cup packagename
or choco upgrade all
.choco install appname <options>
. Lather rinse repeat.choco new test
and look at the output - keep in mind that many times it takes complex tasks for managing software installation down to 1 PowerShell function call. Consider windirstat is: Install-ChocolateyPackage 'windirstat' 'exe' '/S' 'https://windirstat.info/wds_current_setup.exe' -Checksum 123456 -ChecksumType 'sha256'
choco upgrade <pkgname> <options>
to upgrade a piece of software. Also consider choco upgrade all
/cup all
as a Windows Update for all of your 3rd party software.Chocolatey internal use is the best solution for an organization that has a low tolerance for breakages. There are no issues, you have a secure solution with complete control. You are building on top of technologies you know with a small amount of learning for packaging. Because it is PowerShell, you are not limited to just installers, and you can add additional logic before and after installations, and you are not limited to just "installing" software with packaging.
Ninite is a solid solution if you don't mind not being able to script it and only install the applications that it has listed on the Ninite page. You are, however, possibly guaranteed that you have everything you need to install sheerly by having the Ninite Installer. In that way it may be better than using Chocolatey's community repository, which most packages require access to the internet to download installers that do not have distribution rights with them (Ninite may not incur this extra point of failure, but is quite limited in its offerings). Chocolatey community repository with licensed editions of Chocolatey have almost no chance of breakages due to a CDN Cache of those downloads.
Chocolatey community repository has over 4,000 more packages than Ninite and a community that is driving to continually make it better. If you need to get to older versions of packages, many of the packages on the community repository allow for this. What Chocolatey community repository may lack in the possible guarantee that Ninite provides, it makes up for in features and options. Chocolatey can provide packages for non-free products, have multiple sources and folks can script the installations. Chocolatey is more than just an installer and with that does not require administrative privileges to use.
Both Ninite and Chocolatey community repository solutions suffer from the issue of having the most up-to-date packages available, it's just that Chocolatey is more transparent about it.
When it comes to internal use and creating and hosting your own (or internalizing existing) packages, nothing else holds a candle to Chocolatey. When you step up to Chocolatey for Business, you get access to features that allow an organization to really excel quickly.
Whether you use Chocolatey or Ninite, consider that the two answer the same question differently and that is okay. They can live in harmony with each other and at some point Chocolatey may offer Ninite as package source.