Ansible AWX vs Ansible Tower in 2026
Ansible Tower is now Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Here is how it differs from AWX in 2026, and what to pick.
Last updated November 2, 2026. We re-checked the names, versions and release dates below against the AWX repository and Red Hat's product pages.
Short answer
Ansible Tower no longer exists under that name. Red Hat now sells Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, and the web interface, API and job engine that Tower used to provide is called automation controller.
AWX is the open-source project that sits upstream. The AWX README says it is "one of the upstream projects for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform."
Two facts matter most if you are choosing today:
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a paid subscription with vendor support.
- AWX is free, but releases are paused. The AWX README says: "The last release of this repository was released on Jul 2, 2024. Releases of this project are now paused during a large scale refactoring."
What changed since this article was first written
When we published this in January 2024, the comparison was Tower (paid, supported) against AWX (free, community). Three things changed.
- The product was renamed. Red Hat's own pricing page lists "Automation controller" as a feature of Ansible Automation Platform and does not use "Ansible Tower" as a product name. Search results still use the old name, which is why people still ask about it.
- AWX releases paused. The last tagged AWX release is 24.6.1 from July 2, 2024. The AWX Operator, which installs AWX on Kubernetes, also has its last tagged release (2.19.1) from the same day. The repositories still receive commits, so the project is not abandoned, but you cannot get a new tagged build.
- Pricing moved to sizing and subscription. Red Hat says "Pricing varies based on your sizing and subscription choices," with Standard and Premium plans that differ mainly in support hours. We removed the old claim that Tower was free for up to 10 nodes, because we could not confirm it for the current product.
Side by side
| AWX | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source web UI, REST API and task engine for Ansible | Red Hat's supported platform. Automation controller is the Tower equivalent |
| Cost | Free | Subscription. Price depends on sizing and plan |
| Support | Community only | Red Hat support (Standard or Premium) |
| Releases | Paused. Last release 24.6.1 on July 2, 2024 | Versioned releases. Red Hat's documentation lists 2.6 and 2.7 |
| Install on Kubernetes | AWX Operator | See Red Hat's installation documentation for your version |
| Best for | Learning, labs, non-critical automation | Production automation that needs support and a stable release cycle |
How to choose
Choose Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform if your team runs production changes through it, you need a vendor to call, or an auditor expects a supported product.
Choose AWX if you are learning, teaching, or running automation where an outage is cheap. Treat the build as frozen at July 2024 and plan for that. If the paused releases worry you, pick AWX for a lab and keep your playbooks portable, so you can move them to the supported platform later.
Skip both if you only run a few playbooks from a pipeline. Plain ansible-playbook from your CI system needs no controller.
What is Ansible, briefly
Ansible is an open-source automation engine for provisioning, configuration management and application deployment. It is agentless: it connects to your nodes over SSH (or WinRM for Windows) and runs small modules that bring each system to the state you describe. You write that state in YAML playbooks.
AWX and automation controller add what the command line lacks for teams: role-based access control, credential storage, job scheduling, job history and a REST API.
Next steps
- Install AWX on Kubernetes: How to install AWX and run Ansible playbooks using Kubernetes
- Running the cluster is the harder half. We set up and migrate AKS and EKS clusters at a fixed price: Kubernetes setup and migration
Sources
- AWX repository README, checked November 2, 2026
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform pricing, checked November 2, 2026
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform documentation
Frequently asked questions
Is Ansible Tower still sold?
Not under that name. Red Hat sells Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, and the part that does what Tower did is called automation controller.
Is AWX still maintained?
The AWX repository still receives commits, but releases are paused during a large refactoring. The last release was on July 2, 2024.
Can I run AWX in production?
You can, but you get no vendor support, and new installs are pinned to a build from July 2024. For production work with support, look at Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.