What are the main advantages of Ansible?

Question

Accepted Answer

Cross-platform agentless support, human-readable YAML, complete description of applications, easy version control, dynamic inventories, and easy integration with other systems.

Advantage
Why it matters

Cross-platform
Agentless support for Linux, Windows, UNIX and network devices, on physical, virtual, cloud and container environments.

Human-readable
Playbooks are YAML text, so everyone can see what they will do.

Perfect description of applications
Every change can be made through playbooks, so every aspect of an application environment is described and documented.

Easy version control
Playbooks and projects are plain text, so they go into Git like source code.

Dynamic inventories
The list of managed machines can be updated automatically from external sources.

Orchestration that integrates
Works with existing systems such as Jenkins, Puppet, HP SA (Server Automation) or Red Hat Satellite.

Go deeper:

What is Ansible | Ansible Playbook explained (TechWorld with Nana) — clear visual explainer of Ansible's advantages and how it compares with Puppet/Chef.
 How Ansible Works (Ansible Collaborative / Red Hat) — the official case for agentless, text-based, extensible automation.

Advantage	Why it matters
Cross-platform	Agentless support for Linux, Windows, UNIX and network devices, on physical, virtual, cloud and container environments.
Human-readable	Playbooks are YAML text, so everyone can see what they will do.
Perfect description of applications	Every change can be made through playbooks, so every aspect of an application environment is described and documented.
Easy version control	Playbooks and projects are plain text, so they go into Git like source code.
Dynamic inventories	The list of managed machines can be updated automatically from external sources.
Orchestration that integrates	Works with existing systems such as Jenkins, Puppet, HP SA (Server Automation) or Red Hat Satellite.