Puppet vs SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager)

Puppet9.4Visit SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager)8.8Visit

Higher score Puppet #1 in IT Automation Software 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 3 features Visit Puppet

vs

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager) #7 in IT Automation Software 8.8/10 Pricing on request ✓ 0 of 3 features Visit SUSE

• Puppet fits best

  Infrastructure configuration and policy-as-code automation

• SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager) fits best

  Enterprise Linux lifecycle governance

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Side by side

Feature	Puppet 9.4/10 Visit ↗	SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager) 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.8
Ranking	#1 in IT Automation Software	#7 in IT Automation Software
Best for	Infrastructure configuration and policy-as-code automation	Enterprise Linux lifecycle governance
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Web, Linux
Support	Docs	Docs
Integrations	11 integrations	6 integrations
Built for	Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Puppet 1/3 · SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager) 0/3
Patch management	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Configuration management	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Remediation automation	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment model	Self_hosted	Hybrid
Included endpoints	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Supported platforms	Debian, Fedora, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Amazon Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux, Ubuntu	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Enforces desired state and automatically remediates configuration drift Combines patching, vulnerability remediation, and compliance enforcement Supports agent-based and agentless automation across Linux, Windows, and macOS	Covers provisioning, patching, monitoring, auditing, and compliance in one platform Supports Salt, Ansible, OpenSCAP, OVAL, Prometheus, and Grafana Offers agentless Salt SSH management plus REST/API automation
Cons	Commercial plans use custom pricing rather than published rates Advanced capabilities require higher-tier Puppet Enterprise plans Its broad scope may exceed the needs of smaller automation projects	No free plan is offered Subscription pricing requires contacting sales Listed subscriptions target X86-64 environments
Our verdict	Puppet is an infrastructure automation and configuration management platform for platform, infrastructure, and DevOps teams. It manages configurations across on-premises, cloud, hybrid, server, network, and edge environments. Its core… Read the review →	SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, formerly SUSE Manager, is an open-source infrastructure management platform for enterprise IT and DevOps teams. It centralizes administration across mixed Linux environments, covering provisioning, client… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Puppet — where it wins

  • Enforces desired state and automatically remediates configuration drift
  • Combines patching, vulnerability remediation, and compliance enforcement
  • Supports agent-based and agentless automation across Linux, Windows, and macOS

  Where it doesn't

  • Commercial plans use custom pricing rather than published rates
  • Advanced capabilities require higher-tier Puppet Enterprise plans
  • Its broad scope may exceed the needs of smaller automation projects

• SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager) — where it wins

  • Covers provisioning, patching, monitoring, auditing, and compliance in one platform
  • Supports Salt, Ansible, OpenSCAP, OVAL, Prometheus, and Grafana
  • Offers agentless Salt SSH management plus REST/API automation

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is offered
  • Subscription pricing requires contacting sales
  • Listed subscriptions target X86-64 environments

• Puppet9.4/10 · Free plan

  Puppet combines policy-as-code, drift remediation, patching, and compliance across hybrid infrastructure.

  Visit PuppetFull verdict →
• SUSE Multi-Linux Manager (formerly SUSE Manager)8.8/10 · Pricing on request

  A broad open-source platform for governing mixed Linux environments across enterprise infrastructure.

  Visit SUSEFull verdict →