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.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for infrastructure as code tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
AWS CloudFormation
A service for defining and deploying AWS cloud infrastructure using declarative code templates, enabling automated provisioning, updates, and management of resources at scale across multiple accounts and regions.
Pulumi
LeaderAn infrastructure-as-code system that lets you define, deploy, and manage cloud resources across multiple providers using Go, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, .NET, and YAML, with declarative provisioning, policy enforcement, and integrated state management.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
AWS CloudFormation
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
Pulumi
LeaderMetered pricing per resource-hour and deployment-minute. Contact sales for bulk discounts on annual commitments over $20,000.
- Team EditionContact sales
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- MongoDB
AWS CloudFormation
- 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)
- Serverless Application Model (SAM)
- Git repositories
Pulumi
Leader- AWS
- Azure
- Google Cloud
- Terraform
- CloudFormation
- Azure Resource Manager
- Kubernetes
- GitHub
- Slack
- Backstage
- npm
- PyPI
- NuGet
- Helm
- AWS Secrets Manager
- Azure Key Vault
- Vault
- 1Password
- Cloudflare
- Snowflake
- GitHub Actions
- GitLab Pipelines
- Jenkins
- CircleCI
- +3 more
AWS CloudFormation or Pulumi: 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.