Traditional methods of infrastructure development are tedious and time-consuming. Organizations are always looking for efficient ways to build and deploy scalable applications without compromising on agility or flexibility. Infrastructure as a Code development tool or IaC tool gives companies all the features and resources they need to manage IT resources and automate their provisioning consistently.
Infrastructure as Code solutions can transform enterprise outcomes by enhancing efficiency and providing ease of use, flexibility, and versatility during the development of projects. Below we will describe what IaC security tools are and which are the best IaC Tools in 2024 that can fit your different project requirements.
What are IaC Tools?
IaC tools are special software solutions that provide a method of provisioning and managing IT resources using machine-readable files or code. IaC tools help organizations cut expenses, enhance speed, and reduce risks brought about by manual configurations.
In DevOps environments, increasing automation and promoting standardization is critical to success. Organizations need to build, deploy, and reduce time to market web infrastructure applications and easily accommodate changing resource demands. Modern IaC tools support advanced scalability and seamless updates, preventing sudden downtimes or disruptions.
Best IaC Tools (Infrastructure as Code Tools) in 2024
Modern IaC tools these days address provisioning, configuration, deployment, and configuration challenges in organizations and address them. IaC tools are constantly evolving, and developers are working on implementing the latest features and bug fixes.
Here is our best and most up-to-date IaC tools list for 2024:
1. SentinelOne
SentinelOne is one of the top IaC tools and offers a Comprehensive Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) for detecting and remediating cloud misconfigurations before deployment. It provides excellent Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Secret Scanning that can detect over 750+ types of secrets across BitBucket, GitLab, and GitHub in real-time. As an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool, SentinelOne proactively detects misconfigurations across Terraform, CloudFormation, and other popular IaC templates. Unlike other IaC tools, it enforces Shift-Left security and has a unique Offensive Security Engine that stays up-to-date and detects zero-day threats.
Features
- Real-time secret scanning for over 750+ types, including BitBucket, GitHub, and GitLab
- Enforces Shift-Left Security and detects misconfigurations in CloudFormation, Terraform, and other popular IaC templates
- Singularity Data Lake integration, Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), Cloud Detection & Response (CDR), Cloud Data Security (CDS), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), and Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)
- Graph-based data visualizations, Snyk integration, and CI/CD integration support
- VM Snapshot scanning, automated 1-click threat remediation, Binary Vault, PurpleAI, and IaC script monitoring
Pros
- Can monitor domain names, perform zero-day vulnerability assessments, and validate hard-coded secrets as well
- Can identify out-of-the-box configurations and drifts in policies across various cloud environments
- Advanced AI-driven threat hunting capabilities, unique Offensive Security Engine, container lifecycle security, incident response and prevention, and increased forensic visibility
- Flags security defaults and provides continuous visibility on the security posture
- Supports Helm, Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, and other major IaC templates
- Performs IaC deployment and configuration checks against CIS and provides extensive reporting for hard-coded secrets
Cons
There are no cons associated with this IaC tool as of the moment
Pricing
Sentinel offers customized pricing plans per month for businesses
2. Ansible
Ansible is built on the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and is one of the best open-source IaC tools that offer improved efficiency and productivity to enterprises. It frees teams to focus more on innovation and helps reduce manual tasks. Ansible is completely event-driven and a dedicated leader in infrastructure automation.
Features
- Network automation, edge automation, and hybrid cloud automation
- Security automation and centralized configuration management
- Provisioning, Red Hat Insights, and automation analytics
Pros
- Writes custom modules and plugins
- Active and expansive community
- Automates repetitive and sophisticated tasks
- Incredibly fast and saves time by deploying cloud instances from templates
Cons
- Has debugging and performance issues
- Network automation tasks require using complex data structures
3. Terraform
Terraform allows developers to build, change, and version infrastructures efficiently and is one of the leading IaC tools in 2024. It offers many high-level components and SaaS features and is the ideal solution for professionals well-versed in cloud engineering and DevOps. It comes in two variants – Terraform Core and Terraform Plugin. Both support over 100 cloud providers, including Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure.
