vioscaleAI
Comparison

Terraform vs Terragrunt

No clear leader: Terraform (62.4) and Terragrunt (59.1) 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.

Terraform full profile →Terragrunt full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Terraform62
Terragrunt59
Score
vioscaleAI score
Terraform62 / 100medium · 53%
Terragrunt59 / 100low · 41%
Pricing
Free tier
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Model
Terraformcommercial
Terragruntopen_source
Price level
Terraformfree
Terragruntfree
Transparent
Terraform–
Terragrunt✗
Integrations
Count
Terraform10
Terragrunt8
Security
Disclosure policy
Terraform✓
Terragrunt–
Iso27001
Terraform✓
Terragrunt–
Scorecard
Terraform6.6
Terragrunt8.7
Soc2
Terraform✓
Terragrunt–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Terraform✓
Terragrunt–
Adoption
Dependent repos
Terraform1,108
Terragrunt33
Github stars
Terraform49,829
Terragrunt9,880
Activity
Commits last 30d
Terraform100
Terragrunt100
Release
Cadence days
Terraform6
Terragrunt8
History
Terraform20 items
Terragrunt20 items
License
Spdx
Terraform–
TerragruntMIT
Language
Primary
TerraformGo
TerragruntGo
Content
Faq
Terraform6 items
Terragrunt6 items

Capabilities

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

Core
Paradigm
TerraformDeclarative DSL
TerragruntDeclarative DSL
Language
TerraformHCL
TerragruntGo
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Architecture
State management
TerraformVendor-managed
TerragruntSelf-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Governance
Policy as code
Terraform✓
Terragrunt-
Ops
Drift detection
Terraform-
Terragrunt✓
GitOps continuous reconciliation
Terraform-
Terragrunt✓
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Hosting
TerraformCloud + self-hosted
TerragruntSelf-hosted only
Adoption
Import existing resources
Terraform✓
Terragrunt-
Licensing
Open-source engine
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
Terraform-
Terragrunt-

What each one is

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

Terraform

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.

Independently observed

Terragrunt

A tool that coordinates and scales OpenTofu and Terraform configurations, enabling infrastructure-as-code deployments to manage complexity across multiple environments and cloud providers

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Terraform

Open sourceFree tier
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
Windows
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✗
CLI
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Terraform✗
Terragrunt✓
Self-hosted
Terraform✓
Terragrunt✓

Integrations

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

In common (1)
  • AWS

Terraform

10 total - 9 not shared
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Oracle Cloud
  • Docker
  • Consul
  • Packer
  • Vault
  • Boundary
  • GitHub
Independently observed

Terragrunt

15 total - 14 not shared
  • OpenTofu
  • Terraform
  • Git
  • Mercurial
  • Amazon S3
  • Google Cloud Storage
  • Azure Storage
  • Amazon ECR
  • GitHub Container Registry
  • Azure Container Registry
  • Google Artifact Registry
  • HTTP
  • SMB
  • AWS S3
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Terraform or Terragrunt: 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.