Why Platform Helm Chart?
Compare JFrog Platform installation methods — Helm chart vs Ansible vs standalone installers. Learn why Helm is recommended for Kubernetes and OpenShift deployments.
The JFrog Platform Helm chart is the recommended way to deploy the JFrog Platform on Kubernetes (including OpenShift). One chart, one configuration file, all products — from evaluation to enterprise-scale production.
Use this page to decide whether Helm is the right installation method for your environment before you start the install workflow.
Quick Decision
- Choose the Platform Helm chart if you run on Kubernetes (including OpenShift).
- Use Ansible only when you deploy on VMs or bare metal without Kubernetes.
- Use standalone installers only for existing standalone environments.
Why Helm Over Other Methods?
JFrog supports multiple installation methods — Helm, Ansible, Docker Compose, RPM, Debian, Linux Archive and more. The following table compares capabilities across methods for different environments.
| Capability | Helm chart | Ansible | Docker Compose | RPM/Debian/Linux Archive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All products in one deployment - Platform | Yes | No | Manual per product | Manual per product |
| Production high availability | Built-in | Built-in | Limited | Manual |
| Auto-scaling | HPA support | No | No | No |
| Cloud-native (Kubernetes / OpenShift) | Native | NA | NA | NA |
| Unified config | Single customvalues.yaml | Inventory + vars | Multiple compose files | Multiple configs per product |
| Secrets management | Kubernetes Secrets, Vault, IRSA | Ansible Vault | .env files | File-based |
Key Benefits
-
One Chart (Platform) - All Products — Deploy Artifactory, Xray, JAS, Distribution, Catalog, Workers, and more from a single Helm release. Enable or disable products with a single
enabled: true/falsetoggle. -
Enterprise-ready — Natively supports OpenShift with openshift-values.yaml. For more information, see OpenShift Deployment.
-
Production-Ready Defaults — Sizing overlays (
platform-small.yamlthroughplatform-xlarge.yaml), pre-configured health probes, resource limits, and security contexts. -
Enterprise high availability — Scale Artifactory to 3+ replicas with shared object storage. Xray high availability with RabbitMQ quorum queues. All from
customvalues.yaml. -
Storage Config — Natively supports various Artifactory FileStore configurations in the chart, such as S3 Storage (AWS), Google Storage (GCS), Azure Blob storage, etc. For more Information, see Filestore Configuration.
-
Seamless Upgrades —
helm upgradehandles rolling updates with pre-upgrade validation hooks.
Not On Kubernetes?
JFrog supports other installation methods for different environments:
- Ansible for bare-metal servers and VMs
- Individual Product Installers for Docker, RPM, Debian, and Archive standalone installs
See Choose Your Installation Path for help choosing the right method.
Get Started
Install JFrog Platform Using Helm Chart
Production workflow: deployment overview, prerequisites, plan, configure, deploy, verify, expose, and license
Quick Start
Get Started with the JFrog Platform.
Related References
Platform Reference Architecture
Architecture components, deployment patterns, and design decisions
Sizing Guide
Resource planning for production — CPU, memory, storage, and network
GitHub Charts Repo
Helm chart source code, examples, CHANGELOG, and release notes
Prerequisites And System Requirements
Supported Kubernetes versions, databases, storage backends, and licenses
Frequently Asked Questions
❓Does Helm work without an internet connection (air-gapped)?
A: Yes. Download the chart archive and container images ahead of time, push them to a private registry, and configure customvalues.yaml to pull from that registry. See Allowlisted URLs and Air-Gapped Environment Considerations.
Updated 1 day ago