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Head-to-head · Infrastructure Automation

Spacelift vs AWS CDK

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 3 checks side by side
Higher score Spacelift #5 in Infrastructure Automation 8.7/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 4 features Visit Spacelift
AWS CDK #7 in Infrastructure Automation 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 4 features Visit AWS CDK

Spacelift 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 scoreSpacelift · 8.7/10
  • Free planboth

Spacelift scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure automation: 8.7 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #5 and #7.

Spacelift is the better fit for platform teams coordinating multiple IaC tools. AWS CDK is the better fit for AWS developers defining infrastructure in code.

  • Spacelift fits best

    Platform teams coordinating multiple IaC tools

  • AWS CDK fits best

    AWS developers defining infrastructure in code

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Side by side

Feature Spacelift 8.7/10 Visit ↗ AWS CDK 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.7 8.5
Ranking #5 in Infrastructure Automation #7 in Infrastructure Automation
Best for Platform teams coordinating multiple IaC tools AWS developers defining infrastructure in code
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price $20,000/yr Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Support Email, Live chat, Tickets Docs
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Spacelift 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
  • Coordinates workflows across Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, and other IaC tools
  • Combines stack dependencies, state options, policy controls, and drift remediation
  • Offers self-service templates, VCS integrations, and self-hosted deployment
  • 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
  • Starter+ is listed at $20,000 per year, billed annually
  • Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ require quotes
  • The Free plan is limited to 2 users and 1 public worker
  • 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

Spacelift brings infrastructure-as-code workflows into one orchestration platform for DevOps, platform engineering, and SRE teams. It supports Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Ansible, and Terragrunt, connecting…

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. SpaceliftInfrastructure Automation 8.7Free plan
  2. AWS CDKInfrastructure Automation 8.5Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Spacelift — where it wins

    • Coordinates workflows across Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, and other IaC tools
    • Combines stack dependencies, state options, policy controls, and drift remediation
    • Offers self-service templates, VCS integrations, and self-hosted deployment

    Where it doesn't

    • Starter+ is listed at $20,000 per year, billed annually
    • Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ require quotes
    • The Free plan is limited to 2 users and 1 public worker

  • 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