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Infrastructure as Code: Terraform vs Pulumi


Infrastructure as Code: Terraform vs Pulumi


Comparing declarative and imperative approaches to cloud infrastructure.


Terraform (HCL)


Pros:

  • Mature ecosystem (7+ years)
  • Huge provider catalog
  • Strong community
  • Declarative syntax is easy to read

    • Cons:

  • HCL can be verbose
  • Limited programming constructs
  • State management complexity
  • Slow for large infrastructures

    • Pulumi (TypeScript/Python/Go)


    Pros:

  • Use real programming languages
  • Strong typing and IDE support
  • Unit testing with standard frameworks
  • Better abstraction/reusability

    • Cons:

  • Smaller ecosystem
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Less mature tooling

    • Our Recommendation


    Use Terraform if:

  • Team is ops-heavy, not developer-heavy
  • Need maximum provider coverage
  • Want simpler mental model

    • Use Pulumi if:

  • Team prefers programming languages
  • Need complex logic/abstractions
  • Want to unit test infrastructure

    • We use both: Terraform for core infrastructure, Pulumi for application-specific resources.