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Head-to-head · Chaos Engineering Platforms

Chaos Toolkit vs Gremlin

  • Updated Nov 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score Chaos Toolkit #1 in Chaos Engineering Platforms 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Chaos Toolkit
Gremlin #4 in Chaos Engineering Platforms 8.9/10 Pricing on request · 30-day trial Free trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Gremlin

Chaos Toolkit leads on 1 check, Gremlin on 0, and 5 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 scoreChaos Toolkit · 9.3/10
  • Free planonly Chaos Toolkit
  • Free trialonly Gremlin

Chaos Toolkit scores higher on our rubric for chaos engineering platforms: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #4.

Chaos Toolkit offers free plan; Gremlin doesn't. On deployment model, Gremlin gives you Hybrid where Chaos Toolkit offers Self_hosted.

Chaos Toolkit is the better fit for broad, low-cost multi-cloud chaos testing. Gremlin is the better fit for enterprise teams needing deep managed chaos.

  • Chaos Toolkit fits best

    Broad, low-cost multi-cloud chaos testing

  • Gremlin fits best

    Enterprise teams needing deep managed chaos

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 Chaos Toolkit 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Gremlin 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.9
Ranking #1 in Chaos Engineering Platforms #4 in Chaos Engineering Platforms
Best for Broad, low-cost multi-cloud chaos testing Enterprise teams needing deep managed chaos
Pricing model Free Paid
Starting price Free —
Free plan ✓ (best) —
Free trial — 30 days
Deployment Self-hosted, Desktop, Browser extension Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Web, Windows, Linux
Support Docs Email, Phone, Community, Docs
Integrations 12 integrations 12 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Chaos Toolkit 5/5 · Gremlin 5/5
Kubernetes support ✓ ✓
Cloud fault injection ✓ ✓
Network fault injection ✓ ✓
Experiment scheduling ✓ ✓
Blast-radius controls ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Self_hosted Hybrid
Our review
Pros
  • Supports Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud experiments
  • Includes safeguards, controls, rollbacks, and steady-state hypotheses
  • Offers 300+ actions and probes plus custom extensions
  • Controlled experiments across hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and serverless
  • Health checks, automatic halt, rollback, and blast-radius controls
  • Reliability scores, reporting, scenarios, APIs, and broad integrations
Cons
  • The standalone interface is a command-line toolkit
  • Scheduling uses Kubernetes CronJobs or external automation
  • Custom extensions require Python, HTTP, or process providers
  • Paid pricing requires contacting sales
  • There is no free plan
  • Fault Injection is also offered as a standalone product
Our verdict

Chaos Toolkit is an open-source, Python-based toolkit for developers defining and running chaos engineering experiments. Experiments are written in JSON or YAML and executed through a standalone command-line interface. The toolkit covers…

Read the review →

Gremlin is a chaos engineering and reliability platform for SRE, platform, and engineering teams. It supports controlled fault injection across services, hosts, containers, Kubernetes resources, and serverless workloads. Teams can run…

Read the review →
  1. Chaos ToolkitChaos Engineering Platforms 9.3Free plan
  2. GremlinChaos Engineering Platforms 8.9Pricing on request · 30-day trial

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Chaos Toolkit — where it wins

    • Supports Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud experiments
    • Includes safeguards, controls, rollbacks, and steady-state hypotheses
    • Offers 300+ actions and probes plus custom extensions

    Where it doesn't

    • The standalone interface is a command-line toolkit
    • Scheduling uses Kubernetes CronJobs or external automation
    • Custom extensions require Python, HTTP, or process providers
  • Gremlin — where it wins

    • Controlled experiments across hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and serverless
    • Health checks, automatic halt, rollback, and blast-radius controls
    • Reliability scores, reporting, scenarios, APIs, and broad integrations

    Where it doesn't

    • Paid pricing requires contacting sales
    • There is no free plan
    • Fault Injection is also offered as a standalone product
  • Chaos Toolkit9.3/10 · Free plan

    Broad, low-cost multi-cloud chaos testing with declarative experiments and safeguards.

    Visit Chaos ToolkitFull verdict →
  • Gremlin8.9/10 · Pricing on request · 30-day trial

    A broad managed chaos platform for controlled failure testing across modern infrastructure.

    Visit GremlinFull verdict →

Chaos Toolkit vs Gremlin: questions

Which is better for chaos engineering platforms, Chaos Toolkit or Gremlin?

Chaos Toolkit scores higher on our rubric for chaos engineering platforms: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #4.

How do Chaos Toolkit and Gremlin compare?

Of the 6 checks we put side by side, Chaos Toolkit leads on 1, Gremlin on none, and 5 are level. Free plan only on Chaos Toolkit.

Do Chaos Toolkit and Gremlin have a free plan?

Chaos Toolkit: Yes. Gremlin: No.

More comparisons

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Nov 2026

Last updated · How we research and update