Introduction: Policy-as-Code (PaC) tools have emerged as essential solutions, enabling organizations to define, automate, and enforce policies through code. This approach ensures consistency, reduces manual errors, and enhances compliance across complex infrastructures. As we navigate 2025, selecting the right PaC tool is crucial for effective governance. This article delves into the top 10 Policy-as-Code tools, examining their features, pricing, licensing options, and integration capabilities to assist in your IT budget planning for 2025.

What is Policy-as-code?

Policy-as-Code (PaC) is a method of defining and managing security and IT governance policies using code, enabling automated enforcement, validation, and auditing, which reduces human error and improves consistency.  

Benefits:

Automation: Automates policy enforcement, reducing manual checks and human errors.  

Consistency: Ensures policies are consistently applied across all environments.  

Version Control: Policies can be versioned and tracked in a way that is similar to code, ensuring everyone uses the latest version.  

Collaboration: Facilitates easier collaboration and sharing of policies among different teams.  

Compliance: Helps organizations comply with industry regulations and standards.  

Efficiency: Streamlines policy management and reduces the time required for compliance checks.

Here are the leading Policy-as-Code tools that can help enforce IT and security governance:

1. Spacelift

Overview:

Spacelift is a modern CI/CD and infrastructure governance platform that manages Terraform, Pulumi, AWS CloudFormation, and Kubernetes. Unlike Sentinel, which is deeply tied to the HashiCorp ecosystem, Spacelift is tool-agnostic and supports Open Policy Agent (OPA) and the Rego language to define and enforce policies-as-code across IaC pipelines.

Pricing & Licensing:  

• Free Tier: For individual users or small teams.

• Team/Business Plans: Based on usage (per run, per seat).

• Spacelift Licensing Options: Freemium, Team, and Enterprise subscriptions with usage-based scaling.

Best Use Cases:  

• Organizations using multiple IaC tools (Terraform, Pulumi, etc.)

• Enterprises needing flexible policy enforcement across stacks

• Teams looking for OPA-based compliance management

Pros:

• Open-source policy language (Rego)

• Flexible integration across IaC tools

• Strong GitOps and CI/CD support

 

Cons:

• It may require a Rego learning curve

• Paid plans needed for enterprise-grade governance

Rating :
Gartner : 5/5 - 1 Review
G2 : 5/5 - 6 Reviews

Screenshot :  

2. Hashicorp Nomad

Overview: Nomad is a simple, flexible, and powerful workload orchestrator developed by HashiCorp, designed to deploy and manage containers and non-containerized applications across multi-cloud and on-prem environments.

It is a lightweight alternative to Kubernetes and is especially valued for its simplicity, speed, and support for diverse workloads like Docker, Java, QEMU, Windows services, and more.

Pricing & Licensing:  

• Open Source Version: Free under MPL 2.0 license.

• Enterprise Version (Nomad Enterprise): Includes features like advanced ACLs, namespaces, and audit logging.

• Nomad Pricing: Quote-based pricing for enterprise; Open Source version free to use.

• Open Source: Community version under Mozilla Public License.

• Enterprise Tier: Licensed by HashiCorp with SLA, support, and governance features.

Best Use Cases:  

• Organizations looking for a lightweight alternative to Kubernetes.

• Hybrid or multi-cloud environments.

• Teams need to orchestrate non-container workloads alongside containers.

• Developers running batch processing or legacy applications.

Pros:

• Fast, minimalistic, and efficient

• Great for mixed workloads (containers + legacy apps)

• Excellent performance under heavy load

• Integrates well with HashiCorp stack (Vault, Consul, Terraform)

Cons:

• It is a smaller ecosystem than Kubernetes

• Fewer community resources and plug-ins

• UI and native monitoring are more limited compared to other orchestrators

Rating :
Gartner : 4/5 - 1 Review
G2 : 4/5 - 10 Reviews

Screenshot :

3. AWS Config

Overview: AWS Config is a service that enables you to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources. It allows for continuous monitoring and recording of AWS resource configurations.  

