FAQ

Gruntwork vs the competition, at a glance

Here's a quick comparison of how Gruntwork compares to the two most common alternatives you may consider: doing it yourself and hiring a consultant.

The math is pretty simple: Gruntwork gets you results that are 10x cheaper, 10x faster, and 10x higher quality.

Gruntwork vs doing it yourself (DIY)

DevOps is a classic case of "death by a thousand cuts." To ship software, there are a thousand little details you have to get just right—how to set up your network topology, how to run a highly available and scalable server cluster, how to set up CI/CD, how to configure monitoring & alerting, how to manage secrets, and so on—and very few companies have the time, resources, or expertise to do this well.

At Gruntwork, we've already created all the infrastructure you need. In fact, if you hired a team of DevOps experts and had them do nothing but work on your infrastructure for several years, you'd most likely end up with code that looks almost exactly like the Infrastructure as Code Library and Reference Architecture. But why waste all that time reinventing the wheel? For a fraction of the cost of a single full-time developer, you can get access to a library of proven, battle-tested code, as well as support, updates, and maintenance. You focus on your product; let us take care of the grunt work.

Gruntwork vs consulting companies

Most consulting companies are focused on one thing: billable hours. They build everything from scratch for every customer, so the code is completely unproven, the timeline is unpredictable, projects stretch on for months, and costs spiral out of control. And when the whole thing is done, you're left with a bunch of code someone else wrote, typically with no documentation and tests, and no way to ask questions without paying even more money.

At Gruntwork, our focus is on creating reusable, high quality infrastructure code, such as the Infrastructure as Code Library and Reference Architecture. Because all the code is already written, we can get you up and running 10-100x faster than a consulting company (typically in just a single day!) on top of code that is thoroughly documented, tested, and has been proven in production at dozens of other customer deployments. We do all of this for a price that's a tiny fraction of what consultants charge, and we provide commercial support, maintenance, and updates for our work over the long term.

Gruntwork vs Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A Platform as a Service (PaaS) such as Heroku or Docker Cloud can be a great way to get started, as they hide all the infrastructure details from you, and provide a simple API for deploying your code. Unfortunately, for this very same reason, a PaaS tends to be a big bottleneck as you try to grow: without the ability to see and control the underlying infrastructure details, it becomes difficult to debug, scale, customize your infrastructure, and keep costs under control.

As a result, most software companies eventually migrate to an Infrastructure as a Service provider (IaaS) such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure. This gives you full control over your infrastructure, but the downside is a massive increase in complexity. Suddenly, you have to deal with thousands of little infrastructure details—how to set up your network topology, how to run a highly available and scalable server cluster, how to set up CI/CD, how to configure monitoring & alerting, how to manage secrets, and so on—and very few companies have the time, resources, or expertise to do this well.

Our goal at Gruntwork is to allow you to take advantage of the full control and power of an IaaS while still having the ease-of-use of a PaaS. By using the Infrastructure as Code Library, you get a simple API for complicated infrastructure; for example, you can deploy a Kafka cluster or configure CI/CD or even deploy your entire Architecture in just a few lines of code. And since all of this infrastructure is backed by code, you can easily debug, scale, and customize things as much as you want.

Gruntwork vs open source modules (e.g. Ansible Galaxy, Terraform Module Registry, Puppet Forge, etc.)

You can find open source infrastructure code in registries such as Ansible Galaxy, Terraform Module Registry, Puppet Forge, and Chef Marketplace. So why use a paid, commercial product such as the Infrastructure as Code Library instead of this open source code?

First, we love open source at Gruntwork, and parts of our Infrastructure as Code Library actually are open source (e.g., look for our Consul, Nomad, and Vault modules in the Terraform Module Registry), so it's not an either-or-choice! Second, if your business depends on this infrastructure code, here are some reasons you should consider a commercial partner like Gruntwork in addition to using open source:

What's included with each Gruntwork user license?

When you become a Gruntwork Subscriber, each user license will allow one human or machine user to access our Infrastructure as Code Library, DevOps Training Library plus our community and paid support services In addition, a user license grants the right to a user to access, fork and modify the code, and create derivative works as much as you want.

Can I try Gruntwork Services before committing to an annual subscription?

There are three ways you can try out Gruntwork Services with no commitment:

1. You can try out parts of the IaC Library for free by checking out our open source modules.
2. Before any contracts are signed, we'd be happy to do a walkthrough of our code, training, and process.
3. We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if for any reason you're not happy after signing up, we'll refund 100% of your money in the first 30 days. Check out "What if I want to cancel my Gruntwork Subscription?" for more info.

What if I want to use the code with my own customers?

The Gruntwork Subscription is valid for one company to use to manage its own infrastructure. If you are an agency or reseller that manages infrastructure for other companies, please contact us to discuss licensing options.

How can I modify your Terms of Service?

We recommend that most customers go through our normal checkout flow and accept our standard Terms of Service. In some cases, we can make minor changes to our standard Terms of Service by sending you a DocuSign contract with explicit modifications to the terms, however if you need to make material updates to our standard Terms of Service, you will need to purchase an Enterprise subscription.

What's a user?

A user is any human or machine that makes use of Gruntwork's services, including accessing code from the Infrastructure as Code Library, watching videos in the DevOps Training Library, or submitting requests to support.

Is an annual subscription required?

With the exception of the Reference Architecture, all our products require an annual subscription, however we can bill you either annually or monthly. Why an annual subscription? We give you access to all the code in the IaC Library, and we let you keep that code even if you cancel. If we didn't have the annual subscription requirement, customers could sign up for one day, get access to all the code, and cancel immediately.

However, we offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so if for any reason you're not happy after signing up, we'll let you out of the annual subscription and refund 100% of your money in the first 30 days. Check out "What if I want to cancel my Gruntwork Subscription?" for more info.

What if I want to cancel my Gruntwork Subscription?

We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try out the Gruntwork Subscription, Professional Support, and the Reference Architecture, and if you're not happy for any reason, you can cancel within the first 30 days, and we'll let you out of the annual subscription and refund 100% of your money.

Note that if you cancel in the first 30 days, you lose the license to the code in the Infrastructure as Code Library, so you must stop using it and delete any references to it; on the other hand, if you do stick with the annual subscription, and cancel after at least one year, you can keep using all the code you had been using up to that point. See "What happens to my code if I cancel my subscription?" for more info.

What happens to my code if I cancel my subscription?

If you cancel within the first 30 days, we'll refund 100% of your money and let you out of the annual subscription, but you lose the license to the code in the Infrastructure as Code Library, so you must stop using it and delete all copies of the code.

If, however, you remain a subscriber for at least 12 months, the license allows you to fork and modify the code and create derivative works as much as you want, and even if you cancel your subscription, you can keep using all the code you had been using up to that point. We recommend that prior to canceling, you make copies of all the repos in the Infrastructure as Code Library into your own version control system. After you cancel your Gruntwork Subscription, you'll no longer have access to the updates, additions, and fixes we make to the Infrastructure as Code Library, support from the Gruntwork team, security alerts, and any other subscription benefits. However, your infrastructure will continue to work just fine and you'll still have all the code you had been using up to that point.

What payment options do you accept?

For monthly billing, we require automated payments via credit card or ACH transfer. If you wish to use invoices and pay by wire transfer or check instead, you must do annual billing.