CFEngine
Automated infrastructure and configuration management
- Also known as
- cfengine
Available worldwide
What is CFEngine?
Enables automated infrastructure management at scale by deploying policy-enforcing agents across computer systems to maintain desired configuration state.
CFEngine 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.
Free open-source community edition or commercial enterprise edition
Community Edition
FreeOpen source under GPL v3, runs on Linux
- GitHub source access
- Community support
Enterprise Edition
Contact salesCommercial license, runs on Windows and Linux
- Inventory & compliance reports
- Web UI (Mission Portal)
- APIs
- Alerts & dashboards
- Enhanced platform support
What CFEngine 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.
- Architecture
- Agent-based
- Push / pull model
- Both
- Config language
- CFEngine policy language
- Masterless mode
- -
- Hosting
- Cloud + self-hosted
- Idempotent
- ✓
- Desired-state declarative
- ✓
- Content registry
- ✓
- Windows support
- ✓
- Cloud provisioning
- -
- Policy / compliance
- ✓
- Enterprise edition
- ✓
- Open-source core
- ✓
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- Linux
- Windows
- Self-hosted
Integrations (2)
Independently observed- Git
- Docker
Security & compliance
Known vulnerabilities: 0 (0 in the last 12 months) sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality
CFEngine FAQ
Common questions about CFEngine, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is CFEngine?
Provides automated configuration deployment and continuous enforcement of desired system state across large-scale infrastructures, with capabilities for security hardening and compliance verification. Available in open-source community and commercial enterprise editions. It is indexed under Configuration Management Tools.
Source: https://cfengine.com
How much does CFEngine cost?
CFEngine does not publish its prices. Pricing is quoted on request, across 2 plans (Community Edition and Enterprise Edition), so the figure depends on your seat count and requirements. We record this as a pricing-transparency signal rather than guessing a number. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
Source: https://cfengine.com
What platforms does CFEngine support?
CFEngine supports the web, Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.
Source: https://cfengine.com
Can CFEngine be self-hosted?
Yes. CFEngine can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.
Source: https://cfengine.com
CFEngine alternatives
Other configuration management tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- HCL BigFixAI-powered platform for automated discovery, patching, and compliance management across diverse endpoints and environmentsmedium · 73%
- BOSHAutomation platform for deploying and managing distributed systems across cloud infrastructurehigh · 79%
- SaltEvent-driven automation platform for infrastructure management and configuration at scalehigh · 78%
- Ansiblemedium · 67%
- Landscapemedium · 72%
- SaltStackDistributed infrastructure automation and command execution platformmedium · 71%
Compare CFEngine
Side by side against other configuration management tools, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
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 CFEngine, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | 87 | 0.10 | 8.6 | ✓ |
| Development activity | 59 | 0.12 | 7.0 | ✓ |
| Security score | 69 | 0.05 | 3.7 | ✓ |
| Price level | 80 | 0.04 | 3.2 | ✓ |
| Stars | 52 | 0.03 | 1.7 | ✓ |
| Pricing transparency | 25 | 0.05 | 1.3 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 14 | 0.05 | 0.7 | ✓ |
| Reliability | 0 | 0.05 | 0.0 | - |
| Dependent projects | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 0 | 0.07 | 0.0 | - |
| Security posture | 5 | 0.09 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.17 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
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
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 72 | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 65% |
Adoption
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 4 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 60% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Model: both · Hosting: both · Language: CFEngine policy language · Idempotent: Yes · Architecture: agent · Desired state: Yes | mediumsource · 2026-09-14 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | mediumsource · 2026-08-14 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | C | highsource · 2026-09-10 · 90% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | highsource · 2026-08-14 · 75% |
Pricing
Security
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Disclosure policy | Yes | mediumsource · 2026-09-14 · 60% |
| Scorecard | 6.9 | highsource · 2026-09-10 · 90% |
| Vulnerabilities | Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcfengine%2Fcore&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 | highsource · 2026-08-26 · 90% |
| Trust center | https://cfengine.com/tags/compliance/ | mediumsource · 2026-09-14 · 60% |
Is CFEngine the right choice for you?
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