Best Infrastructure as Code Tools in 2026
Toolradar data: we track 50 tools in this category, 41 of which offer a free tier, and 32 entered our catalog during 2026.
Toolradar data: we track 50 tools in this category, 41 of which offer a free tier, and 32 entered our catalog during 2026.
Infrastructure as code is now the default rather than a practice to argue for. What remains contested is which layer you describe: the cloud resources, the configuration inside them, or the platform your team touches.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Free tier | Rating | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terraform | Yes | 4.7 | Manage cloud infrastructure with declarative code |
| Helm | Yes | 4.8 | Package manager for Kubernetes applications |
| Terramate | Yes | n/a | Turn Your IaC into a Lightning-Fast Platform for Terraform, Open |
| AWS CDK | Yes | 4.4 | Define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages |
| Ansible | Yes | 4.5 | Automate IT infrastructure with simple YAML playbooks |
| Pulumi | Yes | 4.8 | Infrastructure as code in any language |
| OpenTofu | Yes | n/a | Open-source IaC, a community-driven Terraform alternative |
| Trivy | Yes | 4.3 | Security scanner for containers |
| Kustomize | Yes | 4.7 | Kubernetes native configuration management |
| Terragrunt | Yes | n/a | Terraform wrapper for DRY configurations |
The picks
Terraform
Manage cloud infrastructure with declarative code. Editorial score 90, free tier available, rated 4.7 across 96 third-party reviews.
Helm
Package manager for Kubernetes applications. Editorial score 90, free tier available, rated 4.8 across 4 third-party reviews.
Terramate
Turn Your IaC into a Lightning-Fast Platform for Terraform, Open. Editorial score 87, free tier available.
AWS CDK
Define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages. Editorial score 86, free tier available, rated 4.4 across 124 third-party reviews.
Ansible
Automate IT infrastructure with simple YAML playbooks. Editorial score 86, free tier available, rated 4.5 across 391 third-party reviews.
Pulumi
Infrastructure as code in any language. Editorial score 85, free tier available, rated 4.8 across 28 third-party reviews.
OpenTofu
Open-source IaC, a community-driven Terraform alternative. Editorial score 85, free tier available.
Trivy
Security scanner for containers. Editorial score 85, free tier available, rated 4.3 across 12 third-party reviews.
FAQ
What is infrastructure as code?
Describing servers, networks and services in files you version and review, so an environment is reproduced from that description rather than assembled by hand. The gain is not automation, it is that the description and reality can be compared.
Is Terraform still the default?
It remains the most widely used way to describe cloud resources, though the licence change moved part of the community to forks and alternatives. For a new project, what matters more than the brand is whether your providers are well supported and your team can read the result.
Are these tools free?
41 of the 50 we track have a free tier, and most of the core engines are open source. Commercial revenue tends to come from the collaboration layer, state storage, policy and audit, rather than from the engine itself.
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Written by
Louis Corneloup
Founder & Editor-in-Chief at Toolradar. Founder & CEO of Dupple, the publisher of 5 industry newsletters reaching 720K+ tech professionals. Reviews B2B software using a public methodology, see /how-we-rate and /editorial-policy.