Key Difference: Puppet is an automation software from Puppet Labs. The term puppet is generally associated with the company’s open source configuration management software.  Puppet Enterprise is another software product form Puppet Labs. However unlike Puppet, it is a commercial software product. Puppet Enterprise provides advanced features than in comparison to free Puppet.

Puppet and Puppet Enterprise are two software products form Puppet Labs. Puppet denotes an open-source automation tool. It comprises of a declarative language to express system configuration, a client and server to distribute it and a library. It is released under the Apache 2.0 license.

Working: The servers and workstations are all referred to as nodes. It is quiet beneficial for large organizations. Puppet master manages all the nodes. Puppet master keeps on checking the nodes. The desired state is always kept on mind. The node sends facts (abut current state) to the puppetmaster, and the puppet master maintains a catalogue regarding how the nodes must be configured. This catalogue is sent back to the node and the necessary changes are made by the node.

Puppet Enterprise is also a product from Puppet Labs. However, it is a commercial product. It has been created by taking assistance from various open software projects, which also includes Puppet. It is considered to be a comprehensive solution for automating the business critical enterprise infrastructure. It automates the repetitive tasks and also deploys critical applications in a quick and efficient manner. It has the ability to proactively manage the infrastructure at premises or cloud.

Both Puppet and Puppet Enterprise are products from the same company and possess many common features. However, there are numerous features in Puppet Enterprise which cannot be availed from Puppet. For example – Puppet enterprise has a graphical interface. It possesses Unified cross-platform installer of all components.

Comparison between Puppet and Puppet Enterprise:

                                                               (*the differences in the table have been taken form puppetlabs.com)

Image Courtesy: puppetlabs.com, blog.trifork.co