Comparison

BOSH vs Salt

On the evidence we track, BOSH leads this comparison with a composite score of 62/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★BOSH62
Salt53
Score
vioscaleAI score
BOSH62 / 100high · 78%
Salt53 / 100high · 76%
Pricing
Free tier
BOSH✗
Salt✓
Price level
BOSHfree
Saltfree
Transparent
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Integrations
Count
BOSH5
Salt1
Reliability
Status page
BOSH–
Salt✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
BOSH131
Salt0
Github stars
BOSH2,080
Salt15,714
Package downloads weekly
BOSH–
Salt29,742
Activity
Commits last 30d
BOSH77
Salt100
Release
Cadence days
BOSH6
Salt6
History
License
Language
Primary
BOSHRuby
SaltPython
Market
Availability
Content
Faq

Capabilities

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

Core
Architecture
BOSHDeclarative-OS
SaltAgent-based
Push / pull model
BOSHPush
SaltPull
Config language
BOSHYAML
Salt-
Deployment
Masterless mode
BOSH✗
Salt-
Hosting
BOSHSelf-hosted only
SaltSelf-hosted only
Correctness
Idempotent
BOSH✓
Salt-
Model
Desired-state declarative
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Ecosystem
Content registry
BOSH✓
Salt-
Platform
Windows support
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Scope
Cloud provisioning
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Governance
Policy / compliance
BOSH✗
Salt-
Commercial
Enterprise edition
BOSH✗
Salt✗
Licensing
Open-source core
BOSH✓
Salt✓

What each one is

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

BOSH

Leader

A complete toolchain for deploying, managing, and monitoring large-scale distributed services across multiple cloud platforms and infrastructure providers.

Independently observed

Salt

A Python-based automation tool and framework designed to deploy, configure, and manage complex IT infrastructure systems, supporting multiple operating systems and maintaining consistent desired state across infrastructure components.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

BOSH

Leader
Open source

Free and open source

as of verify ↗

Salt

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
macOS
BOSH✗
Salt✓
Windows
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Linux
BOSH✓
Salt✓
CLI
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
BOSH✓
Salt✓
Self-hosted
BOSH✓
Salt✓

Integrations

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

BOSH

Leader
7 total
  • UAA
  • CredHub
  • OpenStack
  • vCloud
  • Amazon S3
  • Google Cloud Storage
  • Azure Storage
Independently observed

Salt

1 total
  • Bitnami
Independently observed
Still deciding?

BOSH or Salt: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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