Our take
Pick Pulumi if individual operators who will stay on Free at $0 (1 user) while they open a first Resources list, then Essentials at $40/month when the team needs unlimited users / Resource Search — not Pro $400 unless they need SAML / preventative policy. Pick Terraform if individuals / small teams who will stay on Free at $0 (500 managed resources) while they open a first Workspace Overview, then Essentials at
Best for
Pulumi An IaC table you start at a public $
Terraform A workspace you start at a public $
Free plan
Pulumi $0 · no credit card. 1 user. IaC state management. Pulumi Deployments. Basic Pulumi ESC. Unlimited projects, stacks, environments, updates, and history. Up to 500 workflow minutes. Does not include Neo, Resource Search, or Property Search. Does not cap managed resources
Terraform $0 · up to 500 managed resources. Remote execution, VCS, private module registry, SSO, policy, run tasks. No charge for those 500
Lowest paid
Pulumi Enterprise $2/mo
Terraform Not published by the vendor
Next step up
Pulumi Essentials $40/mo
Terraform
Runs where
Pulumi Hosted
Terraform Hosted
Watch out
Pulumi Free is one user
Terraform Free hard-caps at 500 managed resources
Last checked
Pulumi 2026-10-23 · pulumi.com/pricing
Terraform 2026-10-23 · ibm.com/products/hashicorp/pricing
individual operators who will stay on Free at $0 (1 user) while they open a first Resources list, then Essentials at $40/month when the team needs unlimited users / Resource Search — not Pro $400 unless they need SAML / preventative policy.
Read the Pulumi pageindividuals / small teams who will stay on Free at $0 (500 managed resources) while they open a first Workspace Overview, then Essentials at $0.00013 per RUM-hour when they outgrow the 500-resource cap.
Read the Terraform page
