Comparison

Ansible vs PowerShell DSC

On the evidence we track, Ansible leads this comparison with a composite score of 58/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Ansible full profile →PowerShell DSC full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

★Ansible58

PowerShell DSC40

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AnsibleLeader	PowerShell DSC
Vioscale score	58 / 100medium · 61%	40 / 100low · 35%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	-
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	22	-
Security
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	7.5	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 7 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=ansible-core&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 1 · Max severity: HIGH	-
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	2,140	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	70,473	57
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	2,699,011	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	22	1
Release
Historyrelease.history	20 items	-
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	GPL-3.0	CC-BY-4.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Python	PowerShell

Score

Vioscale score

Ansible58 / 100medium · 61%

PowerShell DSC40 / 100low · 35%

Pricing

Free tier

Ansible✓

PowerShell DSC–

Model

Ansiblecommercial

PowerShell DSCcommercial

Price level

Ansiblelow

PowerShell DSC–

Integrations

Count

Ansible22

PowerShell DSC–

Security

Scorecard

Ansible7.5

PowerShell DSC–

Vulnerabilities

AnsibleCount: 7 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=ansible-core&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 1 · Max severity: HIGH

PowerShell DSC–

Reliability

Status page

Ansible–

PowerShell DSC✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Ansible2,140

PowerShell DSC–

Github stars

Ansible70,473

PowerShell DSC57

Package downloads weekly

Ansible2,699,011

PowerShell DSC–

Activity

Commits last 30d

Ansible22

PowerShell DSC1

Release

History

Ansible20 items

PowerShell DSC–

License

Spdx

AnsibleGPL-3.0

PowerShell DSCCC-BY-4.0

Language

Primary

AnsiblePython

PowerShell DSCPowerShell

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for configuration management tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Configuration Management Tools
Capability	Ansible	PowerShell DSC
Core
Architecture	-	Agentless / SSH-push
Push / pull model	-	Push
Config language	-	JSON, YAML
Deployment
Masterless mode	-	-
Hosting	-	-
Correctness
Idempotent	-	✓
Model
Desired-state declarative	-	✓
Ecosystem
Content registry	-	-
Platform
Windows support	-	✓
Scope
Cloud provisioning	-	-
Governance
Policy / compliance	-	✓
Commercial
Enterprise edition	-	-
Licensing
Open-source core	✓	✓

Core

Architecture

Ansible-

PowerShell DSCAgentless / SSH-push

Push / pull model

Ansible-

PowerShell DSCPush

Config language

Ansible-

PowerShell DSCJSON, YAML

Deployment

Masterless mode

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC-

Hosting

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC-

Correctness

Idempotent

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC✓

Model

Desired-state declarative

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC✓

Ecosystem

Content registry

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC-

Platform

Windows support

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC✓

Scope

Cloud provisioning

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC-

Governance

Policy / compliance

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC✓

Commercial

Enterprise edition

Ansible-

PowerShell DSC-

Licensing

Open-source core

Ansible✓

PowerShell DSC✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Ansible

Leader

Ansible is an open source IT automation engine that automates provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and many other IT processes. It is free to use, and the project benefits from the experience and intelligence of its thousands of contributors.

Independently observed

PowerShell DSC

A declarative configuration platform where you describe desired system state in JSON or YAML, then validate and enforce it across machines. Resources handle the actual configuration work and can be written in any language.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Ansible

Leader

HybridFree tier

Free open-source version or paid enterprise platform

Ansible (Open Source)Free
Red Hat Ansible Automation PlatformContact sales

as of 2026-08-05verify ↗

PowerShell DSC

Pricing not documented yet.

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Ansible	PowerShell DSC
macOSPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	-
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	-

Platforms

macOS

Ansible✗

PowerShell DSC✓

Windows

Ansible✗

PowerShell DSC✓

Linux

Ansible✗

PowerShell DSC✓

CLI

Ansible✓

PowerShell DSC✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Ansible✓

PowerShell DSC–

Self-hosted

Ansible✓

PowerShell DSC–

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Ansible

Leader

22 total

Terraform
VMware
ServiceNow
AWS
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud Platform
Cisco
Juniper
F5
HPE
Dell Technologies
NetApp
SAP
Pure
Palo Alto Networks
CyberArk
HashiCorp Vault
Splunk
Dynatrace
Infoblox
Aruba
Windows

Independently observed

PowerShell DSC

Not documented yet.

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.