Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Scalr VS CloudMapper

Compare Scalr VS CloudMapper and see what are their differences

Scalr logo Scalr

Scalr is cloud management software for public & private infrastructure

CloudMapper logo CloudMapper

CloudMapper helps you analyze your Amazon Web Services (AWS) environments. - duo-labs/cloudmapper
  • Scalr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-03
  • CloudMapper Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27

Scalr features and specs

  • Cost Management
    Scalr provides robust cost-management features, enabling organizations to track, optimize, and reduce their cloud expenditure efficiently.
  • Policy-Driven Automation
    It offers policy-driven automation which helps enforce governance and compliance across cloud environments, ensuring consistency and security.
  • Multi-Cloud Support
    Scalr supports multiple cloud providers, allowing organizations to manage diverse cloud infrastructures through a unified platform.
  • Scalability
    The platform is designed to scale with the organization, supporting the growth and changing needs of businesses.
  • Self-Service Portal
    Provides end-users with a self-service portal to access resources quickly, streamlining operations and boosting productivity.

Possible disadvantages of Scalr

  • Complexity
    The extensive features and customization options can introduce complexity, potentially lengthening the learning curve for new users.
  • Cost
    While it helps manage cloud costs, the pricing for Scalr itself might be a concern for small organizations with limited budgets.
  • Integration Challenges
    Integrating Scalr with existing IT systems and processes might require additional time and resources, especially for legacy setups.
  • Limited Offline Support
    Certain functionalities might be less effective in environments with limited internet connectivity, impacting remote or offline operations.
  • Vendor Dependence
    Organizations relying heavily on Scalr for cloud management may face challenges if needing to switch vendors or platforms in the future.

CloudMapper features and specs

  • Visualization
    CloudMapper provides detailed visualizations of AWS environments, helping users understand complex architectures and relationships between different resources.
  • Security Auditing
    It offers tools for security auditing, allowing users to identify potential security vulnerabilities within their AWS configurations.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source tool, CloudMapper is freely accessible to anyone and can be modified to suit specific needs or integrated with other tools, benefiting from community contributions.
  • Reporting
    The tool can generate reports that summarize findings, which is useful for understanding compliance status and areas that require attention.
  • Customization
    CloudMapper can be customized to focus on particular resources or types of analysis, allowing users to tailor it to their specific environment requirements.

Possible disadvantages of CloudMapper

  • AWS Specific
    CloudMapper is designed specifically for AWS, making it unsuitable for users who operate within other cloud environments like Azure or Google Cloud Platform.
  • Complexity
    The setup and operation of CloudMapper can be complex and may require a certain level of technical expertise, which can be a barrier for smaller teams or those with limited technical resources.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running CloudMapper, especially in large environments, can be resource exhaustive, potentially impacting performance of other operations or requiring additional resources to manage.
  • Maintenance
    Being open-source, regular updates and maintenance are crucial for security and compatibility, which can be a challenge for organizations without dedicated resources.
  • Limited Support
    Support is largely community-driven, which might not be sufficient for organizations needing immediate or customized help with troubleshooting or using the tool.

Analysis of CloudMapper

Overall verdict

  • CloudMapper is a solid, free open-source tool for visualizing and auditing AWS network architecture, particularly useful for security assessments and understanding VPC configurations, though it requires technical setup and is AWS-focused with less active development than commercial alternatives.

Why this product is good

  • Generates visual network diagrams of AWS environments, making it easier to understand VPC, subnet, and security group relationships
  • Open-source and free to use, allowing full customization and inspection of the codebase
  • Includes security auditing features to identify publicly exposed resources and misconfigurations
  • Developed by Duo Security/Cisco, giving it credibility from a reputable security-focused organization
  • Useful for compliance documentation and architecture reviews without needing paid third-party tools
  • Supports multiple AWS accounts, which is helpful for organizations with complex cloud footprints

Recommended for

  • Security teams conducting AWS infrastructure audits
  • DevOps engineers needing quick visual documentation of cloud architecture
  • Organizations with budget constraints seeking free alternatives to paid cloud visualization tools
  • Teams already familiar with Python and comfortable with command-line tools
  • Compliance and audit professionals requiring network diagrams for documentation
  • Users specifically working within AWS environments (not multi-cloud scenarios)

Scalr videos

scalr review

More videos:

  • Demo - Get Started with the Scalr Basics
  • Demo - Terraform Reports in Scalr

CloudMapper videos

Securing DevOps Show & Tell: Cloudmapper w/ Scott Piper

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Scalr and CloudMapper)
Infrastructure As Code
100 100%
0% 0
Diagrams
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
74 74%
26% 26
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Scalr might be a bit more popular than CloudMapper. We know about 4 links to it since March 2021 and only 3 links to CloudMapper. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Scalr mentions (4)

  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Scalr.com - Scalr is a Terraform Automation and COllaboration (TACO) product used to better collaboration and automation on infrastructure and configurations managed by Terraform. Full Terraform CLI support, OPA integration, and a hierarchical configuration model. No SSO tax. All features are included. Use up to 50 runs/month for free. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Monthly 'Shameless Self Promotion' thread - 2022/01
    Scalr is a tool that was created to give the Terraform community an affordable alternative to Terraform Cloud/Enterprise. Scalr is the only product in the space that has a hierarchical model to allow for object inheritance/sharing from a top-down perspective, cross-environment/workspace visibility, and custom RBAC to accommodate any complex org standards. Scalr can operate in a centralized or decentralized way... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Free for dev - list of software (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.)
    Scalr.com - Remote state & operations backend for Terraform with full CLI support, integration with OPA and a hierarchical configuration model. Free up to 5 users. - Source: dev.to / about 5 years ago
  • How to continuously apply TF code?
    Actually, the "TACoS" term was coined by Sebastian, CTO of Scalr. Source: over 5 years ago

CloudMapper mentions (3)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Scalr and CloudMapper, you can also consider the following products

Spacelift.io - Collaborative Infrastructure For Modern Software Teams

Archium.io - Archium gives your team an interactive architecture model of your system, created automatically from your distributed tracing data.

env0 - The Best Way to Manage Your Terraform and Infrastructure as Code Manage, deploy, scale, and control all your Terraform, Terragrunt, Pulumi, and related frameworks

Structurizr - Structurizr is a workspace editor that creates software architecture diagrams and documentation based on the C4 model.

Morpheus - Morpheus is integration software designed to help major cloud infrastructure work in harmony. For example, if a company has assets on both Google's and Amazon's cloud services, Morpheus helps bridge the gap to improve productivity.

IcePanel - Collaborative modelling and diagramming tool based on the C4 model. Software architecture design made fun! ๐ŸงŠ