# Pulumi vs Terraform

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Pulumi

| Attribute | Pulumi | Terraform |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 69.4 (75% (high)) | 62.4 (53% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 2,143 | 1,108 |
| adoption.github_stars | 25,758 | 49,829 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 1,440,025 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A platform for defining and managing cloud infrastructure using TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, or HCL instead of domain-specific languages, with built-in policy enforcement, compliance tracking, and AI-powered resource discovery. It is indexed under Infrastructure as Code Tools.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"What is Pulumi?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pulumi is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Paid editions are also offered: Team Edition, Enterprise and Business Critical, priced on request. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"Is Pulumi free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pulumi supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"What platforms does Pulumi support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Pulumi can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise, air-gapped and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"Can Pulumi be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 12 integrations for Pulumi, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, GitHub and Slack, plus 4 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"What does Pulumi integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 for Pulumi. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Pulumi not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/tutorials/eval-compliance-terraform/","question":"What security certifications does Pulumi have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Pulumi 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/pulumi/pulumi","question":"Is Pulumi open source?","confidence":0.99},{"answer":"Pulumi is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","question":"Where is Pulumi available?","confidence":0.5}]` | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under Infrastructure as Code Tools.","source":"https://www.terraform.io","question":"What is Terraform?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Terraform is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.terraform.io","question":"Is Terraform free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Terraform supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.terraform.io","question":"What platforms does Terraform support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Terraform can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.terraform.io","question":"Can Terraform be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 10 integrations for Terraform, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud, Docker, Consul, Packer and Vault, plus 2 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.terraform.io","question":"What does Terraform integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and ISO 27001 for Terraform. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Terraform not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.terraform.io/security","question":"What security certifications does Terraform have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An 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. | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code platform that lets teams define, provision, and manage cloud and on-premise infrastructure through declarative configuration files. It generates execution plans before making changes, manages resource dependencies, and enables version control and collaboration on infrastructure definitions. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"cloud","language":"TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, YAML","paradigm":"general_language","multicloud":true,"policy_as_code":true,"drift_detection":true,"import_existing":true,"state_management":"vendor_managed","open_source_engine":true,"provider_ecosystem":true,"gitops_reconciliation":false,"managed_saas_offering":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","language":"HCL","paradigm":"declarative_dsl","multicloud":true,"policy_as_code":true,"import_existing":true,"state_management":"vendor_managed","open_source_engine":true,"provider_ecosystem":true,"managed_saas_offering":true}` |
| integrations.count | 20 | 10 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"CloudFormation"},{"name":"Azure Resource Manager"},{"name":"Kubernetes","native":true,"category":"container","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"GitHub","native":true,"category":"vcs","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Slack","native":false,"category":"chat","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Backstage","native":true,"category":"devops","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"npm","native":false,"category":"package_manager","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"PyPI","native":false,"category":"package_manager","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"NuGet","native":false,"category":"package_manager","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Helm","native":true,"category":"cloud-native"},{"name":"AWS Secrets Manager","native":true,"category":"secrets"},{"name":"Azure Key Vault","native":true,"category":"secrets"},{"name":"Vault","native":true,"category":"secrets"},{"name":"1Password","native":true,"category":"secrets"},{"name":"Cloudflare","native":true,"category":"infrastructure"},{"name":"MongoDB","native":true,"category":"database"},{"name":"Snowflake","native":true,"category":"database"},{"name":"GitHub Actions","native":true,"category":"ci-cd"},{"name":"GitLab Pipelines","native":true,"category":"ci-cd"},{"name":"Jenkins","native":true,"category":"ci-cd"},{"name":"CircleCI","native":true,"category":"ci-cd"},{"name":"Atlassian Bitbucket","native":true,"category":"ci-cd"},{"name":"External Secrets Operator","native":true,"category":"secrets"},{"name":"Secrets Store CSI Driver","native":true,"category":"secrets"}]` | `[{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud Platform"},{"name":"Oracle Cloud"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Consul"},{"name":"Packer"},{"name":"Vault"},{"name":"Boundary"},{"name":"GitHub"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Team Edition","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Metered pricing per resource-hour and deployment-minute. Contact sales for bulk discounts on annual commitments over $20,000.","currency":"USD","sourceUrl":"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/pricing-calculator-blog/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T11:12:11.575Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.terraform.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T09:37:57.093Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | quote | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | unknown | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 5 | 6 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.267.0","date":"2026-10-01T11:49:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.267.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.266.0","date":"2026-09-30T11:33:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.266.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.265.0","date":"2026-09-25T22:34:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.265.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.264.0","date":"2026-09-23T09:54:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.264.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.263.0","date":"2026-09-16T11:16:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.263.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.262.0","date":"2026-09-10T11:37:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.262.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.261.0","date":"2026-09-02T16:55:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.261.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.260.0","date":"2026-08-28T11:06:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.260.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.259.0","date":"2026-08-19T20:04:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.259.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.258.0","date":"2026-08-17T19:04:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.258.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.257.0","date":"2026-08-13T14:42:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.257.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.256.0","date":"2026-08-04T19:34:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.256.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.255.0","date":"2026-07-28T13:37:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.255.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.254.0","date":"2026-07-23T15:10:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.254.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.253.0","date":"2026-07-14T11:30:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.253.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.252.0","date":"2026-07-13T12:34:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.252.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.251.0","date":"2026-07-08T12:41:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.251.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.250.0","date":"2026-07-02T00:47:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.250.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.249.0","date":"2026-07-01T14:20:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.249.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/releases/tag/v3.248.0","date":"2026-06-24T14:50:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.248.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.5","date":"2026-10-02T13:04:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.17.0-beta2","date":"2026-09-23T15:48:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.17.0-beta2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.4","date":"2026-09-23T12:44:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.3","date":"2026-09-16T14:33:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.17.0-beta1","date":"2026-09-09T17:13:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.17.0-beta1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.2","date":"2026-09-09T13:22:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.1","date":"2026-09-02T14:49:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.17.0-alpha20260827","date":"2026-08-27T10:30:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.17.0-alpha20260827"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0","date":"2026-08-26T13:05:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-rc2","date":"2026-08-19T12:08:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.15.9","date":"2026-08-19T14:29:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.15.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.17.0-alpha20260812","date":"2026-08-12T12:01:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.17.0-alpha20260812"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-rc1","date":"2026-08-12T15:22:32Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-beta2","date":"2026-08-05T18:07:50Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-beta2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.17.0-alpha20260729","date":"2026-07-29T19:38:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.17.0-alpha20260729"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-beta1","date":"2026-07-23T16:51:01Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-beta1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-alpha20260715","date":"2026-07-15T12:44:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-alpha20260715"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-alpha20260708","date":"2026-07-08T09:19:38Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-alpha20260708"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.15.8","date":"2026-07-08T17:45:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.15.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.16.0-alpha20260706","date":"2026-07-06T14:49:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.16.0-alpha20260706"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.1 | 6.6 |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://www.pulumi.com/tutorials/eval-compliance-terraform/ | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40pulumi%2Fpulumi&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fhashicorp%2Fterraform&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Infrastructure as Code Tools)

| Capability | Pulumi | Terraform |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Paradigm | General language | Declarative DSL |
| Language | TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, YAML | HCL |
| **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 + self-hosted |
| **Adoption** |  |  |
| Import existing resources | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-15T23:55:50.765Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*