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AWS CodeDeploy vs Chef comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 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

AWS CodeDeploy
Ranking in Release Automation
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Chef
Ranking in Release Automation
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (20th), Configuration Management (18th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of AWS CodeDeploy is 2.7%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Chef is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Release Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Mahadev Metre - PeerSpot reviewer
YAML configuration and cloud integration simplify tasks and enhance AWS resource flexibility
The features and capabilities of AWS CodeDeploy that I have found most valuable are that it is very user-friendly, and the codebase we can use there, specifically the tech stack, is YAML configuration. YAML is quite user-friendly itself, so if you just understand the basic concepts of YAML, then you're good to go. However, people face some problems with the YAML tech stack, as it is very strict with indentation and the placement of attributes. Overall, it's very strict with indentation and how it interprets our input. For example, in a stage where an environment is defined, there should be two spaces followed by an environment key and value. Knowing YAML is essential before working on AWS CodeDeploy, as the YAML file controls the service. AWS CodeDeploy's integration with other AWS services contributes significantly to scaling, monitoring, and security in my deployment processes by requiring IAM permissions. This is the only gateway for it to obtain permission to perform any tasks or triggers. One advantage we have with AWS CodeDeploy is its hassle-free accessibility through IAM roles and permissions. Being an AWS service, it operates on ARNs, which are identifiers. When we refer to these codes in IAM policies, we can give specific permissions while adhering to the least privileges rule of IAM. This makes it quite good and flexible with AWS resources, unlike third-party options.
Aaron  P - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy configuration management, optimization abilities, and complete infrastructure and application automation
In terms of improvement, Chef could get better by being more widely available, adapting to different needs, and providing better documentation. There is also an issue with shared resources like cookbooks lacking context, which could lead to problems when multiple companies use them. Chef should aim for wider availability, better flexibility, clearer documentation, and improved management of shared resources to prevent conflicts. Many companies are now moving to Ansible, so I would recommend better documentation, easier customer use, and simpler integration. I have concerns about the complexity of migrating to different servers and would prefer a simpler process.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is easy to use."
"The most valuable features of AWS CodeDeploy are its integration with other AWS services to deploy applications."
"It's just like every other AWS resource I use. It gets the job done."
"You can easily integrate AWS CodeDeploy with multiple services."
"CodeDeploy is very stable. I rate it a 10 for stability."
"CodeDeploy is quite easy to use within the AWS ecosystem."
"I appreciate the feature for automating the deployment of code to the server."
"I can integrate it with other AWS services."
"It is a well thought out product which integrates well with what developers and customers are looking for."
"It streamlined our deployments and system configurations across the board rather than have us use multiple configurations or tools, basically a one stop shop."
"If you're handy enough with DSL and you can present your own front-facing interface to your developers, then you can actually have a lot more granular control with Chef in operations over what developers can perform and what they can't."
"Chef can be scaled as needed. The Chef server itself can scale but it depends on the available resources. You can upgrade specific resources to meet the demand. Similarly, with clients, you can add as many clients as you need. Again, this depends on the server resources. If the server has enough resources, it can handle the number of servers required to manage the infrastructure. Chef can be scaled to meet the needs of the infrastructure being managed."
"We have had less production issues since using Chef to automate our provisioning."
"The most valuable feature is automation."
"Chef is a great tool for an automation person who wants to do configuration management with infrastructure as a code."
"The most valuable feature is its easy configuration management, optimization abilities, complete infrastructure and application automation, and its superiority over other similar tools."
 

Cons

"There will always be room for improvement, however, I cannot think of any specific improvements at the moment."
"An improvement for the end users would be easier implementation, especially regarding local testing tools for deployment."
"The support and those things are lacking compared to others."
"An improvement for the end users would be easier implementation, especially regarding local testing tools for deployment."
"Deployment and stability should be improved."
"We have faced some issues and bugs along the way when it comes to stability."
"AWS should provide its own templates in the console so that I don't need to go anywhere else to get the template for AWS CodeDeploy or AWS CodeBuild."
"AWS CodeDeploy's lack of ability to use independently without CodePipeline or CodeBuild makes it unstable."
"The agent on the server sometimes acts finicky."
"There is a slight barrier to entry if you are used to using Ansible, since it is Ruby-based."
"It is an old technology."
"The time that it takes in terms of integration. Cloud integration is comparatively easy, but when it comes to two-link based integrations - like trying to integrate it with any monitoring tools, or maybe some other ticketing tools - it takes longer. That is because most of the out-of-the-box integration of the APIs needs some revisiting."
"The AWS monitoring, AWS X-Ray, and some other features could be improved."
"The solution could improve in managing role-based access. This would be helpful."
"There appears to be no effort to fix the command line utility functionality, which is definitely broken, provides a false positive for a result when you perform the operation, and doesn't work."
"Chef could get better by being more widely available, adapting to different needs, and providing better documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is normal."
"Since we are using a dedicated AWS environment, the solution's pricing is fine."
"AWS CodeDeploy has proven to be a cost-effective solution for us, especially considering the benefits we gain from using it. In terms of pricing, AWS is quite affordable, providing excellent value for the features and services it offers."
"The product is free with EC2."
"It is costly."
"I wasn't involved in the purchasing, but I am pretty sure that we are happy with the current pricing and licensing since it never comes up."
"The price is always a problem. It is high. There is room for improvement. I do like purchasing on the AWS Marketplace, but I would like the ability to negotiate and have some flexibility in the pricing on it."
"We are using the free, open source version of the software, which we are happy with at this time."
"When we're rolling out a new server, we're not using the AWS Marketplace AMI, we're using our own AMI, but we are paying them a licensing fee."
"Purchasing the solution from AWS Marketplace was a good experience. AWS's pricing is pretty in line with the product's regular pricing. Though instance-wise, AWS is not the cheapest in the market."
"We are able to save in development time, deployment time, and it makes it easier to manage the environments."
"Chef is priced based on the number of nodes."
"The price per node is a little weird. It doesn't scale along with your organization. If you're truly utilizing Chef to its fullest, then the number of nodes which are being utilized in any particular day might scale or change based on your Auto Scaling groups. How do you keep track of that or audit it? Then, how do you appropriately license it? It's difficult."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CodeDeploy?
Evaluating cost, it is important to note that the services provided by CodeDeploy can be expensive to purchase from other cloud platforms. However, depending on the services, it might be worth the ...
What is your primary use case for AWS CodeDeploy?
My usual use cases for AWS CodeDeploy involve utilizing it as an AWS service, which is a subservice of CodePipeline. AWS CodePipeline is a whole package of services which consists of AWS CodeDeploy...
What do you like most about Chef?
Chef is a great tool for an automation person who wants to do configuration management with infrastructure as a code.
What needs improvement with Chef?
Chef does not support the containerized things of Chef products. In the future, Chef could develop a docker container or docker images.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Facebook, Standard Bank, GE Capital, Nordstrom, Optum, Barclays, IGN, General Motors, Scholastic, Riot Games, NCR, Gap
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS CodeDeploy vs. Chef and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.