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Head-to-head · Infrastructure Automation

Pulumi vs AWS CDK

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 3 checks side by side
Higher score Pulumi #4 in Infrastructure Automation 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 4 features Visit Pulumi
AWS CDK #7 in Infrastructure Automation 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 4 features Visit AWS CDK

Pulumi leads on 0 checks, AWS CDK on 0, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 3 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scorePulumi · 8.8/10
  • Free planboth

Pulumi scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure automation: 8.8 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #4 and #7.

Pulumi is the better fit for teams preferring general-purpose languages for IaC. AWS CDK is the better fit for AWS developers defining infrastructure in code.

  • Pulumi fits best

    Teams preferring general-purpose languages for IaC

  • AWS CDK fits best

    AWS developers defining infrastructure in code

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Pulumi 8.8/10 Visit ↗ AWS CDK 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.8 8.5
Ranking #4 in Infrastructure Automation #7 in Infrastructure Automation
Best for Teams preferring general-purpose languages for IaC AWS developers defining infrastructure in code
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price $40/mo Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Support Tickets, Community, Docs Docs
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Pulumi 2/4 · AWS CDK 2/4
Infrastructure as code Not checked yet Not checked yet
Configuration management Not checked yet Not checked yet
Policy as code ✓ ✓
Drift detection ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Not checked yet Not checked yet
Cloud providers Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Define infrastructure with TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML
  • Supports AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes
  • Combines state management, policy enforcement, imports, and drift remediation
  • Reusable constructs help organize AWS infrastructure definitions.
  • Supports TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, C#/.NET, and Go.
  • Includes diffing, resource imports, drift detection, and validation.
Cons
  • The Free plan is limited to 1 user and up to 500 workflow minutes
  • Essentials and Pro cap managed resources at 500 and 2,000, respectively
  • Enterprise uses contract pricing, and self-hosting has edition requirements
  • Supports AWS rather than multiple cloud providers.
  • Deployments are synthesized into AWS CloudFormation templates.
  • AWS CDK is open source, but provisioned AWS resources are billed separately.
Our verdict

Pulumi gives developers and platform teams a way to build, deploy, manage, and govern cloud infrastructure as code. Its open-source CLI and SDKs support TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, and YAML, so teams can define…

Read the review →

AWS CDK is an open-source infrastructure-as-code framework for developers and teams that want to define AWS resources alongside application code. It uses reusable constructs written in general-purpose languages and synthesizes them into…

Read the review →
  1. PulumiInfrastructure Automation 8.8Free plan
  2. AWS CDKInfrastructure Automation 8.5Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Pulumi — where it wins

    • Define infrastructure with TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML
    • Supports AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes
    • Combines state management, policy enforcement, imports, and drift remediation

    Where it doesn't

    • The Free plan is limited to 1 user and up to 500 workflow minutes
    • Essentials and Pro cap managed resources at 500 and 2,000, respectively
    • Enterprise uses contract pricing, and self-hosting has edition requirements

  • AWS CDK — where it wins

    • Reusable constructs help organize AWS infrastructure definitions.
    • Supports TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, C#/.NET, and Go.
    • Includes diffing, resource imports, drift detection, and validation.

    Where it doesn't

    • Supports AWS rather than multiple cloud providers.
    • Deployments are synthesized into AWS CloudFormation templates.
    • AWS CDK is open source, but provisioned AWS resources are billed separately.

More comparisons

All infrastructure automation comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update