vioscale
Comparison

Puppet vs Salt

On the evidence we track, Salt leads this comparison with a composite score of 57/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Puppet full profile →Salt full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Puppet47
★Salt57
Score
Vioscale score
Puppet47 / 100medium · 58%
Salt57 / 100high · 78%
Pricing
Free tier
Puppet✓
Salt✓
Model
Price level
Puppetlow
Saltfree
Transparent
Puppet✗
Salt✓
Integrations
Count
Puppet13
Salt1
Security
Scorecard
Puppet3.5
Salt4.8
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Puppet–
Salt✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Puppet12,289
Salt428
Github stars
Puppet7,922
Salt15,637
Package downloads weekly
Puppet–
Salt23,765
Activity
Commits last 30d
Puppet0
Salt47
Release
Cadence days
Puppet–
Salt5
History
License
Spdx
Language
Primary
PuppetRuby
SaltPython
Market
Availability
PuppetAvailable worldwide
Salt–

Capabilities

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

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

What each one is

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

Puppet

Infrastructure automation tool that maintains consistent configurations across on-premises, hybrid, cloud, and edge environments through continuous enforcement of desired state. Automatically detects and corrects configuration drift, enforces compliance policies, and generates audit-ready documentation.

Independently observed

Salt

Leader

An open-source framework that allows teams to automate and manage thousands of systems from a central control plane. It provides remote command execution, configuration management, and infrastructure orchestration capabilities through a master-minion agent architecture.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Puppet

HybridFree tier

Free tier for <25 nodes; custom pricing for larger deployments

  • CoreFree
    • Stable, secure, vendor-supported builds
    • Hardened binaries and packages
    • Vendor-backed SLAs
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Web-based console interface
    • Role-based access control
    • Infrastructure management across cloud and on-premises
    • CI/CD pipeline tooling
    • ServiceNow integration
  • AdvancedContact sales
    • AI-powered infrastructure insights
    • Event-driven workflows
    • Automated vulnerability remediation
    • Priority support
    • Security baseline enforcement
as of verify ↗

Salt

Leader
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
Web
Puppet✓
Salt✗
macOS
Puppet✓
Salt✓
Windows
Puppet✓
Salt✓
Linux
Puppet✓
Salt✓
CLI
Puppet✓
Salt✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Puppet✓
Salt✓
Self-hosted
Puppet✓
Salt✓
On-premise
Puppet✓
Salt✗
Hybrid
Puppet✓
Salt✗
Air-gapped
Puppet✓
Salt✗

Integrations

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

Puppet

13 total
  • ServiceNow
  • VMware
  • Argo CD
  • Jenkins
  • Dynatrace
  • Datadog
  • New Relic
  • Splunk
  • Grafana
  • Prometheus
  • Tenable Nessus
  • CIS Benchmarks
  • DISA STIG
Independently observed

Salt

Leader
1 total
  • Bitnami
Independently observed

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