Terraform vs Upbound
Terraform
developer.hashicorp.comUpbound
upbound.ioSide by side
| Figure | Terraform | Upbound |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.10/mo | $1,000/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 5 |
| Spec score · Platform Engineering Software | 8.7 (#3) | 8.7 (#4) |
| Company legal name | Crunchbase lists the legal name as HashiCorp, Inc. | Crunchbase lists the legal name as Upbound, Inc. |
| Documentation depth | Official documentation covers configuration language, CLI, HCP Terraform, Enterprise, modules, providers, plugin development, registry publishing, integrations, tutorials, and a sandbox. | Documentation includes guides, manuals, CLI how-tos, architecture, deployment prerequisites, IAM, production hardening and API references. |
| Founded | 2012 | 2017 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States | Upbound states that it is headquartered in San Mateo, California. |
| Integrations | HashiCorp lists integrations for AI and MCP servers, audit, CI/CD, VCS, security scanning, policy, cost management, SSO, observability, and multi-cloud platforms. | Upbound Official Providers are pre-built enterprise-supported integrations for AWS, Azure, and GCP. |
| Purpose | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-premises resources through human-readable configuration files. | Upbound provides a platform for infrastructure and platform teams to build, run, and govern control planes across their infrastructure estate. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.8 out of 5 from 51 reviews. | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.7 out of 5 from 92 reviews. | 4.0 out of 5 from 1 review |
| Self-hosting | Terraform Enterprise is the self-hosted edition of HCP Terraform for organizations with strict security or compliance requirements. | Upbound supports self-hosted Spaces, Console and Hub, including fully air-gapped deployments in its v3 platform. |
| What it does | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for building, changing, and versioning compute, storage, networking, DNS, and SaaS infrastructure. | Upbound provides Kubernetes and Crossplane based control planes that provision, operate and govern infrastructure across clouds and services through programmable APIs. |
Plans
Terraform
- FreeFree
- StandardPriced on request
- PremiumPriced on request
- HCP Terraform FreeFree
- Terraform Community EditionFree
- HCP Terraform Essentials$0.10 a month
- HCP Terraform Standard$0.47 a month
- HCP Terraform Premium$0.99 a month
- EssentialsPrice not published
- Terraform EnterprisePriced on request
Upbound
- CommunityFree
- CommunityFree
- Standard$1,000 a month
- Business CriticalPriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Terraform
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-premises resources through human-readable configuration files. Its core process is to write a configuration, review an execution plan, then apply approved changes. Providers connect Terraform to services through APIs, and the Terraform Registry lists providers for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, GitHub, and Splunk. Modules package reusable infrastructure configurations that users can find or publish in the Registry. The free Community Edition is a downloadable command-line tool. HCP Terraform adds remote execution, repository connections to GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket that can trigger plans after changes, and an API. It stores state remotely with encryption at rest and offers workspaces, single sign-on, and role-based access controls. HCP Terraform and Terraform Enterprise support Sentinel policies. HashiCorp cautions that policy-as-code is a guardrail, not a security boundary, and trusted providers and modules matter because they can access workspace variables and state. Downloads are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Upbound
Upbound provides infrastructure and platform teams with tools to build, run, and govern control planes across infrastructure estates. Its framework exposes resources across clouds, vendors, and systems through a programmable API and manages them toward a defined desired state. Upbound Insights offers a live, searchable view of resources across connected control planes. Development tools include control plane projects, IDE integration, unit and end-to-end testing, simulations, and instant development control planes. Official Providers are enterprise-supported integrations for AWS, Azure, and GCP. The marketplace handles provider, function, and configuration packages, with public and private listings, repository management, and package documentation. Official Packages include SBOMs, CVE summaries, and SLSA Level 2 signing. Upbound says it meets SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 27018:2019, and ISO 27001:2022 certifications. The platform supports full self-hosting, including air-gapped deployments. Pricing is consumption-based, with plan minimums and charges per resource per hour. Community is free; Standard starts at $1,000 a month. Qualified prospects can receive guided trials and proof-of-value projects for Enterprise and Business Critical features.