Comparison

Pulumi vs Terraform

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.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Pulumi69
Terraform64
Score
Vioscale score
Pulumi69 / 100high · 75%
Terraform64 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tier
Pulumi
Terraform
Model
Terraformcommercial
Price level
Pulumilow
Terraformfree
Transparent
Pulumi
Terraform
Integrations
Count
Pulumi6
Terraform10
Reliability
Status page
Pulumi
Terraform
Adoption
Dependent repos
Pulumi2,143
Terraform1,108
Github stars
Pulumi25,610
Terraform49,541
Package downloads weekly
Pulumi1,787,798
Terraform
Activity
Commits last 30d
Pulumi100
Terraform100
Release
Cadence days
Pulumi5
Terraform6
History
Pulumi20 items
Terraform20 items
License
Spdx
Terraform
Language
Primary
PulumiGo
TerraformGo
Market
Availability

Capabilities

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

Core
Paradigm
PulumiGeneral language
TerraformDeclarative DSL
Language
PulumiTypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, YAML
TerraformHCL
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
Pulumi
Terraform
Architecture
State management
PulumiVendor-managed
TerraformVendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
Pulumi
Terraform
Governance
Policy as code
Pulumi
Terraform
Ops
Drift detection
Pulumi
Terraform-
GitOps continuous reconciliation
Pulumi
Terraform-
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
Pulumi
Terraform-
Hosting
PulumiCloud only
Terraform-
Adoption
Import existing resources
Pulumi
Terraform
Licensing
Open-source engine
Pulumi
Terraform
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
Pulumi-
Terraform-

What each one is

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

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

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.

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 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
Web
Pulumi
Terraform
CLI
Pulumi
Terraform
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Pulumi
Terraform
Self-hosted
Pulumi
Terraform

Integrations

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

In common (2)
  • AWS
  • Azure

Pulumi

Leader
6 total - 4 not shared
  • Google Cloud
  • Terraform
  • CloudFormation
  • Azure Resource Manager
Independently observed

Terraform

10 total - 8 not shared
  • 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.