for predictability – Preview proposed infrastructure changes before applying them, reducing risk and improving visibility into operations.
• Resource graphing and dependency management – Automatically builds a dependency graph to determine the correct order of operations, ensuring consistent and safe deployments.
• Modular and reusable code structures – Organize infrastructure using modules to promote code reuse, maintainability, and consistency across teams and environments.

License/Pricing: Business Source License (BSL) as of version 1.6+, with commercial offerings available via TCP and Terraform Enterprise

Website: https://www.hashicorp.com/products/terraform

Read more: How to Automate Terraform Deployments and Infrastructure Provisioning

OpenTofu is a community-driven, open-source IaC tool that allows users to define and provision infrastructure across multiple cloud providers and platforms using declarative configuration files. 

It emerged as a fork of Terraform following HashiCorp’s licensing change in 2023, and is now maintained under the Linux Foundation with a strong commitment to remaining open source.

In contrast to configuration-focused tools like Puppet, OpenTofu is purpose-built for infrastructure provisioning. It enables users to describe the desired state of infrastructure and automates the creation, update, and deletion of resources to match that state. 

While Puppet enforces configurations on running systems, OpenTofu operates at a higher abstraction level, managing cloud infrastructure lifecycles across environments like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes.

OpenTofu has quickly gained traction as a reliable, open alternative for teams seeking transparency, governance, and extensibility in cloud provisioning, especially in regulated or open-source-sensitive environments.

Key features of OpenTofu

• Open governance model – Maintained by the Linux Foundation with contributions from a wide range of stakeholders, ensuring community ownership and long-term transparency.
• Feature parity and continuity – Offers full compatibility with existing Terraform configurations, while introducing improvements such as clearer versioning and faster release cycles.
• Enhanced state management options – Supports backends like AWS S3, GCS, Azure Blob Storage, with client-side state encryption
• Improved testing and validation tools – Integrates seamlessly with static analysis tools, formatting checks, and third-party testing frameworks to catch misconfigurations early.
• Wide provider compatibility – Supports the same extensive ecosystem of providers and modules originally built for Terraform, enabling multi-cloud and hybrid deployments.
  

License/Pricing: Open-source (MPL 2.0)

Website: https://opentofu.org/

Read more: OpenTofu Tutorial – Getting Started, How to Install & Examples

AWS CloudFormation is Amazon Web Services’ native IaC service. It enables users to define and provision AWS resources using JSON or YAML templates.

AWS CloudFormation automates the setup and management of infrastructure by interpreting these templates to create, update, and delete stacks of AWS resources consistently and predictably.

In comparison to Puppet, CloudFormation operates at a higher abstraction level, focusing entirely on orchestrating cloud infrastructure within the AWS ecosystem. 

It does not manage configuration on individual instances in the same way Puppet does but excels at provisioning and maintaining infrastructure components such as EC2 instances, VPCs, databases, and IAM policies.

CloudFormation integrates tightly with other AWS services and supports features like change sets, stack policies, drift detection, and nested stacks, making it especially useful for teams working exclusively within AWS environments.

Key features of CloudFormation

• Template-driven infrastructure management – Define entire environments as code using YAML or JSON, enabling consistent deployments and version control.
• Native AWS integration – Seamlessly connects with virtually every AWS service, with first-party support and documentation maintained by AWS.
• Change sets and rollbacks – Preview proposed infrastructure changes before applying them and automatically roll back changes on failure to protect against misconfigurations.
• Stack management and dependencies – Use nested stacks and resource dependencies to manage complex infrastructure in modular, reusable units.
• Drift detection – Identify and alert when actual infrastructure diverges from what’s defined in templates, supporting infrastructure integrity and auditability.
  

License/Pricing: Free to use (you only pay for the AWS resources provisioned)

Website: https://aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/

Read more: What is AWS CloudFormation? Key Concepts & Tutorial

Attune is an enterprise-grade automation platform developed by ServerTribe, designed specifically for provisioning, configuration management, and orchestration across Linux and Windows systems. 

Unlike traditional tools such as Puppet, which rely heavily on declarative models and domain-specific languages, Attune adopts a more visual and task-sequencing approach to infrastructure automation.

In environments where Puppet’s code-centric configuration management may be overly rigid or require steep learning curves, Attune stands out with its intuitive web interface, drag-and-drop job workflows, and detailed execution tracking. 

It can be well-suited for teams seeking to automate complex infrastructure operations without writing or maintaining large volumes of DSL-based configuration code.

Attune is often used in sectors like finance and government, where audibility, predictability, and strict change control are paramount. It emphasizes controlled execution, parameterization, and human-readable documentation of infrastructure processes.

Key features of Attune

• Visual workflow designer – Build automation sequences using a GUI-based interface, reducing the need for custom scripting and improving clarity for cross-functional teams.
• Multi-OS support – Seamlessly orchestrate tasks across both Linux and Windows environments, supporting hybrid infrastructures out of the box.
• Step-by-step execution control – Execute workflows one step at a time or in full, with rollback and resume capabilities that enhance safety and auditability.
• Versioned procedures and parameters – Maintain strict version control for scripts, variables, and procedures, supporting repeatability and rollback for complex changes.
• Detailed audit logging – Track every action taken across all systems with precise logs, meeting compliance requirements and enabling root cause analysis.
  

