vioscale
Comparison

AWS CloudFormation vs Terragrunt

No clear leader: Terragrunt (65.2) and AWS CloudFormation (60.3) 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.

AWS CloudFormation full profile →Terragrunt full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
AWS CloudFormation60
Terragrunt65
Score
Vioscale score
AWS CloudFormation60 / 100medium · 73%updating
Terragrunt65 / 100low · 38%updating
Pricing
Free tier
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Model
AWS CloudFormationfreemium
Terragruntfreemium
Price level
AWS CloudFormationlow
Terragruntfree
Transparent
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✗
Integrations
Count
AWS CloudFormation21
Terragrunt2
Security
Disclosure policy
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Fedramp
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Gdpr
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Hipaa
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Pci
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Scorecard
AWS CloudFormation–
Terragrunt7.2
Reliability
Status page
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt–
Adoption
Github stars
AWS CloudFormation–
Terragrunt9,807
Activity
Commits last 30d
AWS CloudFormation–
Terragrunt100
Release
Cadence days
AWS CloudFormation–
Terragrunt7
History
AWS CloudFormation–
Terragrunt20 items
License
Spdx
AWS CloudFormation–
TerragruntMIT
Language
Primary
AWS CloudFormation–
TerragruntGo
Market
Availability
AWS CloudFormationAvailable worldwide · HQ US
Terragrunt–

Capabilities

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

Core
Paradigm
AWS CloudFormationDeclarative DSL
TerragruntDeclarative DSL
Language
AWS CloudFormationJSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET
TerragruntGo
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
AWS CloudFormation✗
Terragrunt✓
Architecture
State management
AWS CloudFormationVendor-managed
TerragruntSelf-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Governance
Policy as code
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt-
Ops
Drift detection
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt-
GitOps continuous reconciliation
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Hosting
AWS CloudFormationCloud only
TerragruntSelf-hosted only
Adoption
Import existing resources
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt-
Licensing
Open-source engine
AWS CloudFormation✗
Terragrunt✓
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
AWS CloudFormation-
Terragrunt-

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

Terragrunt

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.

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 verify ↗

Terragrunt

HybridFree tier

Free open source; managed Terragrunt Scale offering available

  • Open SourceFree
  • Terragrunt ScaleContact sales
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✗
CLI
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
AWS CloudFormation✓
Terragrunt✓
Self-hosted
AWS CloudFormation✗
Terragrunt✓

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

Terragrunt

3 total
  • OpenTofu
  • Terraform
  • AWS
Independently observed

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