What is Ansible?

Ansible is an open source IT automation engine that automates provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and many other IT processes. It is free to use, and the project benefits from the experience and intelligence of its thousands of contributors.

Independently observed

Ansible pricing

Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.

Pricing as of verify at live pricing ↗Independently observed
HybridFree tier

Free open-source version or paid enterprise platform

Ansible (Open Source)

Free
Free

Free open-source project

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Contact sales
Contact sales

Enterprise platform with security hardening and support

What Ansible does

The capabilities that matter for configuration management tools, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.

Core
Architecture
-
Push / pull model
-
Config language
-
Deployment
Masterless mode
-
Hosting
-
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
Independently observed

Platform & deployment

Independently observed
Platforms
  • CLI
Deployment
  • Cloud / SaaS
  • Self-hosted

Integrations (22)

Independently observed
  • Terraform
  • VMware
  • ServiceNow
  • AWS
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Cisco
  • Juniper
  • F5
  • HPE
  • Dell Technologies
  • NetApp
  • SAP
  • Pure
  • Palo Alto Networks
  • CyberArk
  • HashiCorp Vault
  • Splunk
  • Dynatrace
  • Infoblox
  • Aruba
  • Windows

Security & compliance

Known vulnerabilities: 7 (1 in the last 12 months), max severity HIGH sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality

Ansible FAQ

Common questions about Ansible, answered from independent, dated evidence.

What is Ansible?

Ansible is an open source IT automation engine that automates provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and many other IT processes. It is free to use, and the project benefits from the experience and intelligence of its thousands of contributors. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.

Source: https://www.ansible.com

Is Ansible free to use?

Ansible is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the GPL-3.0 licence. Paid editions are also offered: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, priced on request. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.

Source: https://www.ansible.com

What platforms does Ansible support?

Ansible supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.

Source: https://www.ansible.com

Can Ansible be self-hosted?

Yes. Ansible can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.

Source: https://www.ansible.com

What does Ansible integrate with?

We have confirmed 22 integrations for Ansible, including Terraform, VMware, ServiceNow, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Cisco and Juniper, plus 14 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.

Source: https://www.ansible.com

Is Ansible open source?

Yes. Ansible is published under the GPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.

Source: https://github.com/ansible/ansible

Ansible alternatives

Other configuration management tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.

All Ansible alternatives, ranked →

Compare Ansible

Side by side against other configuration management tools, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.

Independent · unbought · dated

The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence

Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Ansible, not the verdict.

Balanced composite 58 / 100
medium · 67%
Signal contributions to the composite score
SignalScoreWeightContributionEvidence
Package downloads840.1714.5
Development activity400.124.7
Dependent projects560.084.4
Security score750.054.0
Stars920.033.0
Capabilities290.082.4
Integrations390.052.1
Release cadence00.070.0-
Security posture00.090.0-
Developer Q&A activity00.080.0-

Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.

All data & sourcesshow ↓

Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.

Activity

AttributeValueEvidence
Commits last 30d17mediumsource · 2026-09-07 · 65%

Adoption

AttributeValueEvidence
Github stars70,607highsource · 2026-09-07 · 90%
Package downloads weekly2,699,011highsource · 2026-08-26 · 85%
Dependent repos2,140highsource · 2026-09-07 · 85%

Content

AttributeValueEvidence
Faq6 itemsmediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 66%

Features

AttributeValueEvidence
CapabilitiesOpen source coremediumsource · 2026-08-14 · 60%

Integrations

AttributeValueEvidence
Count22mediumsource · 2026-08-05 · 60%

Language

AttributeValueEvidence
PrimaryPythonhighsource · 2026-09-07 · 90%

License

AttributeValueEvidence
SpdxGPL-3.0highsource · 2026-09-07 · 95%

Pricing

AttributeValueEvidence
Free tierYesmediumsource · 2026-08-05 · 60%
Modelcommerciallowsource · 2026-09-07 · 40%
Price levellowmediumsource · 2026-08-05 · 60%

Release

AttributeValueEvidence
History20 itemsmediumsource · 2026-09-07 · 70%

Security

AttributeValueEvidence
Scorecard7.5highsource · 2026-09-07 · 90%
VulnerabilitiesCount: 7 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=ansible-core&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 1 · Max severity: HIGHhighsource · 2026-08-26 · 90%
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