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Best chaos engineering tools in 2026

These are chaos engineering tools in the CheckOps directory, used to test how systems behave when parts of the stack fail. The directory has 17 tagged entries in this area; this page lists 15.

How we picked

CheckOps is a genuine and free directory. There are no paid sponsors, featured listings, or paid placement on these pages. The shortlist is built from tools already in the directory whose tags match the topic, with a preference for entries that have a fuller CheckOps page so the facts in the table can be checked against the source essay. This is not a claim that one tool is objectively better than another, and it is not a paid ranking.

Well-known tools that already have a CheckOps page in this area are listed first. The rest of the shortlist is filled from other tagged entries, preferring fuller essays so the facts in the table can be checked. That order is a way to keep the page useful, not a quality score and not a paid ranking.

Tools

  1. G

    1. Gremlin

    Gremlin is an enterprise reliability management and resilience testing platform with fault injection, reliability scoring, dependency discovery and Foresight AI agents; custom quotes and a 30-day free trial.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial, with a free or trial tier tagged

  2. C

    2. Chaos Mesh

    Chaos Mesh is a CNCF incubating, Apache-2.0 chaos engineering platform for Kubernetes that defines pod, network, DNS, HTTP, I/O, time, stress, kernel, JVM and cloud faults as custom resources.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  3. C

    3. Chaos Toolkit

    Chaos Toolkit is an Apache-2.0 open-source chaos engineering toolkit and orchestration framework for developers, with declarative experiments and extensions for clouds and platforms.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  4. L

    4. LitmusChaos

    LitmusChaos is a 100% open-source CNCF chaos engineering platform that uses Kubernetes custom resources to define chaos and steady-state hypotheses, with a hub of experiments and a control-plane UI.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  5. C

    5. ChaosBlade

    ChaosBlade is an Apache-2.0 chaos engineering toolkit from Alibaba that injects CPU, memory, network, disk, process, JVM, container and Kubernetes faults from one CLI, with an AI agent layer.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  6. T

    6. Toxiproxy

    Toxiproxy is Shopify's MIT-licensed TCP proxy for simulating network and system conditions such as latency, timeouts and bandwidth limits in chaos and resiliency testing.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  7. K

    7. Krkn

    Krkn is an Apache-2.0 CNCF sandbox chaos and resiliency testing tool for Kubernetes, focused on improving performance under failure conditions.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  8. A

    8. AWS Fault Injection Service

    AWS Fault Injection Service (FIS) is a managed chaos engineering service for running fault-injection experiments on AWS workloads, priced at $0.10 per action-minute.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial

  9. A

    9. AWS Resilience Hub

    AWS Resilience Hub is a managed AWS service that assesses application resilience against RTO and RPO targets, recommends improvements and runs resilience tests via AWS FIS.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial

  10. P

    10. Pumba

    Pumba is an Apache-2.0 chaos testing, network emulation and stress testing tool for Docker containers, able to kill, pause and stop containers and add network delays or packet loss.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  11. S

    11. Steadybit

    Steadybit is a chaos engineering and reliability platform with a 30-day free trial and an open-source Reliability Hub of 200+ actions for injecting faults and verifying resilience.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial, with a free or trial tier tagged

  12. A

    12. Azure Chaos Studio

    Azure Chaos Studio is Microsoft's managed chaos engineering service for injecting faults into Azure resources, run from the portal or by an AI agent.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial

  13. C

    13. Chaosd

    Chaosd is an Apache-2.0 chaos engineering toolkit from the Chaos Mesh project for injecting faults into physical and virtual Linux hosts via a CLI or HTTP service.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  14. C

    14. Chaos Monkey for Spring Boot

    Chaos Monkey for Spring Boot is an Apache-2.0 library from codecentric that attacks running Spring Boot apps with latency, exceptions, kills and memory assaults, controlled via Actuator.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  15. H

    15. Harness Resilience Testing (Chaos Engineering)

    Harness Chaos Engineering, now presented as part of Harness Resilience Testing, is a commercial chaos platform built on LitmusChaos with experiment libraries, probes and resilience scoring.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial, with a free or trial tier tagged

Comparison

License, pricing model, and languages or platforms are taken from tags on each CheckOps page. Pricing notes are a short excerpt from that page's Pricing section when one exists. A blank or "not stated" cell means the CheckOps page does not record it.

Comparison of Best chaos engineering tools in 2026
ToolLicensePricing modelLanguages / platformsPricing notes
GremlinCommercial, with a free or trial tier taggedPaid, SaaS, TrialNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageGremlin offers custom quotes, priced per service, with a 30-day free trial. Professional services are scoped per engagement. See Gremlin's pricing page.
Chaos MeshOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageChaos Mesh is free and open source under Apache-2.0.
Chaos ToolkitOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageChaos Toolkit is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
LitmusChaosOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageLitmusChaos is free and open source under Apache-2.0.
ChaosBladeOpen sourceFree, Open sourceKubernetes, JavaChaosBlade is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
ToxiproxyOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageToxiproxy is free and open source under the MIT licence.
KrknOpen sourceFree, Open sourceKubernetesKrkn is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
AWS Fault Injection ServiceCommercialPaid, SaaSNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFrom AWS FIS pricing: $0.10 per action-minute, plus $0.10 per action-minute per additional account in multi-account experiments; GovCloud $0.12; experiment reports $5 each.
AWS Resilience HubCommercialPaid, SaaSNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFor the original service, the first 3 assessed applications are free for 6 months, then $15 per application per month.
PumbaOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pagePumba is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
SteadybitCommercial, with a free or trial tier taggedPaid, SaaS, TrialNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFrom Steadybit's pricing page: a 30-day free trial with unlimited agents; paid plans on request, see site.
Azure Chaos StudioCommercialPaid, SaaSNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageUsage-based; see Azure Chaos Studio pricing.
ChaosdOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageChaosd is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Chaos Monkey for Spring BootOpen sourceFree, Open sourceJavaChaos Monkey for Spring Boot is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Harness Resilience Testing (Chaos Engineering)Commercial, with a free or trial tier taggedFree tier, Paid, SaaSKubernetesHarness lists a Free plan that includes Harness Open Source; Essentials and Enterprise plans are available through sales.

FAQ

How did CheckOps pick these tools?
CheckOps is a genuine and free directory. There are no paid sponsors, featured listings, or paid placement on these pages. The shortlist is built from tools already in the directory whose tags match the topic, with a preference for entries that have a fuller CheckOps page so the facts in the table can be checked against the source essay. This is not a claim that one tool is objectively better than another, and it is not a paid ranking.
Does CheckOps sell placement on this list?
No. CheckOps does not sell featured or paid placement, and this page does not include sponsored listings.
How many chaos engineering tools are in the directory?
This shortlist has 15 tools. The directory has 17 tagged entries in this area. See the Production monitoring & observability stage for the wider set.
Are the one-line summaries complete reviews?
No. Each line is taken from the tool's CheckOps page (the short description, or the opening of the essay when that description is empty). Open the linked page for the full write-up.