# AWS CDK vs Terragrunt

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** AWS CDK

| Attribute | AWS CDK | Terragrunt |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 70 (75% (high)) | 59.1 (41% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 99 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 4,665 | 33 |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,933 | 9,880 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 1,569,573 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under Infrastructure as Code Tools.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","question":"What is AWS CDK?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"AWS CDK is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","question":"Is AWS CDK free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"AWS CDK supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","question":"What platforms does AWS CDK support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. AWS CDK can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","question":"Can AWS CDK be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for AWS CDK, including AWS CloudFormation, AWS Lambda, AWS SNS, AWS Step Functions and AWS EC2. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_ec2","question":"What does AWS CDK integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed HIPAA for AWS CDK. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as AWS CDK not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/trust-center/?nc1=f_cc","question":"What security certifications does AWS CDK have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. AWS CDK is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk","question":"Is AWS CDK open source?","confidence":0.99},{"answer":"AWS CDK is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","question":"Where is AWS CDK available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"An open-source orchestrator that streamlines Infrastructure as Code management for Terraform and OpenTofu. Includes free managed CI/CD capabilities to automate and accelerate infrastructure deployment pipelines. It is indexed under Infrastructure as Code Tools.","source":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","question":"What is Terragrunt?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Terragrunt is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Paid editions are also offered: Terragrunt Scale, priced on request. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","question":"Is Terragrunt free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Terragrunt supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","question":"What platforms does Terragrunt support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Terragrunt can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","question":"Can Terragrunt be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Terragrunt, including OpenTofu, Terraform and AWS. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","question":"What does Terragrunt integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Terragrunt is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt","question":"Is Terragrunt open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | A tool that coordinates and scales OpenTofu and Terraform configurations, enabling infrastructure-as-code deployments to manage complexity across multiple environments and cloud providers |
| features.capabilities | `{"language":"TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go","paradigm":"general_language","multicloud":false,"policy_as_code":true,"drift_detection":true,"import_existing":true,"state_management":"vendor_managed","open_source_engine":true,"provider_ecosystem":true,"managed_saas_offering":false}` | `{"hosting":"self","language":"Go","paradigm":"declarative_dsl","multicloud":true,"drift_detection":true,"state_management":"self_managed","open_source_engine":true,"provider_ecosystem":true,"gitops_reconciliation":true,"managed_saas_offering":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | 8 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS CloudFormation"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"AWS SNS"},{"name":"AWS Step Functions"},{"name":"AWS EC2"}]` | `[{"name":"OpenTofu"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Git","native":true,"category":"version_control"},{"name":"Mercurial","native":true,"category":"version_control"},{"name":"Amazon S3","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage"},{"name":"Azure Storage","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage"},{"name":"Amazon ECR","native":true,"category":"container_registry"},{"name":"GitHub Container Registry","native":true,"category":"container_registry"},{"name":"Azure Container Registry","native":true,"category":"container_registry"},{"name":"Google Artifact Registry","native":true,"category":"artifact_registry"},{"name":"HTTP","native":true,"category":"protocol"},{"name":"SMB","native":true,"category":"protocol"},{"name":"AWS S3","category":"state_backend"}]` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_hub","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T21:53:47.459Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","description":"Free open-source version for up to 25 infrastructure units","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Terragrunt Scale","description":"Managed cloud platform with unlimited runs and resources","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free open source; managed Terragrunt Scale offering available","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:23:22.953Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 8 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.273.0","date":"2026-10-08T20:09:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.273.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.272.0","date":"2026-09-30T14:12:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.272.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.271.0","date":"2026-09-25T18:49:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.271.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.270.0","date":"2026-09-17T18:35:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.270.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.269.0","date":"2026-09-10T21:09:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.269.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.268.0","date":"2026-09-02T19:42:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.268.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.267.0","date":"2026-08-27T18:35:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.267.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.266.0","date":"2026-08-19T19:02:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.266.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.265.0","date":"2026-08-13T19:48:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.265.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.264.0","date":"2026-08-10T18:02:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.264.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.263.0","date":"2026-07-31T16:57:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.263.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.262.2","date":"2026-07-29T14:24:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.262.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.262.1","date":"2026-07-24T14:54:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.262.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.262.0","date":"2026-07-22T20:53:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.262.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.261.0","date":"2026-07-02T16:42:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.261.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.260.0","date":"2026-06-16T23:45:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.260.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.259.0","date":"2026-06-12T09:53:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.259.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.258.1","date":"2026-06-09T09:30:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.258.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.258.0","date":"2026-06-04T20:43:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.258.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.257.0","date":"2026-05-21T20:24:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.257.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.2.0-rc2","date":"2026-10-07T17:04:01Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.2.0-rc1","date":"2026-09-24T14:40:25Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.6","date":"2026-09-21T13:27:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.5","date":"2026-09-14T21:06:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.4","date":"2026-08-27T17:52:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.3","date":"2026-08-13T14:48:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.2","date":"2026-07-29T18:24:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.1","date":"2026-07-14T14:31:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2026-07-01T08:49:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.0-rc3","date":"2026-06-26T14:28:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.0-rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.0-rc2","date":"2026-06-17T17:27:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.1.0-rc1","date":"2026-06-12T14:58:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.8","date":"2026-06-10T19:50:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.7","date":"2026-06-01T14:54:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.6","date":"2026-05-25T12:21:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.5","date":"2026-05-18T17:06:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.4","date":"2026-05-07T13:54:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.3","date":"2026-04-27T14:17:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.2","date":"2026-04-21T12:24:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases/tag/v1.0.1","date":"2026-04-13T14:16:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 5.9 | 8.7 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/?nc2=h_dsc_aa_cmp | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":8,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=aws-cdk-lib&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=homebrew&package_name=terragrunt&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Infrastructure as Code Tools)

| Capability | AWS CDK | Terragrunt |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Paradigm | General language | Declarative DSL |
| Language | TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go | Go |
| **Portability** |  |  |
| Multicloud / cloud-agnostic | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| State management | Vendor-managed | Self-managed |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Pluggable provider ecosystem | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Policy as code | ✓ | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Drift detection | ✓ | ✓ |
| GitOps continuous reconciliation | - | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Managed SaaS offering | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hosting | - | Self-hosted only |
| **Adoption** |  |  |
| Import existing resources | ✓ | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:05:41.056Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*