Comparison

AWS CDK vs Terraform

No clear leader: AWS CDK (65.0) and Terraform (64.2) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
AWS CDK65
Terraform64
Score
Vioscale score
AWS CDK65 / 100high · 76%
Terraform64 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tier
AWS CDK
Terraform
Model
Terraformcommercial
Price level
AWS CDKfree
Terraformfree
Transparent
AWS CDK
Terraform
Integrations
Count
AWS CDK5
Terraform10
Reliability
Status page
AWS CDK
Terraform
Adoption
Dependent repos
AWS CDK4,665
Terraform1,108
Github stars
AWS CDK12,876
Terraform49,541
Package downloads weekly
AWS CDK1,691,427
Terraform
Activity
Commits last 30d
AWS CDK100
Terraform100
Release
Cadence days
AWS CDK4
Terraform6
History
AWS CDK20 items
Terraform20 items
License
Spdx
AWS CDKApache-2.0
Terraform
Language
Primary
AWS CDKTypeScript
TerraformGo
Market
Availability
Terraform

Capabilities

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

Core
Paradigm
AWS CDKGeneral language
TerraformDeclarative DSL
Language
AWS CDKTypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go
TerraformHCL
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
AWS CDK
Terraform
Architecture
State management
AWS CDKVendor-managed
TerraformVendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
AWS CDK
Terraform
Governance
Policy as code
AWS CDK
Terraform
Ops
Drift detection
AWS CDK
Terraform-
GitOps continuous reconciliation
AWS CDK-
Terraform-
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
AWS CDK
Terraform-
Hosting
AWS CDK-
Terraform-
Adoption
Import existing resources
AWS CDK
Terraform
Licensing
Open-source engine
AWS CDK
Terraform
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
AWS CDK-
Terraform-

What each one is

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

AWS CDK

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

Terraform

Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you build, change, and version infrastructure safely and efficiently. It manages low-level components like compute, storage, and networking as well as high-level components like DNS entries and SaaS features.

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

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Terraform

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
CLI
AWS CDK
Terraform
Deployment
Self-hosted
AWS CDK
Terraform

Integrations

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

AWS CDK

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

Terraform

10 total
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Oracle Cloud
  • Docker
  • Consul
  • Packer
  • Vault
  • Boundary
  • GitHub
Independently observed

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