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Head-to-head · Infrastructure as Code Tools

Pulumi vs Scalr

  • 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
Scalr #6 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.7/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Scalr

Pulumi leads on 0 checks, Scalr 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 8.7 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #6.

On configuration language, Pulumi gives you General-purpose language where Scalr offers Hcl.

Pulumi is the better fit for teams wanting IaC in familiar languages. Scalr is the better fit for governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations.

  • Pulumi fits best

    Teams wanting IaC in familiar languages

  • Scalr fits best

    Governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations

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 ↗ Scalr 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.2 8.7
Ranking #2 in Infrastructure as Code Tools #6 in Infrastructure as Code Tools
Best for Teams wanting IaC in familiar languages Governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $40/mo $0.99/unit usage-based
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Web
Support Tickets, Community, Docs Tickets, Email, Community, Docs · 24/7
Compliance SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SSO/SAML SOC 2, GDPR, SSO/SAML
Integrations 8 integrations 19 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Pulumi 4/4 · Scalr 4/4
Policy as code ✓ ✓
Drift detection ✓ ✓
Import existing resources ✓ ✓
Self-hosted execution ✓ ✓
Specs
Configuration language General-purpose language Hcl
Supported clouds AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform
State management Both Both
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
  • Remote execution, drift detection, policy enforcement, and GitOps approvals
  • Business includes 50 free runs monthly and unlimited users and environments
  • Supports managed or customer-owned state plus self-hosted agent pools
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
  • Enterprise starts at 20,000 runs per year and uses quote-based pricing
  • Scalr is not open source
  • AI assistance is disabled by default and requires administrator enablement
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 →

Scalr is a hosted infrastructure-as-code platform for platform engineering teams working with Terraform or OpenTofu. It centralizes remote execution, state management, GitOps workflows, policy enforcement, drift detection, provider…

Read the review →
  1. PulumiInfrastructure as Code Tools 9.2Free plan
  2. ScalrInfrastructure as Code Tools 8.7Free 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

  • Scalr — where it wins

    • Remote execution, drift detection, policy enforcement, and GitOps approvals
    • Business includes 50 free runs monthly and unlimited users and environments
    • Supports managed or customer-owned state plus self-hosted agent pools

    Where it doesn't

    • Enterprise starts at 20,000 runs per year and uses quote-based pricing
    • Scalr is not open source
    • AI assistance is disabled by default and requires administrator enablement
  • Pulumi9.2/10 · Free plan

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

    Visit PulumiFull verdict →
  • Scalr8.7/10 · Free plan

    A governed remote-execution platform for teams standardizing Terraform and OpenTofu.

    Visit ScalrFull 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