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Chef vs Nolio Release Automation comparison

Progress Software and Broadcom are both solutions in the Release Automation category. Progress Software is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.0, while Broadcom is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. Progress Software holds a 1.2% mindshare in RA, compared to Broadcom’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Progress Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.
Chef
Read 19 Chef reviews
  • 1,238 Views
  • 272 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
Nolio Release Automation
Read 51 Nolio Release Automation reviews
  • 565 Views
  • 525 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Chef and Nolio Release Automation are competing in IT automation. Chef shines with extensive community support, while Nolio excels in advanced release management capabilities, making them suitable for different enterprise needs.

Features: Chef offers flexibility and scalability with a powerful infrastructure automation language and integrates well with various ecosystems. Its community support allows for handling complex configurations. Nolio, however, provides detailed application deployment capabilities, reducing downtime and enhancing deployment speed. Its comprehensive release management tools support complex enterprise environments.

Room for Improvement: Chef may face challenges with rollback processes and requires more intuitive user interface elements for less technical users. Some users find Chef's initial setup complex and in need of simplification. Additionally, smaller teams might struggle with scaling Chef operations efficiently. Nolio could improve on the complexity of its initial setup and streamline its UI to make it more user-friendly for beginners. Its dedicated support could offer enhanced self-service features, and the system may require a more straightforward approach to integrate newer technologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Chef offers a straightforward deployment model, benefiting from widespread community resources, which helps in seamless integration. Nolio, however, offers powerful automation capabilities tailored for large-scale deployments. Its dedicated customer support is beneficial for enterprises needing efficient and reliable technical assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Chef tends to have lower setup costs, appealing to startups and mid-sized companies looking for cost-effective automation solutions. Its open-source nature promises substantial ROI when fully utilized. Nolio demands a higher initial investment but provides significant ROI through its advanced, enterprise-grade functionalities, attracting larger organizations that value comprehensive release automation.

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To learn more, read our detailed Chef vs. Nolio Release Automation Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Chef vs. Nolio Release Automation
July 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.1
Chef improved deployment time, reduced human error, enhanced scalability, optimized resource use, and strengthened compliance and security management.
Sentiment score
6.0
Nolio Release Automation enhances continuous delivery reliability but may require licensing updates; standard setups implement quickly, boosting efficiency.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Customers commend Chef for its responsive support, active community, comprehensive documentation, and efficient issue resolution despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
6.7
Nolio Release Automation customer service is efficient and responsive, but users seek improvements in expertise and regional support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Chef is highly scalable, efficiently managing infrastructures of all sizes and accommodating numerous clients based on server capacity.
Sentiment score
7.0
Nolio Release Automation offers flexible scaling for many, although some face limitations with HA capabilities and infrastructure challenges.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Users rate Chef's stability 8-9/10, comparing it favorably to competitors like Ansible, and find it stable for various use cases.
Sentiment score
6.4
Nolio Release Automation's stability varies; newer versions improve performance, yet large-scale deployments sometimes experience challenges and slowness.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Chef report
This might be because it is a six-year-old version, and we are supporting nearly 1,500 applications and 15,000 to 16,000 agents.
For more quotes and insights, download the Nolio Release Automation report
 

Room For Improvement

Chef needs better support, pricing, role management, flexibility, documentation, integration, and improved automation to compete with Ansible.
Users seek better UI, stability, documentation, integration, and cost-efficiency in Nolio Release Automation for improved user experience.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Chef report
It is one of the greatest tools for continuous deployment, yet its popularity remains limited.
For more quotes and insights, download the Nolio Release Automation report
 

Setup Cost

Chef offers subscription plans with valuable automation features, but enterprise pricing is high and requires contacting sales for quotes.
Enterprise buyers find Nolio Release Automation expensive due to setup costs and licensing complexities, but appreciate CA's customized pricing support.
 

Valuable Features

Chef offers compliance, easy configuration management, and automation for IT infrastructure, integrating with CI processes and supporting multiple clouds.
Nolio Release Automation offers user-friendly, no-code deployment with flexible OS support, reducing errors and operational costs.
 

