Terraform Cloud at a Glance
What is Terraform and what are the benefits of Tarraform cloud? One of the most significant benefits of using Terraform Cloud is the integration with popular version control systems like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. This integration allows for a smoother CI/CD workflow, enabling teams to manage infrastructure changes more efficiently.
Secure Data Management
Another key benefit of Terraform Cloud is the ability to securely store sensitive data. This includes API keys, database passwords, and other confidential information that is crucial for managing cloud infrastructure securely.
Implementing Policy as Code
Terraform Cloud also provides a powerful feature called Sentinel, which enables policy as code. This means that teams can define policies in a declarative language, ensuring that all infrastructure changes adhere to compliance and governance policies set by the organization.
Ensuring Transparency and Traceability
Terraform Cloud keeps a detailed log of all activities, ensuring that teams have complete transparency and traceability into all changes made to the infrastructure. This feature is crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of cloud infrastructure.
Terraform for Cloud Infrastructure Management
Giving a context to what is Terraform, it offers a range of benefits that make it an invaluable tool for teams looking to manage their cloud infrastructure efficiently and securely. By automating the setup and maintenance of infrastructure, Terraform Cloud helps teams focus on developing and deploying applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
What are the Main Terraform Cloud Features?
Workspaces are used in the workflows you are defining and they are linked to a specific Terraform configuration. Workspaces are responsible for storing your state, executing Runs, storing Environment Variables, and defining access control. They allow you to run remote operations against the TFC workspaces as mentioned in the CLI-driven workflow.
Projects: Grouping Workspaces for Efficiency
Projects are containers for the workspaces. All workspaces belong to a project, making it easier to group them. This grouping helps assign workspace access for different teams within the organization.
Run: Managing Terraform Operations
A run manages the lifecycle of a Terraform operation against your workspace. It goes through queuing, planning, cost estimation, policy checking, and applying the code.
Variables and Variable Sets: Storing and Reusing Variables
Terraform Cloud stores your variables securely, encrypting them at rest. Variable Sets help you reuse variables in multiple workspaces without having to declare them multiple times.
Policies and Policy Sets: Enforcing Security and Governance
Sentinel and OPA policies enforce security practices and governance throughout your workflow. Policy Sets group together multiple policies and can be applied to multiple workspaces simultaneously.
Run Tasks: Integrating with Third-Party Tools
Run tasks allow you to integrate with third-party tools by sending data to external services at defined stages of the run. This data is analyzed, and the response determines if the run can continue.
Single Sign-On (SSO): Secure Access with Identity Providers
SSO in Terraform Cloud uses identity providers such as Okta, SAML, or Microsoft Azure AD. Enabling SSO ensures that all users sign in through SSO to access the platform.
Remote State: Collaborative State Management
Remote State solves the issue of accessing state files in a team. Terraform Cloud has its backend for storing the state, making it easier for multiple team members to access it.
Private Registry: Secure Hosting of Terraform Modules
Terraform Cloud offers a private registry feature for hosting your Terraform modules and providers. These private registries are only accessible by members of the organization with permission.
Agents: Isolated Environment for Runs
Self-hosted agents allow your Terraform Cloud instance to communicate with isolated networks, running the workflows within your organization's environment.
Drift Detection: Maintaining Infrastructure Consistency
Drift detection periodically checks your Terraform configuration and the actual Terraform state for differences. It notifies you of any drift and helps you quickly fix issues to maintain infrastructure consistency.
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Why Consider Terraform Cloud Alternatives?
When it comes to Terraform Cloud, there are certainly some challenges to be aware of
Terraform Cloud is specifically for Terraform, meaning that other tools won't be managed by this platform. This creates a situation where you need multiple tools to manage your infrastructure fully.
The pricing structure of Terraform Cloud can be a bit daunting
If you've got more than 500 resources being managed, you can end up looking at a bill that you might not be super excited about. This pricing structure could cause your organization to re-evaluate its use of Terraform Cloud.
