---
layout: getting_started
title: Getting Started - Why Vagrant?
---
# Why Vagrant?

Web developers use virtual environments every day with their web applications. From EC2 and Rackspace Cloud to specialized
solutions such as EngineYard and Heroku, virtualization is the tool of choice for easy deployment and infrastructure management.
Vagrant aims to take those very same principals and put them to work in the heart of the application lifecycle.
By providing easy to configure, lightweight, reproducible, and portable virtual machines targeted at
development environments, Vagrant helps maximize your productivity and flexibility.

Vagrant is a development tool which stands on the shoulders of giants, using tried and
proven technologies to achieve its magic. Vagrant uses [Sun's VirtualBox](http://www.virtualbox.org)
to create its virtual machines and then uses [Chef](http://www.opscode.org/chef) to provision them.

## Benefits of Vagrant

### For Solo Developers

### For Teams

### For Companies