Comparison

Ansible vs SaltStack

No clear leader: Ansible (57.5) and SaltStack (55.4) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Ansible full profile →SaltStack full profile →

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Ansible58

SaltStack55

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Ansible	SaltStack
Vioscale score	58 / 100medium · 61%	55 / 100medium · 69%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	-
Modelpricing.model	commercial	-
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	22	-
Security
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	7.5	4.8
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	Count: 67 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=salt&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 2 · Max severity: CRITICAL
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	2,140	428
Github starsadoption.github_stars	70,473	15,637
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	2,699,011	23,112
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	22	47
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	5
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	GPL-3.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Python	Python

Score

Vioscale score

Ansible58 / 100medium · 61%

SaltStack55 / 100medium · 69%

Pricing

Free tier

Ansible✓

SaltStack–

Model

Ansiblecommercial

SaltStack–

Price level

Ansiblelow

SaltStack–

Integrations

Count

Ansible22

SaltStack–

Security

Scorecard

Ansible7.5

SaltStack4.8

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

SaltStackCount: 67 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=salt&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 2 · Max severity: CRITICAL

Adoption

Dependent repos

Ansible2,140

SaltStack428

Github stars

Ansible70,473

SaltStack15,637

Package downloads weekly

Ansible2,699,011

SaltStack23,112

Activity

Commits last 30d

Ansible22

SaltStack47

Release

Cadence days

Ansible–

SaltStack5

History

Ansible20 items

SaltStack20 items

License

Spdx

AnsibleGPL-3.0

SaltStackApache-2.0

Language

Primary

AnsiblePython

SaltStackPython

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	SaltStack
Core
Architecture	-	-
Push / pull model	-	-
Config language	-	-
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-

SaltStack-

Push / pull model

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Config language

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Deployment

Masterless mode

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Hosting

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Correctness

Idempotent

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Model

Desired-state declarative

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Ecosystem

Content registry

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Platform

Windows support

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Scope

Cloud provisioning

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Governance

Policy / compliance

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Commercial

Enterprise edition

Ansible-

SaltStack-

Licensing

Open-source core

Ansible✓

SaltStack✓

What each one is

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

Ansible

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

SaltStack

Not documented yet.

Pricing

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

Ansible

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 ↗

SaltStack

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	SaltStack
CLIPlatforms	✓	-
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	-
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	-

Platforms

CLI

Ansible✓

SaltStack–

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Ansible✓

SaltStack–

Self-hosted

Ansible✓

SaltStack–

Integrations

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

Ansible

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

SaltStack

Not documented yet.

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