Configuration Management tools can be complex to understand and navigate, especially when you're in the process of selecting one that aligns with your organization's goals. However, there’s no doubt about their importance and impact on the proper development and growth of businesses. And if you still have any doubts—let me tell you, they are essential.
That said, the market offers many options, each with different approaches, unique features, specific benefits, and varying pricing models. So, how do you choose the right one?
It all starts with solid research. Combined with our expertise in IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM), we’ve put together a curated list of the best Configuration Management tools for 2025. In this blog post, we’ll break them down in detail, helping you find the one that best fits your needs and your team’s capabilities.
What are Configuration Management tools?
To understand what a Configuration Management tool is and what it does, you first need to understand Configuration Management (CM) and its role within ITAM and ITSM. Simply put, CM is a process that involves managing and maintaining digital systems, hardware, or software to achieve the desired level of performance and functionality.
Configuration Management tools, like the ones described in this article, are software solutions that help you achieve this with several advantages, making the job easier, more effective, and more accurate. For example, many of these tools automate the tracking and updating of Configuration Items (CIs)—such as servers, applications, and network devices—reducing manual errors and ensuring IT environments remain consistent, optimized, and compliant.
Configuration Management vs. ITAM software
That being said, some IT tools also include Configuration Management capabilities. While they may not be as feature-rich as dedicated CM tools, they can be a great choice for organizations looking for a more integrated approach. By combining asset tracking, Lifecycle Management, and Compliance Management, ITAM tools with CM features allow IT teams to maintain a structured view of their IT environment while optimizing asset performance.
The choice between a dedicated Configuration Management tool and an ITAM tool with Configuration Management capabilities ultimately depends on your organization's needs. If you're looking for deep visibility into IT configurations a Configuration Management tool is the way to go.
On the other hand, if your focus is on financial tracking, Asset Lifecycle Management, and contract compliance, an ITAM tool with Configuration Management features like Configuration Management Database (CMDB) may be enough.
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InvGate Asset Management as your best option for IT Management
So, here’s the thing: while InvGate Asset Management is primarily an ITAM tool, it also provides key CM capabilities—especially when it comes to building and maintaining a CMDB. And that’s a great place to start your Configuration Management journey. You can start your free 30-day trial today!
The best part of choosing an ITAM tool for Configuration Management is that you get a complete set of capabilities to manage your IT infrastructure more effectively.
With InvGate Asset Management, you can:
1. Build a CMDB
How to Build a CMDB And Map Your Entire IT Infrastructure
Setting up a CMDB in InvGate Asset Management is a simple three-step process: create an inventory, define Business Applications, and organize the CMDB visualization.
Start by populating your inventory using manual entry, file imports, an agent, API connections, or InvGate Network Discovery feature. Then, create Business Applications to group related assets and track dependencies. Finally, use CMDB visualization to map relationships and monitor changes in real time.
With this setup, InvGate Asset Management gives you full visibility over your IT environment, making it easier to manage configurations, troubleshoot issues, and optimize resources.
2. Track CIs changes
Every CI has a lifecycle, and keeping track of its changes is essential for maintaining an accurate CMDB. InvGate Asset Management makes this easy with agent-based and agentless discovery, ensuring all assets are continuously monitored with full visualization.
The visual map provides a comprehensive view of all assets, systems, and applications, helping IT teams understand interconnections and identify failover, duplication, or redundancy needs. If performance degrades or an outage occurs, you can track all changes across assets in real-time.
Also, InvGate Asset Management health rules categorize CIs by status—green (safe), yellow (warning), and red (critical)—while smart tags automatically detect issues and trigger alerts, reducing downtime and ensuring timely interventions. The best part? You can fully automate the process.
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3. Integration with ITSM tools
Integration with ITSM tools is key and InvGate Asset Managemet has many integrations. We actually listed InvGate Asset Management’s integrations and their usage to help you make sure you are getting the most out of the solution. This helps improve Change Management, Incident Management, and Problem Management.
5 top Configuration Management tools for 2025
With so many Configuration Management tools out there, finding the right fit for your organization can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the top 5 CM tools for 2025, carefully selected based on our experience, market research, and industry relevance.
- Chef.
- Sysaid.
- Puppet.
- Ansible.
- Rudder.
#1: Chef Infra
Chef Infra is a Configuration Management tool that automates the configuration and management of servers across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. It offers key benefits such as automation and security compliance and its agent-based architecture ensures that each node operates independently, preventing cascading issues from excessive interdependence.
Chef Infra operates efficiently in low-bandwidth environments, making it suitable for large-scale enterprises, such as banks with multiple branches nationwide. Additionally, the Compliance Phase automates compliance auditing, generating detailed reports to streamline the process.
