Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Infrastructure as Code Tools

Pulumi vs AWS CloudFormation

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 5 checks side by side
Higher score Pulumi #2 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 9.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Pulumi
AWS CloudFormation #8 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit site

Pulumi leads on 0 checks, AWS CloudFormation on 0, and 5 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 5 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scorePulumi · 9.2/10
  • Free planboth

Pulumi scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure as code tools: 9.2 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #8.

On configuration language, AWS CloudFormation gives you Yaml/json where Pulumi offers General-purpose language. On state management, Pulumi gives you Both where AWS CloudFormation offers Managed.

Pulumi is the better fit for teams wanting IaC in familiar languages. AWS CloudFormation is the better fit for AWS-native infrastructure teams.

  • Pulumi fits best

    Teams wanting IaC in familiar languages

  • AWS CloudFormation fits best

    AWS-native infrastructure teams

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 9.2/10 Visit ↗ AWS CloudFormation 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.2 8.5
Ranking #2 in Infrastructure as Code Tools #8 in Infrastructure as Code Tools
Best for Teams wanting IaC in familiar languages AWS-native infrastructure teams
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $40/mo Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Web, Windows, macOS, Linux
Support Tickets, Community, Docs Docs
Integrations 8 integrations 7 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Pulumi 4/4 · AWS CloudFormation 4/4
Policy as code ✓ ✓
Drift detection ✓ ✓
Import existing resources ✓ ✓
Self-hosted execution ✓ ✓
Specs
Configuration language General-purpose language Yaml/json
Supported clouds AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes AWS
State management Both Managed
Our review
Pros
  • Supports TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, .NET, JavaScript, and YAML
  • Multi-cloud provisioning with managed or self-managed state backends
  • Includes policy as code, drift detection, import, secrets, and CI/CD
  • Free native AWS resource providers with managed state
  • Change sets, drift detection, imports, and rollback support
  • StackSets deploy across multiple AWS accounts and Regions
Cons
  • Team pricing starts at $40 per month for up to 10 users
  • Enterprise features require a $400-per-month plan
  • Platform coverage is narrower than Terraform's
  • Supports AWS rather than multiple cloud providers
  • Provisioning runs in AWS; self-hosted execution is unavailable
  • Some third-party providers and custom hooks incur usage-based charges
Our verdict

Pulumi is an open-source infrastructure-as-code platform for developers, platform engineers, and DevOps teams. It lets teams define and manage cloud infrastructure with TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML rather than…

Read the review →

AWS CloudFormation is a managed infrastructure-as-code service for defining, provisioning, updating, and deleting AWS resources as stacks. Teams author declarative templates in YAML or JSON and manage deployments through the AWS Management…

Read the review →
  1. PulumiInfrastructure as Code Tools 9.2Free plan
  2. AWS CloudFormationInfrastructure as Code Tools 8.5Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Pulumi — where it wins

    • Supports TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, .NET, JavaScript, and YAML
    • Multi-cloud provisioning with managed or self-managed state backends
    • Includes policy as code, drift detection, import, secrets, and CI/CD

    Where it doesn't

    • Team pricing starts at $40 per month for up to 10 users
    • Enterprise features require a $400-per-month plan
    • Platform coverage is narrower than Terraform's

  • AWS CloudFormation — where it wins

    • Free native AWS resource providers with managed state
    • Change sets, drift detection, imports, and rollback support
    • StackSets deploy across multiple AWS accounts and Regions

    Where it doesn't

    • Supports AWS rather than multiple cloud providers
    • Provisioning runs in AWS; self-hosted execution is unavailable
    • Some third-party providers and custom hooks incur usage-based charges
  • Pulumi9.2/10 · Free plan

    A flexible, multi-cloud IaC platform for teams that prefer familiar programming languages.

    Visit PulumiFull verdict →
  • AWS CloudFormation8.5/10 · Free plan

    A mature, free AWS-native service for managed stack-based infrastructure automation.

    Visit siteFull verdict →

More comparisons

All infrastructure as code tools comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update