We performed a comparison between AWS CloudFormation and SaltStack based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Configuration Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Its security is most valuable. It gives us a way to secure devices, not only those that are steady. We do have a few tablets and other devices, and it is a way for us to secure these devices and manage them. We know they're out there and what's their status. We can manage their life cycle and verify that they're updated properly."
"It is a very helpful solution."
"I believe that the solution is actually in Gartner's top quadrant at the moment for mobile device management."
"The Microsoft Windows Autopilot and Defender policies are the most valuable features of this solution."
"Autopilot is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature of Intune is the central dashboard for compliance and policy management."
"One of the biggest advantages of Microsoft Intune is that it brings the management of Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and even Linux under a single pane of glass."
"The solution is easy to use, simple to understand for those new to using it, and combined with the other Microsoft products it makes for an overall good package."
"The solution has helped with automation. I don't have to worry about provisioning machines and ensuring everything is set up. AWS CloudFormation takes care of the entire infrastructure for me."
"I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. We use it every day."
"It allows defining the infrastructure as code using templates, which describe the desired state of the infrastructure."
"The reusability of the solution is valuable."
"I appreciate the flexibility of infrastructure as code. With CloudFormation, we can define ground rules, control usage limits, and scale our infrastructure up or down programmatically. Having this level of control through code on infra is a major benefit. That's the beauty of CloudFormation."
"CloudFormation gives us control of AWS and any Cloud infrastructure. It creates the whole stack for Cloud services technologies so it's easy to manage the whole system."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"Versioning makes our work easy."
"The automation functionality has been most valuable. With a click of a button, we are able to automate provisioning, the build of new hardware and apply patches. These are all extremely important and differentiated tasks that can be automated in SaltStack."
"We monitor the configurations against CIS standards. We run CIS benchmarks and maintain configurations with higher CIS values for each server."
"The product’s most valuable feature is its ability to provide environmental security."
"SaltStack has given us the ability to deal with systems at scale and rectify issues at scale."
"It is a highly stable solution."
"I want to build automation that is intelligent, part of the fabric of our environment, and is somewhat self-sustaining. I think SaltStack can help me do this."
"The ability to programmatically describe the desired state of a single, or an entire fleet of servers, on-premises, and in a cloud environment."
"Reporting could be improved. It needs to be more expensive and robust."
"From a new user's perspective, it may be a little overwhelming because there are quite a few things to look at in the console, however, once you are sort of acclimated and are familiar with your core functions, it's fairly simple and straightforward."
"Integration with Mac devices requires some improvement."
"There can be some added features, such as an improved dashboard. Any new feature that could be a benefit to our customers would be good."
"The installation could be improved to be simplified."
"I know that their AI pieces are at the infancy stage, but allowing users to do more tagging for information would be an interesting thing because Intune also directly integrates with Azure. Because a lot of the devices are hosted with that, you also get a lot of tagging of user data and other things like that."
"I would like the ability to install the agent on devices from suppliers, which would enable us to implement a zero-trust strategy for guest devices."
"The add-ons must be integrated into the solution."
"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."
"There is less support for on-premise environments."
"The speed of the replication process could improve. It can take some time to replicate that could use a speed increase."
"AWS CloudFormation allows you to use the code templates written in JSON and YAML, but not directly in Python. Adding this feature would be beneficial."
"If you are a developer or a more technical person, it's very difficult to learn the complete syntax or because CloudFormation includes a new way to write infrastructure code."
"For a beginner, it's kind of difficult to set up. So, the user does need some knowledge in order to do it."
"The solution must enable more hands-on designing of the templates."
"For improvement, it's crucial that AWS provides options in terms of computing services, DB related services, and machine learning solutions. If I'm not hands-on with a particular service, like machine learning applications, I struggle to write the CloudFormation code."
"A hardened set of tests would be much appreciated."
"Its configuration process could be better."
"This solution could be integrated with more hardware for an improved offering."
"It is difficult to set up."
"Web UI."
"SaltStack's features are minimal."
"There is a little bit of pain when it comes to libraries and what is needed to run the product."
AWS CloudFormation is ranked 8th in Configuration Management with 28 reviews while SaltStack is ranked 14th in Configuration Management with 33 reviews. AWS CloudFormation is rated 8.4, while SaltStack is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of AWS CloudFormation writes "Pretty easy setup with great automations for provisioning that save time and money". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SaltStack writes "Orchestration tool that powers automation of processes with the click of a button". AWS CloudFormation is most compared with AWS Systems Manager, Spring Cloud, Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Microsoft Configuration Manager, whereas SaltStack is most compared with Microsoft Configuration Manager, VMware Aria Automation, HashiCorp Terraform, Red Hat Satellite and ServiceNow. See our AWS CloudFormation vs. SaltStack report.
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