Ansible AAP: Infrastructure Automation Ledger 2026 Scorecard

Part of the Infrastructure Automation Ledger (edition 2026-10-16). How the scores work: methodology.

Snapshot

Type: product (subscription)
Owner: Red Hat, Inc. (IBM subsidiary); Red Hat acquired Ansible, Inc. in October 2015
Engine: ansible-core (Red Hat's lifecycle page lists 2.16 as the default for 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7, with 2.20 as an execution environment stream); the automation controller is built downstream of AWX, which has had no release since 24.6.1 (2024-07-02) while Red Hat refactors it
Licence: Subscription per managed node, Standard (business hours) or Premium (24x7); components are open source (ansible-core GPL-3.0-or-later, AWX Apache-2.0). Red Hat publishes no list price. The AWS Marketplace managed service shows $412.50 a month for 50 managed nodes, with overage at $8.25 per managed active node per month falling to $7.01 at the 10,000-node tier (https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-dk7owvnk45mti, read 2026-10-15)
Latest release: 2.7 (2026-06-10); 2.6.4 added the MCP server preview (2026-02-02)
Support lifecycle: About three years per release: 2.6 GA 2025-10-01 with maintenance to 2028-10-01, 2.5 to 2027-10-02, 2.4 ended 2026-06-30; no direct upgrade from 2.4 to 2.7; new RHEL installs on 2.7 use the containerized installer only
Next milestone: Automation orchestrator "coming soon" (2.7 post, no date); automation dashboard GA planned for later in 2026
Targets: Linux, Windows and network devices through ansible-core; certified cloud collections for AWS, Azure and Google; vSphere: vmware.vmware 2.12.0 (Red Hat certified, 2026-10-12) plus community.vmware 7.0.0 (2026-09-27); Nutanix: nutanix.ncp 2.6.0 (Nutanix, certified, 2026-09-23); Hyper-V: microsoft.hyperv 1.1.0 (certified, 2026-05-19); KubeVirt: kubevirt.core 2.3.0 (kubevirt project, 2026-06-10, certification not stated); Proxmox VE: community.proxmox 2.1.0 (community, 2026-10-06, not certified); XCP-ng: no dedicated collection
Tier: Configuration management
Archetype: Integrated stack with an AI-led roadmap
Evidence grade: B. Release content, AI items and the AWX record were read from Red Hat blogs, documentation and the Ansible forum. Lifecycle dates come from endoflife.date because Red Hat's lifecycle table is an image, the only price read is the AWS Marketplace listing, and Tower-era steps before 2021 are dated from secondary sources.

Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	76.6 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+13.1 points (2015 to 2022: +14.7)	higher is better
Credibility	16.5 / 25	higher is better
Commercial risk	12.0 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	8.5 / 25	lower is better
Integrator fit	16.5 / 20	higher is better
AI leverage	10.5 / 20	higher is better
Ledger Index	68.6 / 100	balanced weights; see the methodology

Capability by domain, 2015 to today

Scores 0 to 5 against fixed anchors; total is weighted to 100.

Domain (weight)	2015	2019	2022	Today
Provisioning breadth (15)	2	3	3.5	4
Configuration management depth (12)	3	3	3.5	4
State, planning and safety (12)	2	2.5	2.5	2.5
Language and authoring (10)	3	3	3.5	4
Orchestration and self-service (10)	3	3.5	3.5	4.5
Scale and control plane (8)	2	3	3.5	4
Security and compliance (10)	3	3.5	3.5	4
Bare metal and day-2 operations (8)	2.5	3	3	3
Ecosystem and integrations (8)	3.5	3.5	4.5	4.5
AI assistance (7)	0	0	0	4
Total / 100	48.8	57.4	63.5	76.6

Year by year: 2015: 48.8 · 2016: 50.3 · 2017: 52.9 · 2018: 53.9 · 2019: 57.4 · 2020: 61.9 · 2021: 63.5 · 2022: 63.5 · 2023: 69.9 · 2024: 70.7 · 2025: 73.4 · 2026: 76.6

