IaC Options in DevOps

Three major Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and configuration management tools—Terraform, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), and Ansible—plus a brief mention of Pulumi, another rising star in the DevOps ecosystem. DevOps IaC Tool Comparison: Terraform vs CDK vs Ansible vs Pulumi Feature / Tool Terraform AWS CDK Ansible Pulumi Type Declarative IaC Imperative IaC (via programming languages) Configuration Management & Provisioning Imperative IaC (multi-cloud) Language HCL (HashiCorp Config Language) TypeScript, Python, Java, C# YAML TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET State Management Remote/local state with locking Uses AWS CloudFormation stack state No state file (push-based) Maintains state (like Terraform) Cloud Support Multi-cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.) AWS only Cloud-agnostic but less IaC-focused Multi-cloud Complex Logic Limited (via modules and functions) Full programming logic available Limited (Jinja2 templating) Full programming logic available Learning Curve Moderate Steeper (requires programming skills) Easy for beginners Moderate to high Use Case Fit Infra provisioning AWS infra with app logic Config mgmt, patching, orchestration Infra + app logic across clouds Community & Ecosystem Huge, mature ecosystem Growing, AWS-backed Massive, especially in sysadmin circles Growing rapidly 🔍 Key Insights from Trusted Sources Pulumi vs. Terraform vs. CDK (AWS): Detailed Comparison – Alpacked Comparing Ansible, Terraform, and Pulumi – Infotechys Pulumi vs Terraform vs CDK vs Ansible vs Helm – Ritza 🧠 Verdict: Which One Should You Use? Use Terraform if you want a stable, cloud-agnostic, declarative tool with strong community support. Use AWS CDK if you're deep into AWS and want to leverage full programming capabilities. Use Ansible for configuration management, patching, and orchestration—especially in hybrid or on-prem environments.

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