Unlike Terraform, which uses a domain specific language, Pulumi uses general purpose programming languages like JavaScript, Python, and Go. This allows developers to leverage their existing skills instead of learning a proprietary language.
It also supports consuming local Terraform state, allowing teams to migrate to pulumi incrementally by keeping low-level infrastructure written in Terraform and moving the rest to pulumi. This enables them to preview changes before deployment.
1. Scalability
Pulumi is a universal infrastructure as code platform that works with popular programming languages and DevOps processes. It is also multi-cloud, allowing teams to provision, scale and update infrastructure across multiple cloud providers.
It uses a language-neutral object model and evaluation runtime, which take your program written in any programming language, figure out what cloud resources it manages, and execute them. This makes it easy to use the tool alongside other deployment systems and tools you already work with.
Its state-based architecture can provide features like plan and destroy, allowing you to preview changes before they are deployed or removed. Its open-source version uses your own state backend, and the paid service offers features like managed state storage, deployment history, audit and CI/CD integrations.
2. Flexibility
Pulumi supports programming languages like Python, JavaScript, Go, and TypeScript. This flexibility allows developers who are familiar with one of these languages to pick up Pulumi quickly. It also supports best coding practices by allowing developers to create and deploy multiple stacks for different purposes.
Like Terraform, Pulumi offers a rich ecosystem of libraries and modules to help accelerate development. It also features support for dynamic providers and fine-grained resource-level diffs that enable efficient updates.
In addition, Pulumi supports the use of Cosign signatures to validate sources in a state file. This feature gives developers a more secure way to store secrets in their infrastructure.
3. Reusability
Like Terraform, pulumi is a configuration as code tool that supports various cloud providers. However, it uses a standard programming language that makes it easier to debug and test. It also works with IDEs, unlike Terraform, which requires an external plugin.
Pulumi packages infrastructure architectures into reusable libraries that reduce complex infrastructure to a few lines of code. Using these libraries, developers can deploy to any cloud provider and integrate with their CI/CD systems.
Pulumi also allows developers to specify their infrastructure in familiar imperative programming languages, unlike Terraform’s domain-specific language. It also uses a standard state storage backend instead of a private repository, making it easy to integrate with existing tools and analytics platforms.
4. Integrations
A free account offers a lot of functionality. It stores infrastructure state files (local tfstate, or in the cloud), and provides insight into the deployment history. This allows users to efficiently manage their infrastructure, and improve the overall security of their architecture.
It uses programming languages with a large ecosystem of libraries and tools. It also supports IDEs with features like typing, static analysis and code completion.
It integrates well with CI/CD systems. Its developers can write a test for a specific resource or a group of resources, and they can run those tests locally or remotely.
5. Automation
Pulumi uses programming languages to manage infrastructure as code. This enables developers to use familiar tools and best practices instead of learning a new language for the task.
Another advantage of using Pulumi is that it can store state on a cloud service provider’s backend, unlike Terraform which stores YAML files on the local hard drive. This can be very helpful in ensuring that secret information, like connection strings, are secure and are not accessible to outside users.
In addition, a new Automation API allows teams to embed Pulumi programs into larger software projects. This enables them to automate everything from allocating time-bound developer VMs to updating TLS certificates.
6. Documentation
Pulumi uses well-known imperative programming languages like Node JS (TypeScript), Python, Go and.NET (C#) – enabling developers to use their existing skills and preferences. It also integrates with CI/CD systems seamlessly, using the provider’s native APIs and SDKs to manage infrastructure changes at a granular resource level.
Additionally, the Pulumi cloud backend supports state files for efficient managing, viewing, and monitoring. Small teams can access a free account to take advantage of this functionality.
The tool has dynamic providers that enable the creation of custom resources with CRUD operations without writing a separate DSL or template language.
7. Cost
Unlike Terraform, which uses a domain-specific language (Hashicorp Configuration Language or HCL), Pulumi supports common programming languages. This allows development teams to use familiar tools for testing, validation and deployment.
Another pulumi benefit is that it supports state storage. It also offers advanced features, including audit capabilities, built in encryption services and integration with identity providers. It also supports taking checkpoints and snapshots, as well as storing sensitive configuration items as secrets.
Finally, pulumi provides a scalable, secure and highly available solution for managing infrastructure as code. Its architecture is modular, allowing it to scale as your business grows. It is also compatible with Terraform, enabling developers to transition incrementally from one tool to the other.