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AWS CloudFormation vs Perforce Puppet comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
271
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
AWS CloudFormation
Ranking in Configuration Management
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Perforce Puppet
Ranking in Configuration Management
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 10.3%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perforce Puppet is 1.0%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Mbula Mboma - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates efficient infrastructure deployment with visibility into resource connections
I primarily use AWS CloudFormation for deploying infrastructure efficiently. For instance, if I want to create load balancers with target groups and EC2 instances, I find CloudFormation simplifies the process of deployment and configuration, reducing the possibility of errors AWS CloudFormation…
Erik  Ableson - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution that is more suited for larger companies with mature CI/CD structures and image management processes
Puppet Enterprise is more suitable for clients working up much more structured deployment images they manage internally. Before choosing Puppet Enterprise, users should think seriously about what they're trying to accomplish and ensure they put the right pieces in place. Overall, I rate Puppet Enterprise an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The biggest asset is the range of device management options available with Intune, whether it is a Windows device, a Linux device, a Mac device, or mobile devices."
"It's normally able to meet 100% expectations of our customers."
"Intune's compliance features are valuable because they allow immediate visibility into ongoing situations."
"It has improve our organization through the remote management of non-domain joined devices."
"While I don't think you can ever have full visibility and control, Intune certainly allows us to see the applications being used and tells us if things like Windows patches aren't applied to machines. It does a good job. That visibility makes life a little easier."
"The policy and compliance monitoring of devices and the software deployment are most valuable."
"Microsoft Intune is very stable due to its cloud-based infrastructure and its reliability in performance."
"The device profiling which uses the official Outlook email enabled us to control the screenshot feature and prevent copying outside of the organization's application."
"AWS CloudFormation makes infrastructure deployment easy."
"The nested stacks would be one of the more valuable features."
"The ability to quickly run up CloudFormation in AWS and the template validation function are the most valuable features."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"It allows defining the infrastructure as code using templates, which describe the desired state of the infrastructure."
"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."
"AWS CloudFormation is valuable because it allows me to create resources using YAML files without needing to learn a specific language."
"The most valuable features of AWS CloudFormation include the import and export functionality, and pseudo parameters, which reduce our coding efforts by managing parameterization at the account level."
"The versatility is great."
"Puppet Enterprise has reduced the time of production changes or environment changes."
"Anything that we manage through Puppet always runs perfectly."
"Puppet Enterprise is a stable solution."
"Puppet3 and 4 series provides optimum deployment solutions for infrastructure and applications."
"I rate the stability of Puppet as ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features are the agent, high load balancing, and overall robustness and features."
"The main purpose for this automation tool would be: deploying, controlling, ordering change for the system and IT Infrastructure."
 

Cons

"There is still a gap between SCCM and Intune, especially in the reporting, inventory, and software deployment areas."
"At this time, I do not have any areas for improvement. I have heard about some downtime, but I am not in the local IT team."
"There should be more focus on mobile device security and integration."
"Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update."
"I think there should be a better tracking of the cell phones used on the Intune."
"The tool's tunnel gateway is not very good, making it an area where improvements are required."
"When we implemented Intune, it would have been helpful if Microsoft had provided some videos or data about Intune."
"Intune's server management could be better. If it could incorporate more features from System Center into Intune's Configuration Manager, it would be beneficial."
"There is room for improvement in the optimization of AWS CloudFormation."
"They could improve the product's capability to handle circular dependencies more effectively."
"The product should be made cloud-agnostic, allowing users to deploy the same environment with minimal tweaks across different cloud platforms, similar to Terraform. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have the ability to manage templates outside of the AWS environment."
"This tool is not intuitive and there are others that are easier to understand."
"I prefer Terraform over AWS CloudFormation because AWS CloudFormation is specific to just AWS. But if I want to use a multi-cloud or hybrid setup, then Terraform works better. It uses a simple language, HCL. So, if you learn HCL, you can manage your infrastructures across different cloud providers. You don't need to be specific to one cloud provider."
"Error-handling features can be improved."
"There could be better error handling. It would be a good way to improve the solution."
"Provisioning a large environment or a large number of services takes a bit more time than with Terraform."
"Puppet Enterprise should improve the general extensibility for places where they can't install it."
"It's a bit of a pain point to make sure that everything works once we've upgraded it because Puppet has been evolving pretty fast."
"We would like Puppet to add more integration for applications."
"The solution has really complex code, you have to understand the Ruby language. However, once you know the code then you can move ahead without any problems."
"Clients with less technical expertise may find Puppet complex to configure. Our team may struggle if technical team members leave the organization, leaving others uncertain about using the tool."
"There's a lot of scope for enhancement on the DevSecOps side. They should definitely include features for compliance, for both the Linux and Windows side of the devices, as well as for network devices. Compliance is something they need to work on."
"At the beginning the initial setup was kind of complex."
"Puppet Enterprise is more complex and difficult to configure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Intune has been incorporated into our Microsoft E5 licenses."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis."
"Microsoft's licensing is more flexible and adaptive than its competitors."
"It is not a cheap solution. The price for a device when you start using it at a large scale can be improved. It is covered under our enterprise agreement. We pay once a year. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"While Microsoft charges for actual usage, it lacks discount options."
"The price is reasonable, but they should lower it a bit to make it more competitive. It's cheaper than AirWatch and other products, but I still feel like Microsoft can make a base version or with Exchange online or a la carte only Intune version which will be useful. A customer who doesn't want to go full-fledged E3 or E5 can take out or consume an Intune solution only for their purpose, and we want to target that customer."
"It comes as a bundle, so you do not really know what the prices are. Microsoft does not break it down to the user cost for us. It is just bundled with our E5 license."
"Based on the features that it gives, it is cost-efficient. It is not necessarily on the expensive side of the scale. It provides a hefty number of features that any organization would want. It is in a good price range."
"AWS CloudFormation's pricing is cheaper than that of other cloud providers."
"The solution's cost is normal, neither cheap nor expensive."
"AWS CloudFormation doesn't have any cost because it's only the resources that you deploy with the solution that'll incur costs."
"The tool is free for the AWS environment."
"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."
"The pricing is not notably high."
"This solution is free to use and does not require a license."
"There's no cost for launching any template using CloudFormation."
"Puppet Enterprise can be an expensive solution for smaller businesses."
"Depending on the size of the organization there is a point when the price of Puppet Enterprise should be lower. However, they provide really good functionality, features, and capabilities."
"Puppet Enterprise’s pricing is competitive."
"The main thing that we noticed when we switched from the enterprise version to the community version was the difference in cost — the infrastructure is pretty expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
8%
Retailer
6%
Educational Organization
32%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What do you like most about AWS CloudFormation?
AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CloudFormation?
AWS CloudFormation is free. However, there may be unexpected costs if developers deploy services incorrectly without ...
What needs improvement with AWS CloudFormation?
Improvements are needed for sharing resources between template files, especially when using AWS ( /products/amazon-aw...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Puppet Enterprise?
Puppet is not cheap. I would rate its affordability as seven or eight out of ten.
What needs improvement with Puppet Enterprise?
Clients with less technical expertise may find Puppet complex to configure. Our team may struggle if technical team m...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
CloudFormation
Puppet
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia
Los Alamos National Laboratory, GitHub, IP Commerce, Cedexis, Spiceworks, Server Density, Swisstopo, Chockstone, Constant Contact, NICS, Citrix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS CloudFormation vs. Perforce Puppet and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.