Puppet
Puppet: A mature hybrid automation platform with strong drift, patching, and compliance controls. Ranked #1 of 26 in Configuration Management Tools by our editors (9.3/10); pricing: Free plan; best for mature enterprises needing broad hybrid automation.
At a glance
- Editor score9.3 / 10
- PricingFree plan
- Best forMature enterprises needing broad hybrid automation
- Free planYes
- Deployment modelSelf_hosted
- Founded2005
- Facts checked22 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Desired-state enforcement with automatic drift detection and remediation
- Patch management, vulnerability remediation, and compliance enforcement
- Agent-based and agentless automation across major infrastructure platforms
Where it doesn't
- Commercial plans use custom pricing and may require sales contact
- The free Puppet Core Developer plan is limited to fewer than 25 nodes
- Its broad enterprise feature set may exceed narrow configuration needs
Our verdict on Puppet
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 capabilities include desired-state enforcement, configuration drift detection and automatic remediation, patch scanning and deployment, vulnerability remediation, compliance enforcement, policy as code, role-based access control, self-service tasks and plans, and event-driven automation. Puppet supports Linux, Windows, and macOS, with broader published platform coverage including AIX, Solaris, Ubuntu, and several enterprise Linux distributions.
Pricing is structured around Puppet Core and Puppet Enterprise offerings. Puppet Core Developer is free for fewer than 25 nodes. Puppet Core Commercial is listed with custom pricing for 25 or more nodes. Puppet Enterprise and Puppet Enterprise Advanced also use custom pricing and contact-sales options. Enterprise adds a web-based GUI and RBAC, while Enterprise Advanced adds advanced compliance, reporting, AI, and vulnerability remediation. The published plans make Puppet Core the clearest fit for smaller deployments, while larger environments should evaluate commercial scope and pricing directly with the vendor.
Puppet fits teams that need configuration control connected to cloud, virtualization, CI/CD, observability, security, and container ecosystems. Published integrations include AWS, VMware, Jenkins, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk, Datadog, New Relic, GitHub, Kubernetes, Red Hat, Argo CD, and GitLab. It also supports both agent-based and agentless automation, open-source Puppet editions, CIS Benchmarks, DISA STIG compliance enforcement, and human-readable policy as code. Choose Puppet for broad hybrid governance and remediation; a narrower tool may be more suitable when only basic configuration automation is required.
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Puppet pricing
All 4 Puppet plans and prices →
Puppet fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Not verified |
| Deployment model | Self_hosted |
| Agent model | Both |
| Drift detection | Yes |
| Patch management | Yes |
| Policy as code | Yes |
| Compliance reporting | Yes |
| 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 |
| Deployment | Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Support | Docs |
| Built for | Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 11 integrations: ServiceNow, VMware, Argo CD, Jenkins, Dynatrace, Datadog … See all → |
| Pricing | Free plan (source) |
| Website | puppet.com |
| Facts checked | 22 Sep 2026 |
Puppet integrations
Puppet lists 11 integrations on its own site.
- ServiceNow
- VMware
- Argo CD
- Jenkins
- Dynatrace
- Datadog
- New Relic
- CIS Benchmarks
- Tenable Nessus
- DISA STIG
- Splunk
Alternatives to Puppet
- AWS Systems Manager State ManagerA free AWS service for scheduled configuration, drift management, patching, and compliance reporting.9.1
- Google Cloud VM ManagerA focused Google Cloud tool for patching, policy enforcement, and VM compliance.9.0
- OpenText Server AutomationA broad platform for provisioning, patching, compliance, and remediation across heterogeneous servers.8.8
Puppet vs the competition
- Puppet vs AWS Systems Manager State Manager
- Puppet vs Google Cloud VM Manager
- Puppet vs OpenText Server Automation
- Puppet vs Rudder
- Puppet vs Salt
- Puppet vs Uyuni
Compare Puppet with any tool side by side →
Also Ranked In
Puppet is ranked in 8 of our directories; the 6 strongest besides Configuration Management Tools.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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