License/Pricing: Commercial

Website: https://attuneops.io/ 

Rudder is an open-source configuration management and continuous compliance tool aimed at automating IT infrastructure operations across large-scale, hybrid environments. 

Designed for teams that require both configuration enforcement and detailed reporting, Rudder offers a policy-driven approach similar to Puppet, but with an emphasis on usability, auditability, and out-of-the-box compliance capabilities.

Where Puppet can demand significant upfront setup and familiarity with its domain-specific language, Rudder simplifies adoption through its web-based interface, prebuilt configuration techniques, and agent-based architecture. It is particularly beneficial in enterprise settings where traceability, central governance, and regulatory compliance are priorities. 

Rudder supports both declarative configuration and real-time drift correction, making it well-suited for maintaining consistent system states over time.

It integrates with existing DevOps toolchains while remaining accessible to infrastructure and security teams who may not be full-time developers.

Key features of Rudder

• Built-in web interface for policy management: Create, assign, and monitor configuration policies via an intuitive UI, reducing reliance on custom scripts or manual edits.
• Real-time configuration drift detection – Automatically detect and remediate deviations from defined system states to ensure ongoing compliance.
• Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Assign permissions and controls based on teams, roles, or individual users, supporting multi-team and secure operations.
• Extensive reporting and audit trails – Gain visibility into who changed what, when, and why, meeting internal governance and external compliance standards.
• Hybrid environment support – Manage physical, virtual, and cloud-based infrastructure across Linux and Windows platforms from a single control point.
  

License/Pricing: Open-source (GNU GPL v3), with commercial editions offering enterprise support and enhanced features

Website: https://www.rudder.io/

CFEngine is a lightweight, high-performance configuration management and automation tool that enables administrators to define and enforce system state across large-scale infrastructures. 

As one of the earliest tools in the configuration management space, CFEngine predates Puppet and has evolved to support highly scalable, decentralized environments with minimal resource overhead.

In contrast to Puppet’s client-server model and more recent focus on DevOps workflows, CFEngine prioritizes speed, efficiency, and security through its autonomous agent-based architecture. Each managed node enforces policies independently, reducing central bottlenecks and ensuring high availability. This makes CFEngine particularly effective in environments with thousands of nodes or restricted network access.

Its configuration model, based on a declarative policy language, can be complex for newcomers but offers fine-grained control for advanced users. 

CFEngine also supports compliance monitoring and automated remediation, positioning it as a robust solution for maintaining infrastructure consistency at scale.

Key features of CFEngine

• Autonomous Agents with Minimal Footprint: Each node runs a lightweight agent capable of executing policies without relying on constant communication with a central server.
• Scalable Architecture: Proven ability to manage tens of thousands of nodes efficiently, even in geographically distributed or low-bandwidth environments.
• Security-First Design: Built-in cryptographic authentication and secure communication between nodes and the policy server, enhancing trust and resilience.
• Policy-Driven Configuration Language: Define system states using CFEngine’s DSL, offering detailed control over resources, services, and processes.
• Automated Compliance Enforcement: Continuously checks for and remediates configuration drift, supporting strict compliance and audit requirements.
  

License/Pricing: Open-source (Apache License 2.0) with commercial offerings under CFEngine Enterprise

Website: https://cfengine.com/

PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) is a configuration management platform built for Windows and, more recently, cross-platform environments.

Since DSC v3 (GA March 2025), DSC ships as a stand-alone, open-source CLI that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. It no longer relies on MOF files or requires Windows PowerShell; instead, configurations are authored in PowerShell 7+ or JSON and executed via the dsc command-line tool.

Unlike Puppet, which is cross-platform and heavily rooted in its own DSL, modern DSC targets the Microsoft ecosystem first but is now usable wherever PowerShell Core is available. It supports both push and pull models and integrates with services like Azure Automation or third-party orchestrators.

DSC can be valuable for organizations that are standardized on Windows Server yet expanding to Linux containers, seeking to automate configuration tasks, ensure compliance, and reduce drift without introducing an entirely new tooling ecosystem.

Key features of PowerShell DSC

• Cross-platform, stand-alone CLI (DSC v3) – Install via PowerShell Gallery or package repositories, enabling configuration management on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• Declarative configuration syntax – Define the desired state of a machine using simple, readable PowerShell scripts that are easy to version and reuse.
• Push and pull deployment modes: Apply configurations manually or have systems regularly retrieve them from a centralized pull server, supporting different automation strategies.
• Custom resources and extensibility – Extend functionality with custom DSC resources or leverage existing ones from Microsoft and the PowerShell community.
• Compliance and drift correction – Automatically detect and correct deviations from the defined configuration, helping maintain security and operational consistency.
  

License/Pricing: Free and open-source under the MIT License; distributed separately from Windows and PowerShell Core.

Website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/dsc/overview/

When choosing a configuration management solution, it’s important to align the tool’s strengths with your team’s workflow, infrastructure scale, and compliance needs. 

Some platforms emphasize flexibility and extensibility, while others prioritize ease of use, auditability, or native integration with existing ecosystems. Understanding these trade-offs can help streamline operations, reduce errors, and improve overall system reliability.