Terraform vs Spacelift

Terraform9.4Visit Spacelift8.8Visit

Higher score Terraform #1 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Terraform

vs

Spacelift #5 in Infrastructure as Code Tools 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Spacelift

• Terraform fits best

  Broad, mature multi-cloud IaC teams

• Spacelift fits best

  Large teams running multiple IaC engines

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Side by side

Feature	Terraform 9.4/10 Visit ↗	Spacelift 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.8
Ranking	#1 in Infrastructure as Code Tools	#5 in Infrastructure as Code Tools
Best for	Broad, mature multi-cloud IaC teams	Large teams running multiple IaC engines
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	—	$20,000/yr
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Web
Support	Docs	Email, Live chat, Tickets
Compliance	SSO/SAML	SSO/SAML, 2FA
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Terraform 4/4 · Spacelift 4/4
Policy as code	✓	✓
Drift detection	✓	✓
Import existing resources	✓	✓
Self-hosted execution	✓	✓
Specs
Configuration language	Hcl	Hcl
Supported clouds	Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure	AWS, Azure, GCP
State management	Both	Both
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	Orchestrates Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Kubernetes, and more Combines policies, drift detection, state, dependencies, and workers Supports managed SaaS and self-hosted deployment options
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	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
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 →	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 →

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

• 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

• Terraform9.4/10 · Free plan

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

  Visit TerraformFull verdict →
• Spacelift8.8/10 · Free plan

  A broad IaC orchestration platform for teams standardizing multi-engine workflows.

  Visit SpaceliftFull verdict →