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

Terraform vs AWS CloudFormation

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 5 checks side by side
Higher score Terraform #1 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Terraform
AWS CloudFormation #8 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit site

Terraform 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 scoreTerraform · 9.4/10
  • Free planboth

Terraform scores higher on our rubric for infrastructure as code tools: 9.4 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #8.

On configuration language, AWS CloudFormation gives you Yaml/json where Terraform offers Hcl. On state management, Terraform gives you Both where AWS CloudFormation offers Managed.

Terraform is the better fit for broad, mature multi-cloud IaC teams. AWS CloudFormation is the better fit for AWS-native infrastructure teams.

  • Terraform fits best

    Broad, mature multi-cloud IaC teams

  • 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 Terraform 9.4/10 Visit ↗ AWS CloudFormation 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.4 8.5
Ranking #1 in Infrastructure as Code Tools #8 in Infrastructure as Code Tools
Best for Broad, mature multi-cloud IaC teams AWS-native infrastructure teams
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price — Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Web, Windows, macOS, Linux
Support Docs Docs
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Terraform 4/4 · AWS CloudFormation 4/4
Policy as code ✓ ✓
Drift detection ✓ ✓
Import existing resources ✓ ✓
Self-hosted execution ✓ ✓
Specs
Configuration language Hcl Yaml/json
Supported clouds Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure AWS
State management Both Managed
Our review
Pros
  • Broad provider coverage across major clouds, Docker, SaaS, and APIs
  • Declarative plan-and-apply workflow with state, locking, import, and drift detection
  • Governance options including Sentinel or OPA policy enforcement
  • 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
  • Paid HCP Terraform plans charge per managed resource
  • Advanced policy, security, cost, and SSO features start with Standard
  • Self-managed deployment and premium support are limited to Enterprise
  • 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

Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure through declarative configuration. It is designed for infrastructure and platform teams managing cloud, private datacenter, SaaS, and…

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. TerraformInfrastructure as Code Tools 9.4Free plan
  2. AWS CloudFormationInfrastructure as Code Tools 8.5Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Terraform — where it wins

    • Broad provider coverage across major clouds, Docker, SaaS, and APIs
    • Declarative plan-and-apply workflow with state, locking, import, and drift detection
    • Governance options including Sentinel or OPA policy enforcement

    Where it doesn't

    • Paid HCP Terraform plans charge per managed resource
    • Advanced policy, security, cost, and SSO features start with Standard
    • Self-managed deployment and premium support are limited to Enterprise

  • 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
  • Terraform9.4/10 · Free plan

    A mature multi-cloud IaC platform with broad providers, state management, and governance.

    Visit TerraformFull 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