ControlMonkey vs. Firefly

Considering a ControlMonkey alternative?

Here’s a walkthrough for DevOps pros who just want to know what their options are.

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Firefly is a Cloud Infrastructure Automation platform—and alternative to ControlMonkey—that lets you:

Enforce policies across code, CI/CD, & cloud with governance-as-code

Inventory, sort, and filter through all your cloud assets

Understand your IaC coverage and status

Provision IaC pipelines and adopt GitOps automations

Detect and remediate configuration drift in real time

Codify your cloud easily and automatically with best practices

Use comprehensive asset history for disaster recovery and rollback

Continuously scan your entire cloud footprint, across multi-cloud environments, IaC frameworks, Kubernetes clusters, and SaaS applications

See how Firefly stacks up against ControlMonkey

Firefly

ControlMonkey

Cloud Scanning + Inventory

Firefly

Discover and inventory all cloud metadata and configurations; maps any IaC AND detects unmanaged resources

ControlMonkey

Limited visibility into cloud resources. Relies on cloud resource explorer - shows limited number of asset types, and doesn’t provide configuration details. Only for AWS, GCP and Azure.

Asset History

Firefly

Complete change log, with ability to revert to previous versions

ControlMonkey

No asset history

Codification

Firefly

Generates IaC code in any language, creates modules, uses module call, and nested modules

ControlMonkey

Only works for OpenTofu or Terraform. Not supporting modules

Code with explicit values and variables only - not best practice

Drift Detection

Firefly

Near real-time detection at scale, does not require plan/apply to engage

Maps cloud events against cloud resources against ideal state configurations for full fidelity context of who, what, when + configuration history

ControlMonkey

Inconsistent, time lapsed scanning at large scale, because function is based only at plan/apply. Does not provide context or historical configurations to revert to previous configs.

Drift Fix (Remediation)

Firefly

Firefly uniquely calls modules/repos, allowing non-expert IaC engineers to automate fix IaC by opening PR

ControlMonkey

Offer reconciliation and code remediation

Governance-as-Code

Firefly

Unified governance engine across code, CI/CD, and cloud deployed resources, including unmanaged resources

Built-in FinOps cost estimation

Firefly has a natural language translator into Open Policy Agent (OPA) so more engineers can use it without the need for OPA training/expertise

AI-remediation for policy violations

ControlMonkey

Only supported at plan/apply for net new infrastructure. It won’t apply on manual changes and unmanaged resources. Runs only in deployment stage

InfraCost - need additional license

Has multiple policy packs

CI/CD

Firefly

Provision and orchestrate IaC seamlessly within your existing CI/CD, for any IaC

Not blocked in case of downtime

ControlMonkey

Cumbersome migration and slow onboarding

Vendor lock - doesn’t integrate with existing CI/CD

Disaster Recovery + Business Resilience

Firefly

Rollback to previous stored configurations

Independent backup for all cloud configurations + IaC code

ControlMonkey

Rollback to previous state of the entire infrastructure

5 reasons you shouldn’t use Firefly as a ControlMonkey alternative

If Firefly isn’t the right Cloud Infrastructure Automation solution for you, we won’t waste your time. But how do you know if Firefly is not a good fit for your business?

If you’re the kind of DevOps pro who *prefers* to keep things highly manual, strategically inefficient, and full of surprises, you’re all set to embrace the chaos with ControlMonkey. (You should leave this page now. But we’ll be here if you change your mind).

If you want to remain blissfully unaware of what's happening in your cloud — and need to feel the rush of excitement that comes with surprise cloud resources.

In this case, you have no need for complete oversight of your assets, not even in complex multi-cloud environments. Understanding the proportion of your cloud that's codified in IaC and unmanaged, plus what has drifted (in any IaC language)? Overrated.

If you enjoy incorporating yet another tool into your existing tech stack, or depending on a separate CI/CD platform that doesn't integrate with your current workflow.

For you, exercising extreme patience when faced with lengthy onboarding and complex setup processes is simply a way to build character.

If manual codification sounds like an excellent lesson in doing things the hard way, and you're ready for the challenge.

Note: you might also need to appreciate unnecessary manual work instead of utilizing templates (or modules), not mind using subpar code that doesn't adhere to best practices, or enjoy the constant company of toil in your workplace.

If you prefer the adrenaline rush of discovering critical infrastructure has silently changed weeks ago.

Firefly's event-driven, real-time drift detection eliminates the exciting guesswork traditionally required when troubleshooting production issues, and will surely disappoint. Plus, flexible remediation paths (both Git-to-Cloud and Cloud-to-Code) make fixing these drifts painfully straightforward.

If you enjoy the excitement of discovering compliance violations during an audit, or prefer the flexibility of inconsistent governance.

Your team probably prefers policy enforcement that only works during deployments, and skips over manual changes or unmanaged resources. Congrats — your DevOps engineers must also be immune to human error, work exclusively with perfectly codified infra, and somehow don’t need visibility into runtime drift or shadow IT.

Weighing your options?
Book a demo to see Firefly at work

Without Firefly, you're left with ControlMonkey’s limited visibility, delayed drift detection, naive codification support, and potential vendor lock-in. But hey, some people enjoy living on the edge — and if that sounds familiar, we applaud your courage.

Why Firefly?

Comprehensive asset visibility & inventory

Simplified IaC provisioning

Use your preferred CI/CD

Real-time drift detection & remediation

Multi-language IaC support & codification

Unified governance across cloud resources

Self-hosted options for true control