# Puppet Bolt vs SaltStack

| Attribute | Puppet Bolt | SaltStack |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 53.9 (71% (medium)) | 56.7 (72% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 15,715 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 31,513 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Puppet Bolt supports Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.puppet.com/community/open-source/bolt","question":"What platforms does Puppet Bolt support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Puppet Bolt 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.puppet.com/community/open-source/bolt","question":"Can Puppet Bolt be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 11 integrations for Puppet Bolt, including ServiceNow, VMware, Argo CD, Jenkins, Dynatrace, Datadog, New Relic and CIS Benchmarks, plus 3 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.puppet.com/community/open-source/bolt","question":"What does Puppet Bolt integrate with?","confidence":0.6}]` | - |
| deployment.options | `{"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A framework for managing infrastructure resources by specifying desired states through modules and code, supporting multiple operating systems. | An event-driven framework for automating the deployment, configuration, and management of IT infrastructure, designed to maintain consistent system state across distributed environments. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","desired_state":true,"windows_support":true,"open_source_core":true,"policy_compliance":true,"cloud_provisioning":true,"enterprise_edition":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","idempotent":true,"desired_state":true,"windows_support":true,"open_source_core":true}` |
| integrations.count | 11 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"ServiceNow"},{"name":"VMware"},{"name":"Argo CD"},{"name":"Jenkins"},{"name":"Dynatrace"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"New Relic"},{"name":"CIS Benchmarks"},{"name":"Tenable Nessus"},{"name":"DISA STIG"},{"name":"Splunk"}]` | - |
| language.primary | - | Python |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | - | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.saltstack.com","retrievedAt":"2026-10-15T09:25:09.662Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | - | free |
| release.cadence_days | - | 6 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.3","date":"2026-09-30T21:19:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3007.15","date":"2026-09-30T21:12:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v3007.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.28","date":"2026-09-30T20:55:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.1-2","date":"2026-07-26T01:32:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.1-2"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.1-1","date":"2026-07-23T19:43:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.1-1"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.2","date":"2026-07-01T19:37:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.27","date":"2026-07-01T18:54:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.26","date":"2026-06-24T17:16:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.1","date":"2026-06-11T14:41:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.0","date":"2026-05-27T10:36:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.0rc4","date":"2026-05-15T17:27:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.0rc4"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.0rc3","date":"2026-05-13T16:48:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.0rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.25","date":"2026-05-13T16:42:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.0rc2","date":"2026-05-06T18:22:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.0rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3007.14","date":"2026-04-29T18:00:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3007.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3008.0rc1","date":"2026-04-23T23:59:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3008.0rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.24","date":"2026-04-23T22:26:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.23","date":"2026-02-23T21:17:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3006.22","date":"2026-02-22T02:37:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v3006.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases/tag/v3007.13","date":"2026-02-12T23:09:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v3007.13"}]` |
| security.scorecard | - | 4.8 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=alpine&package_name=salt-syndic&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Configuration Management Tools)

| Capability | Puppet Bolt | SaltStack |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Architecture | - | - |
| Push / pull model | - | - |
| Config language | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Masterless mode | - | - |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| **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 2026-10-16T20:12:34.367Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*