Best cfn-nag Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 apps from infrastructure testing tools ranked against cfn-nag on the same published basis.
- 1cfn-nag vs AWS CloudFormation
- 2cfn-nag vs Conftest
- 3cfn-nag vs cfn-lint
- 4cfn-nag vs Chef InSpec
- 5cfn-nag vs Cinc Auditor
- 6cfn-nag vs KICS
- 7cfn-nag vs kubeconform
- 8cfn-nag vs OpenSCAP
- 9cfn-nag vs Test Kitchen
- 10cfn-nag vs TFLint
- 12cfn-nag vs Checkov
- 13cfn-nag vs KubeLinter
- 14cfn-nag vs terraform-plugin-testing
- 15cfn-nag vs Terratest
- 16cfn-nag vs terraform-compliance
- 17cfn-nag vs Sonobuoy
- 18cfn-nag vs kube-score
- 19cfn-nag vs Molecule
- 20cfn-nag vs Cloud-Radar
- 21cfn-nag vs ClusterLoader2
cfn-nag alternatives compared
| # | App | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AWS CloudFormation | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 2 | Conftest | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 3 | cfn-lint | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 4 | Chef InSpec | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 5 | Cinc Auditor | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 6 | KICS | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 7 | kubeconform | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 8 | OpenSCAP | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 9 | Test Kitchen | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 10 | TFLint | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 12 | Checkov | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac |
| 13 | KubeLinter | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted |
| 14 | terraform-plugin-testing | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac |
| 15 | Terratest | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | Linux |
| 16 | terraform-compliance | 6.3 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 17 | Sonobuoy | 5.6 | No | — | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 18 | kube-score | 5.5 | No | — | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 19 | Molecule | 5.4 | No | — | Linux |
| 20 | Cloud-Radar | 5.3 | No | — | — |
| 21 | ClusterLoader2 | 5.3 | No | — | self-hosted |
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Questions about cfn-nag alternatives
What is the best alternative to cfn-nag?
AWS CloudFormation, number 1 in infrastructure testing tools with a score of 6.6 out of 10. The others here: Conftest, cfn-lint, Chef InSpec and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to cfn-nag?
AWS CloudFormation is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 15 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked free-and-open first: a usable free tier and open-source code, then the platforms it runs on and its documentation.