# Chef Habitat vs cloud-init

| Attribute | Chef Habitat | cloud-init |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 63.7 (18% (low)) | 50.7 (68% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 24 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 3,793 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Chef Habitat automates the process of building, packaging, and deploying applications in isolated artifacts that can run anywhere. It provides a development studio for defining deployment instructions, packages applications into immutable artifacts, and includes a lightweight supervisor agent to manage deployments across servers, VMs, and containers. | An open-source utility that customizes cloud instances during boot by applying user-provided configuration data, supporting all major cloud providers and Linux distributions. |
| features.capabilities | `{"model":"push","hosting":"both","language":"PowerShell, Bash","idempotent":true,"architecture":"agent","desired_state":true,"masterless_mode":true,"windows_support":true,"content_registry":true,"open_source_core":true,"policy_compliance":true,"cloud_provisioning":true}` | `{"model":"push","hosting":"self","idempotent":true,"architecture":"agentless","desired_state":true,"masterless_mode":true,"windows_support":false,"open_source_core":true,"cloud_provisioning":true}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Azure Container Registry"},{"name":"Amazon Elastic Container Registry"},{"name":"Docker Hub"}]` | - |
| language.primary | - | Python |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"GB","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.habitat.sh","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:39:22.643Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://cloud-init.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T12:43:06.271Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 38 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/26.2","date":"2026-07-29T03:33:43Z","type":"stable","version":"26.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/26.1","date":"2026-02-28T02:05:06Z","type":"stable","version":"26.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.3","date":"2025-09-26T11:33:24Z","type":"stable","version":"25.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.2","date":"2025-08-12T19:05:26Z","type":"stable","version":"25.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.4","date":"2025-08-06T19:27:52Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.3","date":"2025-06-12T20:48:07Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.2","date":"2025-05-01T17:45:51Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1.1","date":"2025-03-24T17:21:47Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/25.1","date":"2025-02-20T21:12:24Z","type":"stable","version":"25.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.4.1","date":"2025-01-15T16:21:06Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.4","date":"2024-11-25T16:33:16Z","type":"stable","version":"24.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.3.1","date":"2024-09-05T17:05:38Z","type":"stable","version":"24.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.3","date":"2024-08-30T22:38:19Z","type":"stable","version":"24.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.2","date":"2024-07-03T15:35:00Z","type":"stable","version":"24.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.7","date":"2024-06-05T16:36:32Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.6","date":"2024-05-24T17:01:37Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.4","date":"2024-04-05T21:48:54Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.3","date":"2024-03-27T13:17:42Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.2","date":"2024-03-21T15:55:41Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/releases/tag/24.1.1","date":"2024-03-12T02:40:29Z","type":"stable","version":"24.1.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.9 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=nixpkgs&package_name=cloud-init&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Configuration Management Tools)

| Capability | Chef Habitat | cloud-init |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Architecture | Agent-based | Agentless / SSH-push |
| Push / pull model | Push | Push |
| Config language | PowerShell, Bash | - |
| **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: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:30:26.700Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*