Open Policy Agent (OPA)
Policy-based control for cloud native environments.
Overview
Open Policy Agent (OPA) provides a unified toolset and framework for expressing policies across the cloud-native stack. In the context of Argo CD, OPA (often via the Gatekeeper project) can be used to enforce policies on Kubernetes manifests before they are deployed, ensuring that applications comply with security and organizational standards.
✨ Key Features
- Declarative policy language (Rego)
- General-purpose policy engine
- Decouples policy from application logic
- Can be used as a library, daemon, or admission controller
🎯 Key Differentiators
- General-purpose engine, not tied to Kubernetes
- Powerful and expressive policy language (Rego)
- Graduated CNCF project with strong community support
Unique Value: Enables fine-grained, declarative policy enforcement across the stack, allowing teams using Argo CD to ensure deployments are secure and compliant before they reach production.
🎯 Use Cases (4)
✅ Best For
- Enforcing security and compliance policies for Kubernetes deployments
- Centralized policy management
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Simple environments with no need for policy enforcement
- Teams unwilling to learn the Rego policy language
🏆 Alternatives
Provides a more powerful and flexible policy language than alternatives like Kyverno, but has a steeper learning curve.
💻 Platforms
✅ Offline Mode Available
🔌 Integrations
💰 Pricing
Free tier: Open source, free to use.
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