vioscaleAI
Comparison

AWS CDK vs Spacelift

On the evidence we track, AWS CDK leads this comparison with a composite score of 70/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

AWS CDK full profile →Spacelift full profile →
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★AWS CDK70
Spacelift47
Score
vioscaleAI score
AWS CDK70 / 100high · 75%
Spacelift47 / 100medium · 74%
Pricing
Free tier
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Model
AWS CDKopen_source
Spaceliftfreemium
Price level
AWS CDKfree
Spacelifthigh
Starting price
AWS CDK–
Spacelift$20,000
Transparent
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✗
Integrations
Count
AWS CDK5
Spacelift22
Security
Certifications
AWS CDK–
SpaceliftSOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP
Disclosure policy
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Fedramp
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Gdpr
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift–
Hipaa
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift–
Pci
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift–
Scorecard
AWS CDK5.9
Spacelift–
Soc2
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
AWS CDK4,665
Spacelift–
Github stars
AWS CDK12,933
Spacelift–
Package downloads weekly
AWS CDK1,569,573
Spacelift–
Activity
Commits last 30d
AWS CDK99
Spacelift–
Release
Cadence days
AWS CDK6
Spacelift–
History
AWS CDK20 items
Spacelift–
License
Spdx
AWS CDKApache-2.0
Spacelift–
Language
Primary
AWS CDKTypeScript
Spacelift–
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
AWS CDK8 items
Spacelift7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for infrastructure as code tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Paradigm
AWS CDKGeneral language
SpaceliftDeclarative DSL
Language
AWS CDKTypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go
SpaceliftTerraform HCL, Kubernetes YAML, CloudFormation JSON, Pulumi Python, Ansible
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
Architecture
State management
AWS CDKVendor-managed
SpaceliftVendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Governance
Policy as code
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Ops
Drift detection
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
GitOps continuous reconciliation
AWS CDK-
Spacelift✓
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
Hosting
AWS CDK-
SpaceliftCloud + self-hosted
Adoption
Import existing resources
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Licensing
Open-source engine
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✗
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
AWS CDK-
Spacelift-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

AWS CDK

Leader

A development framework that lets you define AWS cloud resources and infrastructure using standard programming languages like TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, and Go. CDK compiles your code into CloudFormation templates for deployment.

Independently observed

Spacelift

Spacelift is an orchestration platform for managing infrastructure-as-code workflows. It supports multiple IaC tools including Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, and Kubernetes, with policy enforcement, drift detection, and multiple deployment models ranging from cloud-hosted SaaS to on-premises installations.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

AWS CDK

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Spacelift

from $20000/yrSubscriptionFree tier

Free tier available. Starter+ from $20,000/year. Higher tiers available by quote.

  • FreeFree
    • IaC support
    • VCS integration
    • Resource visualization
    • 1 public worker
  • Starter+$20,000/year, includes 2 public workers and 1-2 private workers
    • IaC support
    • Workflow customization
    • VCS integration
    • Resource visualization
    • Cloud cost estimation
    • +4 more
  • BusinessContact sales
    • All Starter+ features
    • Private provider registry
    • Targeted replans
    • Dedicated Slack support channel
    • Dedicated Customer Success Manager
    • +1 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • All Business features
    • Audit trail
    • SSO integration with SAML 2.0
    • OIDC API Keys
    • Internal source control system
    • +2 more
  • Enterprise+Contact sales
    • All Enterprise features
    • MFA
    • Self-hosted option
    • FedRAMP authorization
    • On-premises/air-gapped environments
    • +1 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
CLI
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
AWS CDK✓
Spacelift✓
Self-hosted
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
On-premise
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
Hybrid
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓
Air-gapped
AWS CDK✗
Spacelift✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

AWS CDK

Leader
5 total
  • AWS CloudFormation
  • AWS Lambda
  • AWS SNS
  • AWS Step Functions
  • AWS EC2
Independently observed

Spacelift

26 total
  • Terraform
  • OpenTofu
  • CloudFormation
  • Pulumi
  • Kubernetes
  • Ansible
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud
  • Slack
  • Infracost
  • Checkov
  • Wiz
  • OPA
  • ServiceNow
  • Terragrunt
  • AWS CDK
  • Serverless Framework
  • Bitbucket Cloud
  • Bitbucket Datacenter
  • Azure DevOps
  • +2 more
Independently observed
Still deciding?

AWS CDK or Spacelift: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.