# Atlantis vs AWS CloudFormation

**Leader by Vioscale score:** AWS CloudFormation

| Attribute | Atlantis | AWS CloudFormation |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 54.8 (41% (low)) | 60.3 (73% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 40 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 2 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 9,254 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A system that orchestrates Terraform deployments via pull request workflows, providing safety checks, approval gates, and comprehensive audit logging for infrastructure changes across multiple Git platforms. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","language":"HCL","paradigm":"declarative_dsl","multicloud":true,"policy_as_code":true,"drift_detection":true,"open_source_engine":true,"provider_ecosystem":true,"gitops_reconciliation":true,"managed_saas_offering":false}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","language":"JSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET","paradigm":"declarative_dsl","multicloud":false,"policy_as_code":true,"drift_detection":true,"import_existing":true,"state_management":"vendor_managed","open_source_engine":false,"provider_ecosystem":true,"gitops_reconciliation":true,"managed_saas_offering":true}` |
| integrations.count | 7 | 21 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitLab"},{"name":"Bitbucket"},{"name":"Azure DevOps"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"Terraform Cloud/Enterprise"},{"name":"Slack"}]` | `[{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Atlassian Opsgenie"},{"name":"JFrog"},{"name":"Trend Micro"},{"name":"Splunk"},{"name":"Aqua Security"},{"name":"FireEye"},{"name":"Sysdig"},{"name":"Snyk"},{"name":"Check Point"},{"name":"Spot by NetApp"},{"name":"Gremlin"},{"name":"Stackery"},{"name":"Iridium"},{"name":"AWS CDK"},{"name":"AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model)"},{"name":"Visual Studio"},{"name":"Kiro"},{"name":"AWS CloudFormation Registry"},{"name":"AWS Partner Network (APN)"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.runatlantis.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:59:47.477Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Third-party Resources & Custom Hooks","summary":"$0.0009/handler operation after 1,000 free ops/month","features":["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"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"handler operation"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.0009,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"second"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.00008,"currency":"USD","description":"Duration overage beyond 30 seconds per operation"}],"description":"Pay-per-operation model for third-party resource providers and custom hooks","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_handler_operations":"1,000/month","free_duration_per_operation":"30 seconds"}}],"summary":"Usage-based: $0.0009/handler operation + $0.00008/sec overage. 1,000 free operations/month. Data transfer at AWS rates.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:36:19.015Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.00008,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 31 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.47.1","date":"2026-08-20T18:34:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.47.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.47.0","date":"2026-08-18T23:19:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.47.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.46.0","date":"2026-06-30T16:04:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.46.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.45.0","date":"2026-06-28T16:38:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.45.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.44.1","date":"2026-06-26T05:18:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.44.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.44.0","date":"2026-06-10T18:20:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.44.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.43.0","date":"2026-05-05T16:50:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.43.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.42.0","date":"2026-04-21T05:11:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.42.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.41.0","date":"2026-03-27T14:50:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.41.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.40.0","date":"2026-01-30T05:41:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.40.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.39.0","date":"2025-12-29T18:35:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.39.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.38.0","date":"2025-12-10T06:05:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.37.1","date":"2025-11-11T04:18:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.37.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.37.0","date":"2025-11-11T03:56:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.37.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.36.0","date":"2025-09-18T16:00:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.36.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.35.1","date":"2025-07-31T00:29:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.35.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.35.0","date":"2025-06-27T15:53:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.35.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.34.0","date":"2025-04-02T20:24:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.34.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.33.0","date":"2025-02-03T20:20:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.33.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/runatlantis/atlantis/releases/tag/v0.32.0","date":"2024-12-20T02:50:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.32.0"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.4 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":4,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Frunatlantis%2Fatlantis&per_page=100","last_12m":2,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Infrastructure as Code Tools)

| Capability | Atlantis | AWS CloudFormation |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Paradigm | Declarative DSL | Declarative DSL |
| Language | HCL | JSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET |
| **Portability** |  |  |
| Multicloud / cloud-agnostic | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| State management | - | Vendor-managed |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Pluggable provider ecosystem | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Policy as code | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Drift detection | ✓ | ✓ |
| GitOps continuous reconciliation | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Managed SaaS offering | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud only |
| **Adoption** |  |  |
| Import existing resources | - | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source engine | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:53:39.485Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*