Chef vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Chef
Ranking in Release Automation
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (16th), Configuration Management (17th)
Microsoft Azure DevOps
Ranking in Release Automation
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (2nd), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of Chef is 0.4%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 37.7%, down from 38.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Release Automation
Unique Categories:
Build Automation
0.9%
Configuration Management
1.4%
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
19.4%
Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
41.5%
 

Featured Reviews

Aaron  P - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 18, 2023
Easy configuration management, optimization abilities, and complete infrastructure and application automation
Chef is like a master chef in a kitchen for computer systems. It's used to create recipes (cookbooks) that specify how servers and apps should be set up. Chef then makes sure these instructions are followed the same way on all computers in a network. The ChefServer is like the recipe book, where…
HarunRashid - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 27, 2024
Offers a comprehensive suite of tools for software development
The initial setup process for Azure DevOps was somewhat complex, requiring documentation and technical support. Migration from previous tools and configuring project guidelines were involved. The deployment strategy involved creating directories, and repositories, setting up environments, and assigning access rights, following a predefined plan. Initially, deployment took about three to four hours, but now, for regular deployments, it typically takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on project stability. For the initial deployment of Azure DevOps, gathering information from various resources is essential, but typically, only one person is needed to handle deployment through the web interface. Maintenance involves regular tasks like backups and occasional updates, requiring minimal effort.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The product is useful for automating processes."
"Deployment has become quick and orchestration is now easy."
"Chef recipes are easy to write and move across different servers and environments."
"The most valuable feature is its easy configuration management, optimization abilities, complete infrastructure and application automation, and its superiority over other similar tools."
"I wanted to monitor a hybrid cloud environment, one using AWS and Azure. If I have to provision/orchestrate between multiple cloud platforms, I can use Chef as a one-stop solution, to broker between those cloud platforms and orchestrate around them, rather than going directly into each of the cloud-vendors' consoles."
"The most valuable feature is the language that it uses: Ruby."
"Automation is everything. Having so many servers in production, many of our processes won't work nor scale. So, we look for tools to help us automate the process, and Chef is one of them."
"The user interface is very friendly."
"The product is easy to use...It is a stable solution."
"The work items option is incredibly flexible."
"The tool's most efficient feature is the integration of its services in one place. It is an easy-to-use product that improves productivity. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also user-friendly. Its documentation is clear and can be found on Google."
"This solution works with other Microsoft solutions pretty easily. It was easy to integrate everything into all the other tools that we were using. It integrates very seamlessly."
"It has a good GUI, and it's very user-friendly."
"The simplicity and ease of use are two features that we have found to be most valuable."
"Microsoft Azure DevOps has been very good for creating pipelines, and all the solutions for creating task management for developers and for the business."
 

Cons

"Support and pricing for Chef could be improved."
"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."
"Vertical scalability is still good but the horizontal, adding more technologies, platforms, tools, integrations, Chef should take a look into that."
"Third-party innovations need improvement, and I would like to see more integration with other platforms."
"If they can improve their software to support Docker containers, it would be for the best."
"It is an old technology."
"The AWS monitoring, AWS X-Ray, and some other features could be improved."
"In the future, Chef could develop a docker container or docker images."
"Being more technology-agnostic through ease of integration would be beneficial."
"The documentation isn't straightforward."
"The tool has a logical link between epic feature, user story, and task, but when you try to generate a report to show the delivery progress against a feature, it is not easy. To see the percentage completion for a feature or progress of any delivery, it is not easy to draw a report."
"I'd like to have something better for the test plan."
"I can't think of any specific things at the moment, but I've run into things that I didn't like. I came across something that I wanted to be changed in DevOps, but I can't remember what it was. It was a particular feature I was looking for that I couldn't find."
"When converting to DevOps, it was difficult to map."
"Microsoft could improve Visual Studio by making it easier to find the plugins you need to get your job done. Maybe they could implement an AI search instead of a simple tech search. Sometimes, people come up with a catchy name for something, and you don't know how it's spelled. For example, a developer might come up with a packet wizard and spell weird, like P-A-K-I-T."
"Microsoft Azure DevOps could improve by having better integration with other email servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"We are able to save in development time, deployment time, and it makes it easier to manage the environments."
"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."
"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."
"We are using the free, open source version of the software, which we are happy with at this time."
"Pricing for Chef is high."
"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."
"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."
"The solution costs $5 or $10 per user, per month."
"The licensing structure is good."
"It is a subscription model and I only pay for what I use."
"There are other solutions available that are open source and free, such as GitLab."
"For the basic license, it is around five euros per month."
"With Azure, you have to pay for every user."
"I find that the pricing is good, and it is competitive with the other vendors in the market."
"I don't know the pricing of DevOps. It would be much cheaper than ALM because ALM came out as a software product initially. Now they are moving into a cloud and subscription model. In that case, Microsoft is coming from Azure and the cloud and DevOps and software as a service, so it would be much cheaper, but the catch would be that they are trying to get money on all the sides, like an operating system, Microsoft Office, or Microsoft Azure DevOps."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...
Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?
TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Facebook, Standard Bank, GE Capital, Nordstrom, Optum, Barclays, IGN, General Motors, Scholastic, Riot Games, NCR, Gap
Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype
Find out what your peers are saying about Chef vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.