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Chef vs Salt: catalog facts
Chef	Salt
Paid Commercial enterprise platform with a free trial; demos available on request.	Free Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted	Linux, Self-hosted, Command line
Policy-as-code for repeatable server configuration Built-in compliance auditing on a schedule	Remote execution and configuration management in one tool Event-driven automation
Aimed at enterprises, with sales-led pricing Considerable setup and learning before it pays off	Concepts such as states, grains and pillars take time to learn Needs its own control infrastructure to run
Downloadable app, Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.