Pulumi vs Fairwinds Polaris

Pulumi8.5Visit Fairwinds Polaris7.9Visit

Higher score Pulumi #4 in IaC Security Scanners 8.5/10 Free plan · paid from $40/mo Free plan✓ 2 of 5 features Visit Pulumi

vs

Fairwinds Polaris #7 in IaC Security Scanners 7.9/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 5 features Visit Polaris

• Pulumi fits best

  IaC teams needing policy and drift management

• Fairwinds Polaris fits best

  Kubernetes policy auditing and admission control

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Side by side

Feature	Pulumi 8.5/10 Visit ↗	Fairwinds Polaris 7.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.5	7.9
Ranking	#4 in IaC Security Scanners	#7 in IaC Security Scanners
Best for	IaC teams needing policy and drift management	Kubernetes policy auditing and admission control
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Linux, macOS, Windows
Support	Tickets, Community, Docs	Community, Docs
Integrations	8 integrations	2 integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Pulumi 2/5 · Fairwinds Polaris 2/5
Custom policies	Not published	✓ (best)
CI/PR integration	Not published	Not published
Fix suggestions	Not published	Not published
Drift detection	✓ (best)	Not published
Open-source option	✓	✓
Specs
IaC frameworks	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Define infrastructure in TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML Centralize policy enforcement across cloud and Kubernetes resources Import infrastructure and schedule drift detection with remediation	Free open-source plan with dashboard, admission controller, and CLI modes 30+ built-in policies plus custom JSON Schema checks CI thresholds and automatic remediation for supported YAML resources
Cons	The Free plan is limited to 1 user and advisory policy is on Essentials Preventative policies and drift remediation require the $400/month Pro plan Enterprise pricing is contract-based, and self-hosting has edition requirements	Focused on Kubernetes resources rather than Terraform-based IaC Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the software Support is limited to community resources and documentation
Our verdict	Pulumi combines infrastructure as code with cloud resource management and governance. Developers and platform teams can define infrastructure in TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML, and work across AWS, Azure, Google… Read the review →	Fairwinds Polaris is an open-source policy engine for teams managing Kubernetes resources. It validates configuration, security, efficiency, and reliability settings across Kubernetes environments, serving small, mid-market, and enterprise… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Pulumi — where it wins

  • Define infrastructure in TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET, Java, or YAML
  • Centralize policy enforcement across cloud and Kubernetes resources
  • Import infrastructure and schedule drift detection with remediation

  Where it doesn't

  • The Free plan is limited to 1 user and advisory policy is on Essentials
  • Preventative policies and drift remediation require the $400/month Pro plan
  • Enterprise pricing is contract-based, and self-hosting has edition requirements

• Fairwinds Polaris — where it wins

  • Free open-source plan with dashboard, admission controller, and CLI modes
  • 30+ built-in policies plus custom JSON Schema checks
  • CI thresholds and automatic remediation for supported YAML resources

  Where it doesn't

  • Focused on Kubernetes resources rather than Terraform-based IaC
  • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the software
  • Support is limited to community resources and documentation

• Pulumi8.5/10 · Free plan · paid from $40/mo

  A code-first IaC platform whose policy and drift controls deepen on paid plans.

  Visit PulumiFull verdict →
• Fairwinds Polaris7.9/10 · Free plan

  Focused Kubernetes auditing and admission control with flexible policy enforcement.

  Visit PolarisFull verdict →