Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools

Azure Policy vs Open Policy Agent

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score Azure Policy #2 in Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Azure Policy
Open Policy Agent #3 in Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools 9.1/10 Open source ✓ 5 of 5 features Visit site

Azure Policy leads on 0 checks, Open Policy Agent on 0, and 6 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreAzure Policy · 9.3/10
  • Free planonly Azure Policy

Azure Policy scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure policy as code tools: 9.3 against 9.1 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #3.

Azure Policy is the better fit for azure governance teams. Open Policy Agent is the better fit for teams building policy platforms.

  • Azure Policy fits best

    Azure governance teams

  • Open Policy Agent fits best

    Teams building policy platforms

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Azure Policy 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Open Policy Agent 9.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 9.1
Ranking #2 in Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools #3 in Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools
Best for Azure governance teams Teams building policy platforms
Pricing model Free Free
Starting price Free plan Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Self-hosted
Support Docs, Community, Tickets Community, Docs
Integrations 9 integrations 5 integrations
Built for Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Azure Policy 5/5 · Open Policy Agent 5/5
Policy testing ✓ ✓
Admission control ✓ ✓
Runtime enforcement ✓ ✓
CI/CD integration ✓ ✓
Policy reporting ✓ ✓
Specs
Policy language JSON Rego
IaC formats ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform Terraform plan JSON, JSON, YAML
Our review
Pros
  • Free policy definitions, initiatives, assignments, and compliance reporting
  • Enforces deny, audit, modify, deployIfNotExists, and remediation effects
  • Supports Terraform, ARM, Bicep, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and CI/CD validation
  • Rego supports declarative policy authoring and reusable rules
  • Covers Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, APIs, and Go integrations
  • Includes testing, decision logging, and policy/data bundle loading
Cons
  • Focused on Azure resource governance rather than broad multi-cloud policy
  • Policy definitions use JSON, which may require governance-specific expertise
  • Related Azure resources and services may incur separate charges
  • Requires teams to author policies in the Rego language
  • The supplied platform coverage is primarily API-based
  • Open-source delivery does not include paid hosted plans
Our verdict

Azure Policy is Microsoft’s governance service for defining, assigning, and evaluating rules against Azure resources. It suits teams that need centralized control over compliance across management groups, subscriptions, resource groups,…

Read the review →

Open Policy Agent (OPA) is an open-source, general-purpose policy engine that separates policy decisions from application logic. It is designed for teams building policy platforms across microservices, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, API…

Read the review →
  1. Azure PolicyInfrastructure Policy as Code Tools 9.3Free plan
  2. Open Policy AgentInfrastructure Policy as Code Tools 9.1Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Azure Policy — where it wins

    • Free policy definitions, initiatives, assignments, and compliance reporting
    • Enforces deny, audit, modify, deployIfNotExists, and remediation effects
    • Supports Terraform, ARM, Bicep, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and CI/CD validation

    Where it doesn't

    • Focused on Azure resource governance rather than broad multi-cloud policy
    • Policy definitions use JSON, which may require governance-specific expertise
    • Related Azure resources and services may incur separate charges

  • Open Policy Agent — where it wins

    • Rego supports declarative policy authoring and reusable rules
    • Covers Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, APIs, and Go integrations
    • Includes testing, decision logging, and policy/data bundle loading

    Where it doesn't

    • Requires teams to author policies in the Rego language
    • The supplied platform coverage is primarily API-based
    • Open-source delivery does not include paid hosted plans

More comparisons

All infrastructure policy as code tools comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update