Pricing & Licensing: AWS Config pricing is based on the number of configuration items recorded and active AWS Config rules. Detailed pricing is available on the AWS website.  

Best Use Cases: Ideal for organizations heavily utilizing AWS services and seeking native policy enforcement.  

Pros:

• Deep integration with AWS services.  

• Comprehensive compliance tracking.  

Cons:

• Limited to AWS environment.  

Rating :
Gartner : 4.5/5 - 159 Reviews
G2 : 4.5/5 - 48 Reviews

Screenshot :  

4. Azure Policy

Overview: Azure Policy helps you manage and enforce organizational standards and assess compliance at a scale. It integrates with Azure services to provide real-time policy enforcement.  

Pricing & Licensing: Azure Policy is offered as part of Azure services, with costs associated with the resources being monitored.  

Best Use Cases: Best suited for organizations utilizing Microsoft Azure seeking integrated policy management.  

Pros:

• Seamless integration with Azure services.  

• Real-time compliance assessment.  

Cons:

• Limited to Azure environment.  

Rating :
Gartner : 4.5/5 - 2186 Reviews
G2 : 4.5/5 - 20 Reviews

Screenshot :

5.  Pulumi CrossGuard

Overview: Pulumi CrossGuard is Pulumi’s Policy-as-Code framework, designed to enforce security, compliance, and cost policies across infrastructure deployments. Like Sentinel for Terraform, CrossGuard lets you write policies that run before resources are provisioned — but it supports multiple languages, including TypeScript, Python, Go, and .NET.

Pulumi CrossGuard Pricing & Licensing Options:

Pulumi Open Source: Free and community supported.  
Pulumi Enterprise: Includes CrossGuard with policy packs, advanced controls, SSO, RBAC, and audit logs.
Flexible licensing options for teams, businesses, and enterprises.

Best Use Cases:

• Organizations using Pulumi IaC or seeking a modern, multi-language IaC tool.

• Teams enforce security, cost, and compliance controls at deployment time.

• Enterprises with DevSecOps pipelines and multi-cloud environments.

Pros:

• Uses familiar programming languages (TypeScript, Python, etc.)

• Supports fine-grained policies for cost, compliance, security

• Works well with CI/CD pipelines

Cons:

• Primarily built for use with Pulumi (not Terraform)

• Smaller ecosystem compared to Terraform

Rating :
Gartner : 3.5/5 - 3 Reviews
G2 : 5/5 - 25 Reviews

Screenshot :

6. Chef InSpec

Pricing & Licensing:
Chef InSpec is open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Enterprise versions (Chef Automate) come with premium support and dashboarding — pricing is available via Chef’s sales team.

Best Use Cases:
Great for DevSecOps teams aiming for compliance-as-code and continuous compliance checks in hybrid environments.

Pros:

• Human-readable policy definitions

• Wide OS and cloud support

• Powerful audit automation

Cons:

• May require Chef ecosystem for full benefits

Rating :
Gartner : 4.1/5 - 18 reviews
G2 : 4/5 - 105 Reviews

Screenshot :

7. Fugue by Snyk

Overview:
Fugue (now part of Snyk) offers cloud security posture management (CSPM) with robust policy-as-code capabilities, enabling continuous cloud compliance via Rego (OPA-based) rules.

Pricing & Licensing:
Fugue offers a free tier and paid plans (custom enterprise pricing). Snyk’s complete platform is sold under a seat or enterprise license.

Best Use Cases:
Cloud-native AWS, Azure, and GCP environments need continuous compliance and infrastructure visibility.

Pros:

• Rego-based policies

• Integrates with CI/CD

• Great for multi-cloud governance

Cons:

• Advanced features gated in enterprise tier

Rating :
Gartner : 4.5/5 - 185 Reviews
G2 : 4.5/5 - 122 Reviews

Screenshot :

8. Styra Declarative Authorization Service (DAS)

Overview:
Styra DAS is a commercial control plane for managing OPA policies at scale, especially in Kubernetes and microservices ecosystems.

Pricing & Licensing:
Free community tier available. The enterprise tier includes support, monitoring, audit logging, and pricing on request.