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2016	Provisioning breadth	2 → 2.5	+1.5	Ansible 2.0: larger cloud and network module set
2017	Orchestration and self-service	3 → 3.5	+1.0	Tower 3.2: workflows chain job templates; AWX opened upstream
2017	Scale and control plane	2 → 3	+1.6	Tower 3.2: clustered controller
2018	Security and compliance	3 → 3.5	+1.0	Tower adds SAML single sign-on and OAuth 2 tokens
2019	Bare metal and day-2 operations	2.5 → 3	+0.8	Ansible 2.9: Redfish BMC and reboot modules in core
2019	Provisioning breadth	2.5 → 3	+1.5	Ansible 2.9: cloud, vSphere, oVirt and network vendor modules before the split
2019	State, planning and safety	2 → 2.5	+1.2	Tower: approval nodes in workflows
2020	Configuration management depth	3 → 3.5	+1.2	Ansible 2.10: Windows and network content as collections
2020	Ecosystem and integrations	3.5 → 4	+0.8	Ansible 2.10: collections and certified partner content
2020	Language and authoring	3 → 3.5	+1.0	Ansible 2.10: namespaced, versioned collections; signed certified content in Automation Hub
2020	Provisioning breadth	3 → 3.5	+1.5	Ansible 2.10: collections; certified vendor content in Automation Hub
2021	Ecosystem and integrations	4 → 4.5	+0.8	Community package 3.0 (2021-02-18) beside a growing certified catalogue with ITSM and marketplace integrations
2021	Scale and control plane	3 → 3.5	+0.8	2.0: execution environments and the split control plane, automation mesh follows in 2.1
2023	AI assistance	0 → 3	+4.2	Ansible Lightspeed with IBM watsonx Code Assistant GA (2023-11-01)
2023	Configuration management depth	3.5 → 4	+1.2	2.4: Event-Driven Ansible GA lets events trigger remediation playbooks
2023	Orchestration and self-service	3.5 → 4	+1.0	2.4: Event-Driven Ansible GA
2024	Scale and control plane	3.5 → 4	+0.8	2.5: platform gateway, RPM, containerized and operator installers, enterprise topologies
2025	AI assistance	3 → 3.5	+0.7	2.6: Lightspeed intelligent assistant GA
2025	Language and authoring	3.5 → 4	+1.0	2.6: coding assistant in VS Code and development workspaces (preview) on top of the 2.19 engine changes
2025	Orchestration and self-service	4 → 4.5	+1.0	2.6: self-service automation portal GA; 2.7 adds a visual execution environment builder
2026	AI assistance	3.5 → 4	+0.7	2.6.4: official MCP server in technology preview (half step); 2.7: Red Hat AI and Google Gemini model providers GA
2026	Provisioning breadth	3.5 → 4	+1.5	microsoft.hyperv 1.0.0 certified (2026-03-26); vmware.vmware certified; Proxmox and KubeVirt remain community content
2026	Security and compliance	3.5 → 4	+1.0	2.7: native OIDC for HashiCorp Vault with short-lived job-scoped tokens; shared RBAC across controller, EDA and hub since 2.5

Direction, 2023 to 2026

Each release item carries one theme and one driver (V vision, C customer need, M market window, U upstream, P portfolio).

Date	Item	Theme	Driver
2023-06	2.4: Event-Driven Ansible GA	Orchestration	V
2023-11	Ansible Lightspeed with IBM watsonx Code Assistant GA	AI	P
2024-05	AWX refactor announced; upstream releases paused after 24.6.1 (2024-07-02)	Packaging	P
2024-08	AWX Operator removed from OperatorHub; Helm chart handed to the community	Packaging	P
2024-09	2.5: platform gateway and one UI with shared RBAC; new installs only at launch	Orchestration	C
2025-10	2.6: self-service automation portal GA	Orchestration	C
2025-10	2.6: Lightspeed intelligent assistant GA; automation dashboard	AI	V
2025-10	2.6: Ansible development workspaces (technology preview)	Language	V
2025-12	Coding assistant adds Google Gemini as a model provider	AI	C
2026-02	2.6.4: MCP server in technology preview	AI	V
2026-03	2.4 end of maintenance 2026-06-30; RPM installs end after 2.6; no direct 2.4 to 2.7 upgrade	Packaging	P
2026-03	microsoft.hyperv 1.0.0 certified collection	Provisioning breadth	M
2026-06	2.7: containerized installer only for new RHEL installs; Growth topology	Packaging	P
2026-06	2.7: native OIDC for HashiCorp Vault with short-lived job tokens	Security	P
2026-06	2.7: visual execution environment builder and content discovery	Language	C
2026-06	Automation orchestrator announced as "coming soon"	Orchestration	V
2026-10	vmware.vmware 2.12.0 certified collection	Provisioning breadth	M

Centre of gravity: Orchestration (4), AI (4), Packaging (4)
Blind spots (no items): Configuration management, State and planning, Scale, Bare metal, Ecosystem, Licensing
Driver mix: Vision 29%, Customer need 24%, Market window 12%, Upstream 0%, Portfolio 35%
Idea-to-need index: 0.45 (0 = demand-pulled, 1 = thesis-pushed)

Credibility: 16.5 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	3.5	Majors on 2023-06-27, 2024-09-30, 2025-10-01 and 2026-06-10 (15, 12 and 8 month gaps); dates are not published in advance
Roadmap transparency	2.5	Public release notes and lifecycle page; direction appears in blogs and keynotes, no dated roadmap, and the AWX upstream published no plan for 18 months
Say-do	3.5	3 of 6 AI items GA; MCP server and bring-your-own-knowledge still preview; orchestrator pending without a date
Velocity	4	Several substantive capabilities per release since 2.5
Lifecycle stability	3	About three years per release, but 2.5 shipped without an upgrade path, RPM installs end after 2.6 and 2.4 has no direct path to 2.7