Features
- Scalability and multi-cloud infrastructure provisioning
- Remote state management
- Version control integration
- Workspaces and projects
- Policy enforcement and governance
- Role-based access control and Single Sign-On (SSO)
Pros
- Easy to setup and promotes smooth collaborations
- Infrastructure automation and management
- Integrates with Ci/CD pipelines and provides secure variable storage
- Self-hosted agents
Cons
- Usage gets complicated with local files
- Does not support revert functions for resources
4. Vagrant
Vagrant is a remarkable open-source IaC tool for managing development environments and is highly recommended for automated infrastructure setups. It is mainly designed to work with local development environments and is also compatible with a few virtual machine instances.
Features
- HTTP tunneling
- Automatic networking
- Folder sync
- Infrastructure asset management
Pros
- It can be used for web development projects
- Extremely efficient and scalable
- Automated infrastructure management
- Nice variety of plugins
Cons
- Community support is complicated
- Major plugin incompatibility with the latest syntax updates
5. AWS Cloud Formation
AWS Cloud Formation offers infrastructure code provisioning services and is one of the leading IaC tools in the market. It scales up cloud resources worldwide and automates resource management with key integrations, and offers turnkey application distribution and governance controls as well.
Features
- Continuous integrations with CI/CD pipelines
- Manages infrastructure with DevOps
- Cross-account and cross-region management for AWS resources
- JSON/YAML authoring
Pros
- Premium integration services
- IaaS and PaaS compatible
Cons
- Lacks cloud architecting support and high visibility
6. Chef (Progress Chef)
Chef (Progress Chef) helps enterprises extend infrastructure security and achieve complete cloud-to-edge compliance. As one of the popular Iac tools, it is an industry leader in DevSecOps and DevOps and enables systematic configurations across hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge infrastructure environments.
Features
- Easy-to-use and intuitive UI
- Great documentation and training
- Powerful open-source configuration management
- Continuous compliance
Pros
- Helps maintain compliance across cloud-native assets
- Supports multi-cloud governance and threat remediation
- Application packaging and delivery services
- Secures infrastructure management, testing, and deployment
Cons
- · Chef is complicated to use for users with no technical experience
- · It requires sufficient staffing, resources, and hardware to deploy and maintain effectively
7. Brainboard
Brainboard lets users create innovative cloud infrastructure projects and is one of the most reliable IaC tools of 2024. It helps enterprises with version control, cloud migration, and infrastructure provisioning and offers self-service workflows. It adds 2-factor authentication (2FA) to protect accounts further and enables seamless integration with Keycloak.
Features
- Activity tracking and access controls
- Audit management
- Brainstorming and data mapping
- Configurable workflows, alerts/notifications, and collaboration tools
- Compliance management
- Customizable templates and continuous deployments
Pros
- Optimizes workflows by pushing existing Git repositories
- Imports Visio and Lucid Charts
- Single Sign-On and templates catalog
- Cloud custom resources and projects management
Cons
- No Bicep support
- Can generate only Terraform
Tips for Choosing the Best IaC Tool
There are many options available when it comes to choosing the best IaC tools in 2024, but here are the main factors you need to consider before investing:
- Team’s Experience Level – You should consider your team’s technical experience and see if the IaC tool is right for their requirements. Terraform and SentinelOne are great choice for teams with limited experience as they help with infrastructure automation and keeps codes simple.
- Community Support – Community support includes documentation, training, ongoing support, and forums where users can discuss their issues with the tool and share resources. Better community support translates to improved efficiency and productivity outcomes.
- Seamless Integrations – Your IaC tool should have no problems integrating with Terraform, GitLab, AWS, and other primary IaC templates. This can streamline deployments and make it easier to work on projects.
- Budget – Pricing should be another critical factor. You don’t want to exceed your company’s budget, and you want the right blend of features for the right pricing.
Conclusion
IaC tools can dramatically simplify your cloud infrastructure and make resource management seamless. With the rising number of deployments, there is an inherent need for cloud systems that can scale up or down based on workloads.
The chief benefits of these IaC tools are process automation, declarative paradigms, documentation and collaboration, and compliance with the latest industry and regulatory practices. Many companies face bottlenecks during development and don’t have a large team, so these tools are valuable for improving efficiency when designing projects.