--- title: "Chef vs Crossplane: Which is searched more?" description: "Is Chef or Crossplane more popular in search? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Infrastructure as code tools set worldwide. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time." canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/chef-vs-crossplane" publisher: "Brandwave" --- # Chef vs Crossplane: Which is searched more? Is Chef or Crossplane more popular in search? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Infrastructure as code tools set worldwide. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time. ## Key facts - **Compared**: Chef and Crossplane - **Competitive set**: Infrastructure as code tools - **Market**: Global - **Month measured**: Sep 2026 - **Chef Share of Search**: 0.07% - **Crossplane Share of Search**: 2.5% ## Is Chef or Crossplane more popular in search? - In September 2026, Crossplane had more branded searches than Chef among infrastructure as code tools worldwide. Crossplane had about 12,100 branded searches, while Chef had 320. Crossplane made up 2.5% of all infrastructure as code tool searches we track, and Chef accounted for 0.07%. - Crossplane was ahead of Chef in every measured month of the 12 months ending September 2026. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, Chef’s share of searches among infrastructure as code tools worldwide moved from 0.1% to 0.07%, and its estimated monthly branded searches moved from 590 to 320. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, Crossplane’s share of searches among infrastructure as code tools worldwide moved from 2.1% to 2.5%, and its estimated monthly branded searches held steady at 12.1K. ## Top infrastructure as code tools in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews In three ChatGPT questions and two Google AI Overviews, Chef was mentioned in two out of five: not in any of the three ChatGPT answers, but in both Google AI Overviews. Crossplane was mentioned in two out of five: in one of the three ChatGPT answers and in one of the two Google AI Overviews. Crossplane was listed before Chef in two out of three answers that named either. Brands get a higher AI rank if they are mentioned earlier in the answers that list options. | Brand | AI rank | ChatGPT answers that named it | Google AI Overviews that named it | All answers that named it | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | OpenTofu | 1st | 3 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 5 of 5 | | Terraform | 2nd | 3 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 5 of 5 | | Pulumi | 3rd | 3 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 5 of 5 | | AWS CloudFormation | 4th | 3 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 5 of 5 | | AWS CDK | 5th | 3 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 4 of 5 | | Ansible | 6th | 2 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 4 of 5 | | Crossplane | 7th | 1 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 2 of 5 | | Azure Bicep | 8th | 2 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 2 of 5 | | Puppet | 9th | 0 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 2 of 5 | | Chef | 10th | 0 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 2 of 5 | ## Every AI answer about infrastructure as code tools - Asked ChatGPT "Which infrastructure as code tool should I use?": 1. OpenTofu, 2. Pulumi, 3. AWS CloudFormation, 4. Ansible, 5. Terraform, 6. AWS CDK - Asked ChatGPT "What are the best infrastructure as code tools?": 1. Terraform, 2. OpenTofu, 3. Pulumi, 4. AWS CDK, 5. AWS CloudFormation, 6. Azure Bicep, 7. Crossplane, 8. Ansible - Asked ChatGPT "What's the best infrastructure as code tool for automated cloud setup?": 1. Terraform, 2. OpenTofu, 3. Pulumi, 4. AWS CloudFormation, 5. AWS CDK, 6. Azure Bicep - Searched Google, AI Overview "infrastructure as code tools": 1. Terraform, 2. OpenTofu, 3. Pulumi, 4. AWS CloudFormation, 5. AWS CDK, 6. Crossplane, 7. Ansible, 8. Puppet, 9. Chef - Searched Google, AI Overview "iac tool": 1. Terraform, 2. OpenTofu, 3. Pulumi, 4. AWS CloudFormation, 5. Ansible, 6. Puppet, 7. Chef Brands are listed in the order each answer named them. The answers were collected in the United States on October 21, 2026. ## How did search popularity change for infrastructure as code tools worldwide in September 2026? - Estimated monthly branded searches for Chef worldwide fell 45.8% over 12 measured months, from 590 to 320 in September 2026. ## Month by month | Month | Chef estimated searches | Chef Share of Search | Chef rank | Crossplane estimated searches | Crossplane Share of Search | Crossplane rank | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oct 2025 | 590 | 0.1% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.1% | 7 | | Nov 2025 | 880 | 0.17% | 9 | 14.8K | 2.9% | 7 | | Dec 2025 | 590 | 0.12% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.5% | 7 | | Jan 2026 | 480 | 0.1% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.4% | 7 | | Feb 2026 | 590 | 0.12% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.4% | 7 | | Mar 2026 | 590 | 0.1% | 9 | 14.8K | 2.5% | 7 | | Apr 2026 | 390 | 0.08% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.4% | 7 | | May 2026 | 390 | 0.08% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.5% | 7 | | Jun 2026 | 260 | 0.05% | 10 | 12.1K | 2.5% | 7 | | Jul 2026 | 260 | 0.06% | 10 | 12.1K | 2.6% | 7 | | Aug 2026 | 320 | 0.08% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.9% | 7 | | Sep 2026 | 320 | 0.07% | 9 | 12.1K | 2.5% | 7 | ## How each brand is measured Brandwave collects information about searches that people make online using Chef’s and Crossplane’s names. When viewed over time, estimated search volumes for these branded terms can be used to understand whether interest in the brands is growing, holding steady, or fading. - **Chef**: Measured on the search term “chef devops”. - **Crossplane**: Measured on the search term “crossplane”. - [Chef profile](/demand/global-en/brands/chef) - [Crossplane profile](/demand/global-en/brands/crossplane) - [All infrastructure as code tools worldwide](/demand/global-en/categories/infrastructure-as-code-tools): The set both shares are measured inside, 10 brands. ## Methodology - [How is the Brand Demand Index measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Chef or Crossplane more popular in search? In September 2026, Crossplane had more branded searches than Chef among infrastructure as code tools worldwide. Crossplane had about 12,100 branded searches, while Chef had 320. Crossplane made up 2.5% of all infrastructure as code tool searches we track, and Chef accounted for 0.07%. ## Cite this page Brandwave. "Chef vs Crossplane: Which is searched more?". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/chef-vs-crossplane This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/chef-vs-crossplane. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.