Chef Infra integrates seamlessly with platforms like Visual Studio Code, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, New Relic, Amazon EC2, Splunk, Slack, Device42, and JFrog, enhancing its versatility in diverse IT ecosystems.
Chef Infra reviews and comments
On G2, Chef Infra holds a 4.0 out of 5 stars, with users praising its automation capabilities, scalability, and compliance features. One user highlighted:
"Configure automation with Chef. This works on a pull mechanism and configures bulk servers in a single go."
Anshul S.
DevOps Engineer
However, some users mention a learning curve and suggest broader adoption beyond enterprise environments.
Chef Infra pricing model
Chef Infra offers a 60-day free trial, allowing organizations to test its full capabilities before making a commitment. While official pricing is not publicly listed, Chef provides flexible purchasing options:
- Direct purchase for customizable bundles and enterprise pricing.
- Cloud marketplace availability (AWS and Azure) for faster procurement and deployment.
For exact pricing details, contact Chef directly through their website.
#2. SysAid
SysAid is a ITSM solution with Configuration Management capabilities that allows organizations to efficiently manage and track IT assets while ensuring optimal performance and compliance.
SysAid's features include Asset Management, Incident Management, workflow automation, and a self-service portal, all designed to streamline IT operations and enhance service delivery. Although it’s primarily an ITSM tool, SysAid enables users to easily create a CMDB and track CIs through its network discovery and mapping feature.
Additionally, SysAid offers a root cause analysis system, which color-codes CIs based on their health status. Users also gain a visual map of dependencies, highlighting other related components that would be affected in the event of a failure.
SysAid reviews and comments
On Gartner Peer Insights, SysAid holds a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars, with users highlighting its effective Asset Management and workflow automation. One reviewer noted:
“Our overall experience with SysAid has been positive, especially in Asset Management and workflow automation. It has improved resolution times and communication.”
IT professional
Gartner Peer Insights
However, some users have pointed out areas for improvement, such as the user interface and mobile access.
SysAid pricing model
SysAid offers three main pricing plans:
- Help Desk: Includes incident management, self-service portal, service catalog, and asset management.
- ITSM: Adds ITIL package, workflow automation, third-party integrations, company management, and advanced Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
- Enterprise: Provides unlimited automation rules, custom columns, and premium services.
Specific pricing details are not publicly disclosed; interested organizations are encouraged to contact SysAid directly for a personalized quote. A free trial is available, allowing potential users to explore SysAid's features before committing.
#3. Puppet
Puppet is a Configuration Management tool that automates infrastructure provisioning, configuration, and compliance across various environments. It uses a declarative language or Ruby to define system configurations, ensuring that infrastructure remains consistent and self-healing.
Puppet organizes configurations into modules and uses manifest files to specify the desired-state goals. It continuously monitors systems for configuration drift and automatically applies corrections if deviations occur.
Key features include scheduled configuration enforcement, automated Compliance Management, and alerting for system drift. Puppet integrates with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Terraform, ServiceNow, Splunk, Red Hat Satellite, and Dell EMC, making it ideal for managing complex cloud infrastructures at scale.
Puppet reviews and comments
On G2, Puppet Enterprise holds a rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. Users appreciate its ability to eliminate repetitive tasks by automating configurations across multiple systems. One reviewer noted:
“Good declarative software Configuration Management tool that can be scaled well. If you structure your code to follow the official ‘the roles and profiles method’ - then it is easy to build a reusable and configurable configuration management system.”
Anton S.
Senior Systems Engineer
G2 reviews
However, some users have observed a decline in community support over the years, which may affect those relying on community-driven assistance.
Puppet pricing model
Puppet offers both an open-source version and a commercial Puppet Enterprise edition. While specific pricing details for Puppet Enterprise are not publicly disclosed, interested organizations are encouraged to contact Puppet directly for a personalized quote. A free trial is available, allowing potential users to explore Puppet's features before making a commitment.
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#4. Ansible
Ansible is an open-source automation platform that simplifies Configuration Management, infrastructure orchestration, and application deployment. Unlike traditional CM tools, Ansible uses an agentless architecture, relying on SSH and WinRM for communication, which minimizes system overhead and simplifies deployment.
Ansible is widely used for event-driven automation, allowing IT teams to trigger a chain of events from a single action—reducing time spent on repetitive tasks. It supports automation execution environments, ensuring uniform configurations across platforms to maintain compliance.
One of Ansible’s standout features is its playbook-based approach, where YAML files define tasks, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical users. It also offers push and pull automation modes, providing flexibility in managing infrastructure at scale.
Ansible integrates with SAP, VMware, Red Hat Virtualization, Vagrant, XenServer, ServiceNow, NGINX, AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, making it a powerful choice for cloud and hybrid environments.