Commercial risk: 12.0 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Price and licence volatility	2	No licence change found; with no public list price, changes cannot be checked
Purchase constraints	3.5	Subscription only, per managed node, quote based; no free production tier
Channel and access	2	Direct, partners and cloud marketplaces; downloads and patches need an active subscription
Owner stability	1.5	Long-term owner IBM; IBM also owns HashiCorp, so Terraform now sits in the same portfolio
Cost of staying supported	3	Three-year windows, installer migrations, RHEL 9 move for 2.6, default ansible-core pinned at 2.16

Technical lock-in: 8.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	1.5	Playbooks and rulebooks are open YAML; controller objects live in the platform database
Export path	2.5	Playbooks run on community ansible-core; job templates, workflows and schedules need rebuilding, and the AWX exit path has not shipped since 2024
Stack coupling	2.5	2.7 new installs need RHEL 9.6 or later, RHEL 10 or OpenShift, plus PostgreSQL 15 to 17 and Redis
Hardware / cloud coupling	0.5	Any server; air-gapped topologies supported; managed options optional
Skills and tooling coupling	1.5	Common Ansible skills plus product-specific execution environments, hub and mesh

Integrator fit: 16.5 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Partner programme openness	4	Red Hat Partner Connect for certified content, reseller channel and marketplace listings; terms not read
Multi-tenancy and self-service	4.5	Organizations, teams, shared RBAC since 2.5, self-service portal GA since 2.6
API and infrastructure-as-code	4	REST API behind the platform gateway; configuration as code through collections
Skills and certification	4	Exam-based Red Hat certifications and a large talent pool

AI leverage: 10.5 / 20

How the product uses AI, scored per year like capability. Only GA counts.

Criterion	2019	2022	Today	Latest step
AI code and plan generation	0	0	3.5	2026: 2.7: coding assistant adds Red Hat AI and Google Gemini beside watsonx
AI platform stack	0	0	1	2025: 2.6: bring-your-own-model for the assistant through Red Hat AI, OpenAI or Azure OpenAI; no AI platform of its own
AI-assisted operations	0	0	3	2025: 2.6: Lightspeed intelligent assistant GA in the platform UI; bring-your-own-knowledge still technology preview in 2.7
Agent openness	2	2	3	2026: 2.6.4: official MCP server in technology preview with read-only and read-write modes and RBAC inheritance

Year by year: 2015: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2026: 10.5

AI say-do, 2023 to 2026: 6 AI items announced; 3 GA, 2 still preview, 1 pending, 0 dropped. GA: Lightspeed code generation, the intelligent assistant and the extra model providers; preview: the MCP server and bring-your-own-knowledge; pending: the automation orchestrator.

Red Hat ships AI for writing and explaining automation and for chatting with the platform, and both are generally available. The agent interface is still a technology preview after two releases, so an agent-driven estate on it runs outside production support today.

Reading

Ansible Automation Platform scores highest in its group because it adds everything the engine lacks: scheduling, workflows, event-driven runs, a self-service portal, shared RBAC and generally available AI assistance. Its credibility is held back by a roadmap that lives in blog posts and by packaging churn, with installer changes and missing upgrade paths across 2.4, 2.5 and 2.7. The buyer's main check is the upstream: AWX has not released since July 2024, Red Hat's refactor shipped only as an untagged container image, so the open exit path for the controller is weaker than it was. Price must be requested, and the AWS listing is the only public figure to compare against.

Open questions and items to re-score

Tower-era dates for workflows (2017), clustering (2017) and SAML single sign-on (2018) are from general knowledge, not from pages read; versions were left out where unverified.
Whether the automation dashboard is GA or technology preview: the 2.6 advisory says GA, the 2.7 post calls new in-platform reports a technology preview.
Policy as code and FIPS status were not found in the sources read.
Exact support dates for 2.7 were not published in the pages read.
Which AWX commit the 2.6 and 2.7 controllers are built from; a forum question from 2025-10 had no answer.
Reseller prices (about $19,700 to $25,000 for 100 nodes a year) could not be fetched and are not used.
The date IBM closed the HashiCorp acquisition was not fetched.

	’16	’17	’18	’19	’20	’21	’23	’24	’25	’26
Provisioning breadth	1			1	1					1
Configuration management depth					2		2
State, planning and safety				2
Language and authoring					3				1
Orchestration and self-service		2					3		2
Scale and control plane		1				1		1
Security and compliance			1							2
Bare metal and day-2 operations				3
Ecosystem and integrations						2
AI assistance							1		3	3