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Head-to-head · Infrastructure as Code Tools

Spacelift vs Scalr

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 5 checks side by side
Higher score Spacelift #5 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Spacelift
Scalr #6 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.7/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Scalr

Spacelift 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 scoreSpacelift · 8.8/10
  • Free planboth

Spacelift scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure as code tools: 8.8 against 8.7 out of 10; our editors rank them #5 and #6.

Spacelift is the better fit for large teams running multiple IaC engines. Scalr is the better fit for governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations.

  • Spacelift fits best

    Large teams running multiple IaC engines

  • Scalr fits best

    Governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations

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Side by side

Feature Spacelift 8.8/10 Visit ↗ Scalr 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.8 8.7
Ranking #5 in Infrastructure as Code Tools #6 in Infrastructure as Code Tools
Best for Large teams running multiple IaC engines Governed Terraform and OpenTofu operations
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $20,000/yr $0.99/unit usage-based
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web Web
Support Email, Live chat, Tickets Tickets, Email, Community, Docs · 24/7
Compliance SSO/SAML, 2FA SOC 2, GDPR, SSO/SAML
Integrations 20 integrations 19 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Spacelift 4/4 · Scalr 4/4
Policy as code ✓ ✓
Drift detection ✓ ✓
Import existing resources ✓ ✓
Self-hosted execution ✓ ✓
Specs
Configuration language Hcl Hcl
Supported clouds AWS, Azure, GCP AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform
State management Both Both
Our review
Pros
  • Orchestrates Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Kubernetes, and more
  • Combines policies, drift detection, state, dependencies, and workers
  • Supports managed SaaS and self-hosted deployment options
  • 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
  • Free plan is limited to 2 users and 1 public worker
  • Starter+ costs $20,000 per year with annual billing
  • Its broad feature set may exceed the needs of small teams
  • 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

Spacelift is an infrastructure-as-code orchestration platform for platform, DevOps, and SRE teams. It connects source-control repositories, cloud providers, and configurable workers around stack-based workflows. The platform supports…

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. SpaceliftInfrastructure as Code Tools 8.8Free plan
  2. ScalrInfrastructure as Code Tools 8.7Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Spacelift — where it wins

    • Orchestrates Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Kubernetes, and more
    • Combines policies, drift detection, state, dependencies, and workers
    • Supports managed SaaS and self-hosted deployment options

    Where it doesn't

    • Free plan is limited to 2 users and 1 public worker
    • Starter+ costs $20,000 per year with annual billing
    • Its broad feature set may exceed the needs of small teams

  • 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

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