Side by side
Molecule vs terraform-compliance
Both stand on infrastructure testing tools. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Linux
Molecule provides a structured way to exercise Ansible projects locally or in continuous integration. Its workflow flexibility and target support are useful, but version and environment requirements should be checked first.
Visit Molecule Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted
Pick terraform-compliance if you need free policy tests for Terraform and want rules expressed in readable scenarios. Look elsewhere if you need runtime enforcement or policy testing for infrastructure formats beyond Terraform plan and state output.
Visit terraform-complianceThe facts
| Molecule | terraform-compliance | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux | Linux, Self-hosted |
| Lowest paid plan | Not published | Free or on request |
| Plans published | None | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | docs.ansible.com | terraform-compliance.com |
| On infrastructure testing tools | #24 of 28 | #20 of 28 |
Molecule: what it does well
- Free and MIT licensed
- Covers provisioning through verification and cleanup
- Works with existing Ansible inventories
- Provides examples for major CI systems
- Supports AWS, Azure, and GCP
What to know first
- Supports only the latest two Ansible major versions
- ansible-lint must be installed separately
- Installation requires Python packaging and management
terraform-compliance: what it does well
- Free to use and distributed under the MIT license.
- Works with any Terraform provider.
- Policies use behavior-driven feature files.
- Feature files can be loaded from directories or Git repositories.
- Documentation includes CircleCI and GitHub Actions examples.
What to know first
- Checks Terraform plan or state output rather than other listed IaC formats.
- Runtime enforcement is not supported.
- The pip installation route requires Python 3.x.
Alternatives to Molecule Alternatives to terraform-compliance The whole list