# BOSH vs Chef Infra

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** BOSH

| Attribute | BOSH | Chef Infra |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 61.9 (78% (high)) | 56.4 (74% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 77 | 44 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 131 | 10,030 |
| adoption.github_stars | 2,080 | 8,252 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A tool chain for automating the release engineering, deployment, and ongoing management of complex distributed services. It supports multiple cloud platforms and can manage itself through self-hosting. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What is BOSH?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"BOSH is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"Is BOSH free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"BOSH supports Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What platforms does BOSH support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. BOSH can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"Can BOSH be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 7 integrations for BOSH, including UAA, CredHub, OpenStack, vCloud, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Storage. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://bosh.io/","question":"What does BOSH integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. BOSH is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh","question":"Is BOSH open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A DevOps automation solution for defining and managing infrastructure configurations, enforcing compliance standards, and automating remediation across cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and air-gapped environments. Provides continuous compliance auditing, policy enforcement, and workflow orchestration. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.","source":"https://www.chef.io/blog/chefconf-early-bird-pricing-extended-to-wednesday-april-4th","question":"What is Chef Infra?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Chef Infra is a paid product; published pricing starts at $59 per node per year. It is sold across 3 plans (Business, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus). There is no free tier. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.chef.io","question":"How much does Chef Infra cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Chef Infra supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.chef.io/blog/chefconf-early-bird-pricing-extended-to-wednesday-april-4th","question":"What platforms does Chef Infra support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Chef Infra can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise, air-gapped and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.chef.io/blog/chefconf-early-bird-pricing-extended-to-wednesday-april-4th","question":"Can Chef Infra be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 6 integrations for Chef Infra, including Google Compute Engine, GitHub, Jenkins, AWS, Azure and GCP. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.chef.io/blog/chefconf-early-bird-pricing-extended-to-wednesday-april-4th","question":"What does Chef Infra integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Chef Infra. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Chef Infra not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.chef.io/security","question":"What security certifications does Chef Infra have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Chef Infra is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/chef/chef","question":"Is Chef Infra open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"Chef Infra is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://www.chef.io","question":"Where is Chef Infra available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A complete toolchain for deploying, managing, and monitoring large-scale distributed services across multiple cloud platforms and infrastructure providers. | Chef Infra enables teams to define infrastructure and software configurations as code, automating deployment and management across any environment at scale. |
| features.capabilities | `{"model":"push","hosting":"self","language":"YAML","idempotent":true,"architecture":"declarative_os","desired_state":true,"masterless_mode":false,"windows_support":true,"content_registry":true,"open_source_core":true,"policy_compliance":false,"cloud_provisioning":true,"enterprise_edition":false}` | `{"model":"pull","hosting":"both","language":"Ruby","idempotent":true,"architecture":"agent","desired_state":true,"windows_support":true,"content_registry":true,"open_source_core":true,"policy_compliance":true,"cloud_provisioning":true,"enterprise_edition":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"UAA"},{"name":"CredHub"},{"name":"OpenStack"},{"name":"vCloud"},{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Azure Storage"}]` | `[{"name":"Google Compute Engine"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Jenkins"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"GCP"}]` |
| language.primary | Ruby | Ruby |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://bosh.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T22:36:19.220Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"$59/node/year","features":["Node Management","Job Orchestration","Configuration Management","Desktop Management","Compliance Audit","Unlimited User Seats","Unlimited Org Units","30 Days Data Retention","Standard Support","99.9% Uptime SLA"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"node","amount":59,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Suitable for organisations that need to automate and orchestrate infrastructure management jobs critical to business success.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"concurrent_jobs":"10","monthly_job_runs_per_node":"10"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"$189/node/year","features":["Node Management","Job Orchestration","Configuration Management","Desktop Management","Compliance Audit","Continuous Compliance","Cloud Security Posture Management","Application Delivery","Unlimited User Seats","Unlimited Org Units","30 Days Data Retention","Standard Support","99.9% Uptime SLA"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"node","amount":189,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For organizations tasked with maturing DevOps automation, orchestration and auditing for their entire organization.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"concurrent_jobs":"10","monthly_job_runs_per_node":"10"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Plus","summary":"Custom pricing, contact sales","features":["Node Management","Job Orchestration","Configuration Management","Desktop Management","Compliance Audit","Continuous Compliance","Cloud Security Posture Management","Application Delivery","Unlimited User Seats","Unlimited Org Units","Up to 60 Days Data Retention","Premium Support","99.9% Uptime SLA","Optional Dedicated Instance"],"description":"For security-focused organizations aiming to extend DevOps automation to address security and compliance requirements.","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"concurrent_jobs":"50","monthly_job_runs_per_node":"10"}}],"summary":"From $59/node/year annual billing. No free tier.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://www.chef.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:05:19.898Z","startingPrice":{"amount":59,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | no | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 233 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.13","date":"2026-10-10T17:12:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.12","date":"2026-10-09T06:08:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.11","date":"2026-09-19T19:30:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.10","date":"2026-09-15T23:50:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.9","date":"2026-09-15T11:41:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.8","date":"2026-09-02T20:59:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.7","date":"2026-08-29T18:39:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.6","date":"2026-08-20T03:50:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.5","date":"2026-08-18T00:55:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.4","date":"2026-08-13T12:05:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.3","date":"2026-08-01T16:43:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.2","date":"2026-07-24T08:38:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.1","date":"2026-07-17T05:30:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.1.0","date":"2026-07-13T17:49:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v283.0.0","date":"2026-07-09T21:32:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v283.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.17","date":"2026-06-26T01:19:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.16","date":"2026-06-18T05:49:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.15","date":"2026-06-11T15:05:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.14","date":"2026-06-04T23:55:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bosh/releases/tag/v282.1.13","date":"2026-05-26T08:57:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v282.1.13"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/chef/chef/releases/tag/v15.8.23","date":"2020-02-20T06:51:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v15.8.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/chef/chef/releases/tag/15.1.36","date":"2019-07-01T23:16:15Z","type":"prerelease","version":"15.1.36"},{"url":"https://github.com/chef/chef/releases/tag/11.18.14","date":"2015-07-09T13:15:27Z","type":"stable","version":"11.18.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/chef/chef/releases/tag/12.3.0","date":"2015-04-27T19:51:58Z","type":"stable","version":"12.3.0"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.9 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.2 | 3.2 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=rubygems&package_name=bosh-template&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=rubygems&package_name=chef&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` |

## Capabilities (Configuration Management Tools)

| Capability | BOSH | Chef Infra |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Architecture | Declarative-OS | Agent-based |
| Push / pull model | Push | Pull |
| Config language | YAML | Ruby |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Masterless mode | ✗ | - |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **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 | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:56:25.811Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*