Best Use Cases:
Enterprises using OPA at scale, especially with Kubernetes for RBAC, admission control, and compliance.

Pros:

• Built on OPA

• Enterprise observability & dashboards

• Strong Kubernetes integration

Cons:

• Premium features locked in an enterprise tier

Rating :
Gartner: N/A
G2 : 4.5/5 - 3 Reviews

Screenshot :

9. KICS (Keeping Infrastructure as Code Secure) by Checkmarx

Overview:
KICS is an open-source IaC scanning tool developed by Checkmarx, designed to detect vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance issues in Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, CloudFormation, Ansible, and more. KICS is lightweight, fast, and designed to integrate seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines.

It operates similarly to Checkov but focuses on developer-centric security, aligning with DevSecOps practices and cloud-native infrastructure security.

Pricing & Licensing Options:

• 100% Free & Open Source under Apache 2.0.

• Enterprise-grade features available via Checkmarx One offer integrated SAST, DAST, SCA, and IaC security.

• Licensing Options: Open source community + paid enterprise tier through the Checkmarx platform.

Best Use Cases:

• Developers and DevOps teams need fast IaC scanning across multiple formats.

• CI/CD pipelines requiring IaC security checks pre-deployment.

• Enterprises looking to consolidate IaC scanning with broader application security tools.

Pros:

• Supports a wide range of IaC formats

• High-speed scanning and CLI-friendly

• Easy to integrate into GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.

Cons:

• Lacks policy customization depth compared to OPA/Conftest

• Fewer advanced analytics and dashboards unless integrated with Checkmarx One

Rating :
Gartner : 4.5/5 - 431 Reviews
G2 : 4/5 - 35 Reviews

Screenshot :

10. Kyverno by Nirmata

Overview:
Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine that allows users to manage and enforce policies as Kubernetes resources—without needing to learn a separate policy language like Rego. It’s designed for cluster administrators who want to easily enforce security, governance, and compliance across Kubernetes clusters.

Kyverno automates tasks like validating, mutating, and generating configurations, making it ideal for GitOps, DevSecOps, and platform engineering workflows.

Pricing & Licensing:

• Free & Open Source (Apache 2.0 License)

• The enterprise version by Nirmata includes advanced features like multi-cluster policy management, UI dashboards, and support.

• Licensing Options: Open source + Enterprise license for large teams  

Best Use Cases:

• Kubernetes administrators looking for native YAML-based policy writing

• GitOps teams needing policy-as-code with automatic resource mutation

• Organizations needing compliance enforcement at the cluster level

Pros:

• Native Kubernetes CRD support (no external policy language needed)

• Easy integration with ArgoCD, Flux, and CI/CD

• Can auto-generate configs and mutate resources

Cons:

• Smaller community than OPA/Gatekeeper

• Enterprise features require a Nirmata license

Rating :
Gartner : 4.9/5 - 11 review
G2 : N/A

Screenshot :

Comparison Table: Top 10 Policy-as-Code Tools for Enforcing IT & Security Governance in 2025

Conclusion: Choosing the Right Policy-as-Code Tool for Your 2025 Governance Needs

As IT infrastructure grows in complexity, adopting the right Policy-as-Code tool is essential to automate governance, enforce compliance, and secure operations. Whether operating in cloud-native, hybrid, or enterprise environments, the above tools offer flexible options for various technical and budgetary needs.

When making your final decision, consider:

• Licensing models (open source vs. enterprise)

• Pricing structure for IT budget planning in 2025

• Integration capabilities with your existing tech stack

• Usability for DevOps/SecOps teams

👀 Keep Track of Licenses and Usage with CloudNuro

Managing multiple PaC tools across environments can become a visibility nightmare. CloudNuro simplifies this by offering a centralized SaaS management platform recognized by Gartner and InfoTech, helping IT leaders:

• Track tool adoption and license usage

• Prevent policy drift across environments

• Control costs and manage renewals efficiently

➡️ Book a Demo with CloudNuro.ai to see how it helps you enforce security governance and optimize your SaaS stack.

‍