Categories and Ranking

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)
Nolio Release Automation
Ranking in Release Automation
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of Chef is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nolio Release Automation is 1.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Release Automation
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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Akhilesh B N - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time monitoring and seamless integration enhance deployment efficiency
The main disadvantage I see is the limited awareness of Nolio Release Automation in other organizations. It is a very nice tool, but its market presence is limited. I heard from the organization that the licensing cost was somewhat expensive. Perhaps focusing on marketing efforts would be beneficial. It is a really nice tool, and I am unsure why many organizations are not using Nolio Release Automation. It is one of the greatest tools for continuous deployment, yet its popularity remains limited. Some organizations are not aware of its existence. This might be an area worth researching and potentially developing new marketing strategies.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
9%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
63%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

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.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Chef?
Chef is priced based on the number of nodes.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
What do you like most about Nolio Release Automation?
One standout aspect is its architecture. We can configure multiple instances on a single server using different system names or usernames.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nolio Release Automation?
Nolio is a pretty much good tool, though its pricing is relatively high in the market. It's more expensive than other tools. The pricing could be cheaper. In our organization, we've been using it f...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Nolio Release Automation?
When I started using Nolio around eight months ago, a challenge was the lack of relevant information and related support for learning. There's also not many instructional materials and videos on pl...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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BigFix vs Chef
Compared 38% of the time
AWS CloudFormation vs Chef Logo
AWS CloudFormation vs Chef
Compared 10% of the time
AWS Systems Manager vs Chef Logo
AWS Systems Manager vs Chef
Compared 10% of the time
VMware Aria Automation vs Chef Logo
VMware Aria Automation vs Chef
Compared 8% of the time
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Chef Logo
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Chef
Compared 7% of the time
More Chef Competitors
GitLab vs Nolio Release Automation Logo
GitLab vs Nolio Release Automation
Compared 100% of the time
More Nolio Release Automation Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Chef
August 2025
Chef reportDownload Chef product report
Buyer's Guide
Nolio Release Automation
August 2025
Nolio Release Automation reportDownload Nolio Release Automation product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA Release Automation
 

Overview

Chef, is the leader in DevOps, driving collaboration through code to automate infrastructure, security, compliance and applications. Chef provides a single path to production making it faster and safer to add value to applications and meet the demands of the customer. Deployed broadly in production by the Global 5000 and used by more than half of the Fortune 500, Chef develops 100 percent of its software as open source under the Apache 2.0 license with no restrictions on its use. Chef Enterprise Automation Stack™, a commercial distribution, is developed solely from that open source code and unifies security, compliance, infrastructure and application automation with observability. Chef provides an unequaled developer experience for the Coded Enterprise by enabling users to express infrastructure, security policies and the application lifecycle as code, modernizing development, packaging and delivery of any application to any platform. For more information, visit http://chef.io and follow @chef.

Progress Software

CA Release Automation enables you to seamlessly connect the continuous delivery ecosystem to deliver high-quality applications faster than ever before. With this enterprise-ready solution, you can accelerate and stabilize application deployments from development to test to production. Its advanced capabilities can help you plan, manage and optimize the continuous delivery pipeline to improve release quality and efficiency. With CA Release Automation, get automated, agile release management that’s ready to work in your IT world.

Broadcom
 

Sample Customers

Facebook, Standard Bank, GE Capital, Nordstrom, Optum, Barclays, IGN, General Motors, Scholastic, Riot Games, NCR, Gap
CA Release Automation customers include Citrix, NIIT Technologies, ING Bank, Molina Healthcare, Swisscom, Bupa and Tesco. Read case studies from customers who are igniting and advancing their continuous delivery journey with CA Release Automation.
Buyer's Guide
Chef vs. Nolio Release Automation
July 2025
Free Report: Chef vs. Nolio Release Automation
Find out what your peers are saying about Chef vs. Nolio Release Automation and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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