Comparison

AWS CloudFormation vs Pulumi

On the evidence we track, Pulumi leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

AWS CloudFormation full profile →Pulumi full profile →

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AWS CloudFormation60

★Pulumi69

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AWS CloudFormation	PulumiLeader
Vioscale score	60 / 100medium · 73%	69 / 100high · 75%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	21	6
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	7.2
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40pulumi%2Fpulumi&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	2,143
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	25,610
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	-	1,787,798
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	5
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · HQ US	Available worldwide · Popular in US

Score

Vioscale score

AWS CloudFormation60 / 100medium · 73%

Pulumi69 / 100high · 75%

Pricing

Free tier

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Model

AWS CloudFormationfreemium

Pulumicommercial

Price level

AWS CloudFormationlow

Pulumilow

Transparent

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Integrations

Count

AWS CloudFormation21

Pulumi6

Security

Disclosure policy

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Fedramp

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi–

Gdpr

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi–

Hipaa

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi–

Pci

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi–

Scorecard

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi7.2

Soc2

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi✓

Vulnerabilities

AWS CloudFormation–

PulumiCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40pulumi%2Fpulumi&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi2,143

Github stars

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi25,610

Package downloads weekly

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi1,787,798

Activity

Commits last 30d

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi100

Release

Cadence days

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi5

History

AWS CloudFormation–

Pulumi20 items

License

Spdx

AWS CloudFormation–

PulumiApache-2.0

Language

Primary

AWS CloudFormation–

PulumiGo

Market

Availability

AWS CloudFormationAvailable worldwide · HQ US

PulumiAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Infrastructure as Code Tools
Capability	AWS CloudFormation	Pulumi
Core
Paradigm	Declarative DSL	General language
Language	JSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET	TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, YAML
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic	✗	✓
Architecture
State management	Vendor-managed	Vendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem	✓	✓
Governance
Policy as code	✓	✓
Ops
Drift detection	✓	✓
GitOps continuous reconciliation	✓	✗
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering	✓	✓
Hosting	Cloud only	Cloud only
Adoption
Import existing resources	✓	✓
Licensing
Open-source engine	✗	✓
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity	-	-

Core

Paradigm

AWS CloudFormationDeclarative DSL

PulumiGeneral language

Language

AWS CloudFormationJSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET

PulumiTypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, YAML

Portability

Multicloud / cloud-agnostic

AWS CloudFormation✗

Pulumi✓

Architecture

State management

AWS CloudFormationVendor-managed

PulumiVendor-managed

Extensibility

Pluggable provider ecosystem

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Governance

Policy as code

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Ops

Drift detection

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

GitOps continuous reconciliation

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✗

Deployment

Managed SaaS offering

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Hosting

AWS CloudFormationCloud only

PulumiCloud only

Adoption

Import existing resources

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Licensing

Open-source engine

AWS CloudFormation✗

Pulumi✓

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

AWS CloudFormation-

Pulumi-

What each one is

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

AWS CloudFormation

A managed service for provisioning and managing AWS and third-party cloud resources through declarative templates (JSON/YAML) or programmatic languages. Automates infrastructure deployment across regions and accounts, detects configuration drift, and provides automatic rollback on errors.

Independently observed

Pulumi

Leader

A cloud infrastructure management platform that lets teams define and deploy resources across multiple cloud providers using standard programming languages. Includes state management, policy enforcement, and tooling for discovering and migrating existing infrastructure.

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 CloudFormation

from $0.00/moUsage-basedFree tier

Usage-based: $0.0009/handler operation + $0.00008/sec overage. 1,000 free operations/month. Data transfer at AWS rates.

Third-party Resources & Custom Hooks$0.0009/handler operation after 1,000 free ops/month
- Unlimited AWS::* and Alexa::* resource operations (no handler charges)
- Third-party resource provisioning
- Custom hook support
- Handler operation billing after free tier
- Duration overage billing

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Pulumi

Leader

HybridFree tier

Team Edition with per-resource-hour and deployment-minute metering. Bulk discounts available for >$20k/year spend. Free credits included.

Team EditionPer resource-hour and per deployment-minute charges. Free credits included.

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	AWS CloudFormation	Pulumi
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

Web

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

CLI

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

AWS CloudFormation✓

Pulumi✓

Integrations

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

AWS CloudFormation

21 total

MongoDB
Datadog
Atlassian Opsgenie
JFrog
Trend Micro
Splunk
Aqua Security
FireEye
Sysdig
Snyk
Check Point
Spot by NetApp
Gremlin
Stackery
Iridium
AWS CDK
AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model)
Visual Studio
Kiro
AWS CloudFormation Registry
AWS Partner Network (APN)

Independently observed

Pulumi

Leader

6 total

AWS
Azure
Google Cloud
Terraform
CloudFormation
Azure Resource Manager

Independently observed

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