- Half the usual list does a different job
- Eight options at a glance
- Configuration management: keeping machines in a known state
- Provisioning: building the infrastructure itself
- Agents or no agents?
- Config files or real code?
- Signs your playbooks are still the right tool
- What to carry over, whatever you pick
- How to test a replacement on real servers
- Frequently asked questions
Think about moving if you want agents enforcing a desired state on every machine, a central server that hands out policy, or cloud resources written as code instead of playbooks. Agent-based configuration tools suit big fleets that need drift corrected all the time, while infrastructure-as-code provisioners suit building cloud resources rather than configuring the hosts inside them.
Ansible's docs describe open-source automation with an agent-less architecture: it reaches remote machines over SSH using the credentials those machines already have. That's a big part of its appeal, because there's nothing to install on the servers you manage. If you're a sysadmin or DevOps engineer weighing a change, the question is usually whether that model still fits the size and shape of what you run.
The alternatives fall into two camps that solve different problems, and mixing them up leads to a disappointing migration.
Half the usual list does a different job
Search for alternatives and you'll find Terraform, OpenTofu and Pulumi on almost every list. All three provision infrastructure from code: they create, change and version resources such as cloud servers and networks. That's a different job from configuring what runs inside those servers once they exist. Plenty of teams use one of each, side by side, rather than swapping one for the other.
There's a second surprise. Chef's docs banner marks Chef Infra Server as deprecated and points users to the Chef 360 Platform as its replacement. If a colleague suggests setting up the classic server, read that banner first.
So before you compare features, decide which job you're trying to change. If it's how servers are configured, look at the first group. If it's how infrastructure gets created in the first place, look at the second, and consider keeping your playbooks for the inside of each box.
Eight options at a glance
| Tool | Camp |
|---|---|
| CFEngine | Configure |
| Chef Infra Client | Configure |
| OpenTofu | Provision |
| Pulumi | Provision |
| Puppet | Configure |
| Rudder | Configure |
| Salt | Configure |
| Terraform | Provision |
Five configure, three provision. Compare rows only within the camp that matches your problem; mixing them is how teams end up replacing a tool that was never the thing slowing them down.
Configuration management: keeping machines in a known state
These tools care about what's on each server and whether it still matches what you declared. Several describe a central server or policy model, which is the main structural difference from the agent-less, push-over-SSH approach you're used to. There's a closer look at one pairing in our Ansible and Puppet comparison.
CFEngine
Automates infrastructure, security and compliance, per its home page.
Chef Infra Client
Configures infrastructure and enforces policy on every node.
Puppet
Puppet Core is an enterprise-ready platform on open source Puppet.
Rudder
A root server defines policies; agents apply them.
Salt
A configuration management system, says its documentation.
Provisioning: building the infrastructure itself
These tools create and change the resources your servers live on. They aren't playbook replacements, but they're often what people mean when they say they've outgrown their current setup. Our Ansible vs Terraform breakdown goes further into where the line falls.
OpenTofu
Infrastructure as code in human-readable configuration files.
Pulumi
Cloud infrastructure written in general programming languages.
Terraform
Builds, changes and versions cloud and on-prem resources.
Agents or no agents?
This is the trade-off that matters most when you leave an agent-less tool. With nothing installed on each server, there's less to maintain and nothing to update on the hosts. With an agent on every node, something is always present to check that the machine still matches its policy and pull it back if it drifts.
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Neither is better in the abstract. A small fleet you touch weekly may never need agents. A large fleet where people log in and change things by hand may need that constant pull back to the declared state. Count your servers, and count how often someone changes one without telling anyone.
Agents also change your security conversation. Something running on every host needs its own updates, its own permissions and its own place in your patching plan, so bring whoever looks after security into the trial early rather than at the end.
Config files or real code?
OpenTofu describes human-readable configuration files; Pulumi lets you use general programming languages. That's a real fork in the road for your team. Using the same coding style as your apps suits engineers who'd rather reach for loops, functions and tests, but it also lets your setup grow as tangled as any other codebase.
Ask who'll read this in a year. If it's a mixed team of sysadmins and developers, a plain declarative format may be easier to review. If it's a group of software engineers who live in one language, writing infrastructure in that same language may feel natural.
Signs your playbooks are still the right tool
Not every frustration means the tool is wrong. If your servers are few, your changes are planned and nobody edits machines by hand, an agent-less approach may still be the simplest thing that works. Messy playbooks are often a tidying job, not a migration job: split long files, name roles clearly and add a short readme for each.
The case for moving gets stronger when drift keeps catching you out, when the fleet has grown past what one person can reason about, or when the real pain is creating cloud resources rather than configuring them. Those are problems another tool may solve. A tangled folder of tasks usually isn't.
What to carry over, whatever you pick
Your existing playbooks are a written record of how your servers should look. Even if you move, keep them as a reference while you rebuild, and check each new definition against what the old one did. Document any steps that only ever happened by hand, because a new tool will only enforce what someone writes down. The same goes for inventory: a clean list of hosts and groups makes any migration faster.
How to test a replacement on real servers
- Pick three non-critical servers that represent your usual builds.
- Rewrite one existing playbook's job in the candidate tool, not a new task.
- Apply it, then change a setting by hand on one server and see whether the tool notices.
- Time how long a newcomer on the team takes to read and change the new config.
- Check how secrets and credentials are handled compared with your SSH setup today.
- Let the old playbooks and the newcomer each look after separate machines for a few weeks, then compare notes with the team before anything gets switched off.
If you'd like a broader view of the provisioning side before you start, there's a longer list in our guide to infrastructure as code tools.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Terraform a replacement for playbooks?
Not directly. It builds infrastructure rather than configuring hosts.
Is the classic Chef server still the place to start?
Its maker now points people to Chef 360 instead.
Which options here run an agent on each node?
Rudder does, and Chef enforces policy per node.
Is Pulumi open source?
Pulumi says it's an open source platform for managing cloud infrastructure.
Does Salt keep servers in a set state?
Yes. Its docs say it maintains remote nodes in defined states, which is the drift-correcting behaviour some teams leave playbooks to get.
Should I keep my playbooks if I adopt a provisioner?
Often, yes. Many teams use one of each.
