Best AWS CDK Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 apps from infrastructure as code tools ranked against AWS CDK on the same published basis.
- 1AWS CDK vs Terraform
- 2AWS CDK vs AWS CloudFormation
- 3AWS CDK vs Cloudify
- 4AWS CDK vs Kusion
- 5AWS CDK vs Pulumi
- 6AWS CDK vs Terramate
- 8AWS CDK vs OpenTofu
- 9AWS CDK vs Terragrunt
- 10AWS CDK vs env0
- 11AWS CDK vs Scalr
- 12AWS CDK vs Spacelift
- 13AWS CDK vs CDK8s
- 14AWS CDK vs HashiCorp Nomad
- 15AWS CDK vs Azure Bicep
- 16AWS CDK vs Google Config Connector
- 17AWS CDK vs Sceptre
- 18AWS CDK vs Terrateam
- 19AWS CDK vs AWS Controllers for Kubernetes
- 20AWS CDK vs Azure Service Operator
- 21AWS CDK vs Crossplane
AWS CDK alternatives compared
| # | App | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terraform | 6.7 | Free plan | $0.10/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 2 | AWS CloudFormation | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 3 | Cloudify | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 4 | Kusion | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 5 | Pulumi | 6.6 | Free plan | $40/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 6 | Terramate | 6.6 | Free plan | $449/mo | API, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 8 | OpenTofu | 6.5 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 9 | Terragrunt | 6.5 | Free plan | $500/mo | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 10 | env0 | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | API, self-hosted, Web |
| 11 | Scalr | 6.4 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| 12 | Spacelift | 6.4 | Free plan | $1666.67/mo | API, self-hosted, Web |
| 13 | CDK8s | 6.2 | Free plan | Free | self-hosted |
| 14 | HashiCorp Nomad | 5.6 | No | — | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 15 | Azure Bicep | 5.5 | No | — | Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 16 | Google Config Connector | 5.4 | No | — | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 17 | Sceptre | 5.3 | No | — | Linux, Mac |
| 18 | Terrateam | 5.2 | No | — | Web |
| 19 | AWS Controllers for Kubernetes | 5.1 | No | — | — |
| 20 | Azure Service Operator | 5.1 | No | — | — |
| 21 | Crossplane | 5.1 | No | — | — |
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Questions about AWS CDK alternatives
What is the best alternative to AWS CDK?
Terraform, number 1 in infrastructure as code tools with a score of 6.7 out of 10. The others here: AWS CloudFormation, Cloudify, Kusion and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to AWS CDK?
Terraform is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 12 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked free-and-open first: a usable free tier and open-source code, then the platforms it runs on and its documentation.