Besides pricing, there's also the issue of vendor lock-in
If you're only using Terraform Cloud, this could limit your ability to switch vendors in the future. This type of lock-in is something that many organizations try to avoid, making it a notable issue with Terraform Cloud.
The integrations of Terraform Cloud are another potential pitfall
You can only integrate with certain tools, and that's only if those tools are supported as a run task first. This means you might miss out on some integrations that would be incredibly useful to your team.
There's the issue of limits
In the Free and Standard tiers of Terraform Cloud, you get a single policy set with five policies in it. This can be incredibly limiting, so it's something to keep in mind.
Zeet offers some great alternatives to Terraform Cloud
With Zeet, you can leverage cloud, Kubernetes, and Terraform investments to improve your engineering team and make your cloud deployments seamless. Contact Zeet to learn more about how you can make the most out of your cloud investments, and boost your engineering team to new heights.
12 Top Terraform Cloud Alternatives to Explore in 2024
1. Zeet
Zeet helps you to get more from your cloud, Kubernetes, and Terraform investments and helps your engineering team become strong individual contributors through our CI/CD & deployment platform. Contact Zeet to learn more about how Zeet helps you get seamless cloud deployments every time and helps your team to become a top-performing engineering team.
2. Spacelift
Spacelift is a Terraform Cloud alternative that enhances your Terraform, OpenTofu, Terragrunt, Kubernetes, Ansible, Pulumi, and CloudFormation workflows. It uses OPA to implement policy as code, allowing control over various decision points within the application. Spacelift's policies define resources, parameters, deployment approvals, notifications, PR handling, and more. It integrates with any tool and offers self-service infrastructure via Blueprints, with predictable pricing.
3. Pulumi Cloud
Pulumi Cloud is designed for managing Pulumi workflows, offering features for improving productivity and collaboration. It integrates with CI/CD pipelines for automation and deployment, maintaining security through data encryption and compliance measures with key management services.
4. GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions is a CI/CD platform that can handle Terraform workflows. While not specifically for IaC, it can serve as a suitable Terraform Cloud alternative. It utilizes yaml for workflow declaration and offers reusable tasks called "Actions" for rapid IaC workflow creation.
5. GitLab CI/CD
GitLab CI/CD provides IaC workflow capabilities for Terraform, leveraging yaml configuration within GitLab repositories. It streamlines automation, integrates directly with repositories, and supports all software development lifecycle phases.
6. CircleCI
CircleCI offers another generic CI/CD pipeline for building Terraform workflows. It employs yaml for pipeline declaration and provides reusable orbs for task reuse. CircleCI automates testing and deployment on repository changes.
7. Env0
Env0 automates cloud environment management, integrating with Terraform to enable scalable and consistent deployments. It enforces policies, optimizes costs, and ensures compliance for streamlined deployments.
8. Scalr
Scalr is a cloud management platform that streamlines cloud resource management across various environments. It integrates with Terraform for optimized cloud provisioning, compliance, and governance.
9. Atlantis
Atlantis is a self-hosted PR-enhancement tool for Terraform that enhances collaboration. It is cost-effective as it only requires payment for infrastructure hosting.
10. Encore
Encore is a holistic cloud-native application development platform that abstracts infrastructure management. It offers features like distributed tracing, automated API documentation, and cloud-agnostic deployment.
11. Morpheus
Morpheus is a multi-cloud management tool specializing in orchestrating and automating cloud resources, with self-service provisioning and hybrid cloud management functionalities.
12. AWS CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation offers a unified language for provisioning infrastructure resources in the cloud securely and automatically across all regions.