Ansible reviews and comments
On G2, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform holds a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. Users commend its simplicity and efficiency in automation and configuration management. One reviewer noted:
“A good automation tool to reduce manual work. One of the most valuable features is automation & agentless. It has an easy-to-use interface, provides deep automation capabilities which help removing multiple manual processes in the IT workflow. It uses a CLI by default. Those accustomed to it can find their way and adopt the YAML files easily over time. But, some users are more comfortable using UIs.Complexity in third-party service integration. Price is a bit high.”
Naresh K.
Network Security Engineer
G2 reviews
However, some users have observed that while Ansible is powerful, it may require a learning curve for those unfamiliar with automation tools.
Ansible pricing model
Ansible offers both a free, open-source version and a commercial offering known as the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Specific pricing details for the enterprise version are not publicly disclosed; interested organizations are encouraged to contact Red Hat directly for a personalized quote.
A free trial is available, allowing potential users to explore Ansible's features before making a commitment.
#5. Rudder
Rudder is an open-source Configuration Management and continuous auditing platform that allows system administrators to automate and manage IT infrastructure from a unified platform. Built on CFEngine, Rudder combines CM with Asset Management, helping IT teams identify nodes and their characteristics to execute precise configuration tasks.
Rudder operates with a lightweight agent installed on each managed node, ensuring continuous monitoring and enforcement of configuration policies. Even if network connectivity is lost, Rudder’s automation system continues applying configurations, maintaining system integrity.
One of Rudder’s standout capabilities is its Patch Management system, which supports multiple operating systems simultaneously while accounting for system-specific differences. It provides high visibility into patching campaigns, including event logs, detailed success/failure reports, and shareable history.
Rudder integrates with Centreon, Consul, ELK, OpenScap, Hashicorp Vault, Zabbix, Ansible AWX, iTop, ServiceNow, and Rundeck, making it a versatile option for organizations with diverse IT environments.
Rudder Reviews and Comments
Users appreciate Rudder’s compliance-driven automation, user-friendly interface, and strong visibility into system updates. It has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. One reviewer noted:
With Rudder we are able to maintain a global overview of critical infrastructure and reassure our customers that we are in control constantly. So far the only thing i "dislike" and it's a minor in comparison to the time we save, is the configuration editor would love a more visual editor with a flow like interface. Think node red as an example.
Matthew F.
G2 reviews.
However, as with most open-source tools, some users mention that advanced configurations may require additional technical expertise.
Rudder pricing model
Rudder offers a subscription-based pricing model with two plans: Standard (€80–€130 per node per year) and Premium (€100–€150 per node per year). Both plans include one module (either Configuration & Patch Management or Security Management), with an option to add the second module for €50 per node per year.
The Standard Plan includes 18 months of maintenance, email and portal support, and 10 hours of assistance for two support users under a standard SLA. The Premium Plan extends maintenance to 24 months, adds phone and Slack support, 20 hours of assistance for ten users, and includes a dedicated Customer Success Manager with a premium SLA.
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How to choose a Configuration Management system
Selecting the right CM system is crucial for maintaining a stable, secure, and well-managed IT infrastructure. With so many options available, it's important to focus on key factors that ensure efficiency, usability, and compatibility with your organization's needs.
#1: Core functionality
A good CM system should do more than just automate configurations—it should also provide monitoring to prevent system overload, notifications and alerts to track updates and system status, and detailed reporting to help IT teams maintain visibility into their infrastructure.
#2: Key features to look for
The best Configuration Management tools go beyond the basics. Look for:
- Monitoring to detect and address issues before they escalate.
- Customizable dashboards for a tailored and intuitive user experience.
- Automation capabilities to reduce manual workload and improve efficiency.
#3: Usability & learning curve
A CM tool should streamline workflows, not complicate them. Consider tools that are easy to integrate into your existing environment and require minimal training for teams with the right technical expertise. A short learning curve and intuitive interface can significantly improve adoption and efficiency.
#4: Integration capabilities
Since Configuration Management tools work alongside various other IT solutions, strong integrations are a must. Prioritize tools that connect seamlessly with:
- Cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
- Collaboration tools such as Slack and Jira.
By considering these factors, you can select a Configuration Management system that fits your IT environment while enhancing automation, security, and operational efficiency.
Conclusion
Choosing the right Configuration Management tool is essential for maintaining stability, efficiency, and compliance in your IT environment. With options like Chef Infra, SysAid, Puppet, Ansible, and Rudder, the key is to find a solution that aligns with your automation, integration, and usability needs.
Whether you need a dedicated CM tool or an ITAM solution with CM capabilities, the right choice will help your IT team reduce manual work, enhance security, and streamline operations. With a well-managed infrastructure, your organization can stay agile, efficient, and ready for growth.