Related Reading
- Terraform Apply Auto Approve
- Terraform Module
- Terraform vs Cloudformation
- Terraform AWS Security Group
- Terraform Kubernetes Provider
- Terraform AWS Lambda
- Datadog Terraform
- Terraform Cloud Pricing
- Terraform IAM Role
- Terraform Debug
- Terraform Docker
- Github Actions Terraform
- Terraform Import Existing Resources
- Terraform ECS
- DevOps Terraform
- Terraform Automation
- Terraform CI CD
- Terraform Workflow
- Terraform Security
- Terraform Orchestration
- Terraform Multi Cloud
- Terraform No Code Provisioning
- Terraform Migrate State
- Terraform State Management
- Terraform AWS RDS
- What is Terragrunt
- Terragrunt vs Terraspace
- Terraform Multiple Environments
- Terraform Multiple Users
- Upgrade Terraform Version
- Terraform Test
- Terraform Commands
- Terraform Alternatives
- Terraform Stacks
- Crossplane Vs Terraform
- Terraform Import
- Terraform Tutorial
- Terraform for_each
- Terraform Dynamic Block
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Terraform Cloud Alternative
Community Support
The vibrancy of the open-source community surrounding a Terraform Cloud alternative is crucial. A thriving community ensures ongoing development, rapid issue resolution, and a treasure trove of shared knowledge. Before selecting an alternative, I recommend assessing the strength and activity of its community to guarantee a robust support system.
Documentation Quality
To ensure a smooth onboarding process and continued usage, comprehensive and well-maintained documentation is essential. Evaluating the clarity and depth of documentation provided by the alternative is a pivotal step in understanding its user-friendliness.
Integration Capabilities
Considering an alternative's integration capabilities with existing tools and workflows is paramount. The ideal solution should seamlessly integrate with version control systems, CI/CD pipelines, identity providers, and other components of your infrastructure stack to ensure a streamlined workflow.
Scalability
Evaluating the scalability of a Terraform Cloud alternative is crucial to accommodate the growth of your infrastructure. This involves considerations for handling increased workloads, larger teams, and more complex projects effectively.
Security Features
Security is a top priority in infrastructure management. Examining the security features of an alternative, including authentication mechanisms, access controls, and encryption protocols, ensures alignment with your organization's security standards.
Ease of Use
The user-friendly interface and intuitive workflows of an alternative contribute significantly to a positive user experience. Assessing the simplicity of an alternative helps determine if it aligns with the skillsets of your team members and promotes efficient collaboration.
Customization and Extensibility
Exploring the customization and extensibility options provided by an alternative is crucial. The ability to tailor the solution to specific organizational needs and integrate with additional tools enhances its adaptability.
Long-Term Viability
Considering the long-term viability and sustainability of an open-source alternative is essential. Factors such as the frequency of updates, the responsiveness of maintainers to issues, and the overall roadmap of the project are key indicators of a solution's longevity.
Cost Implications
While open-source alternatives often reduce costs compared to proprietary solutions, it's crucial to evaluate any associated costs. Considerations such as infrastructure requirements, additional tooling, or specialized support services are essential in understanding the overall cost implications.
User Feedback and Case Studies
Seeking feedback from users who have implemented the alternative and exploring case studies of successful deployments can provide valuable insights. Real-world experiences offer practical benefits and challenges of the chosen solution.
Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Support
If your infrastructure spans multiple clouds or includes a mix of cloud and on-premises resources, ensure that the tool can manage such environments effectively. Terraform Cloud's strong multi-cloud support might be a critical feature for your projects.
Related Reading
- Atlantis Terraform
- Terraform Tools
- Spacelift vs Terraform Cloud
- Atlantis Alternatives
- Scalr vs Terraform
- Env0 vs Terraform Cloud
- Terraform Testing Tools
- Ansible vs Terraform
- Terraform vs Ansible
Have Successful Releases Every Time With Zeet's CI/CD & Deployment Platform for Kubernetes and Terraform
Zeet is a game-changer for engineering teams looking to optimize their cloud, Kubernetes, and Terraform investments. By leveraging Zeet's CI/CD & deployment platform, teams can streamline their deployment process and achieve top-notch performance.
Zeet's platform empowers engineers to become strong individual contributors, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively. With Zeet's seamless cloud deployments, teams can eliminate bottlenecks and propel their projects forward. Zeet is a vital tool that can help engineering teams reach new heights and excel in their cloud utilization strategies.
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