Index › Cloud and infrastructure › September 2026 Edition

Infrastructure as code

Asked as “infrastructure-as-code tool”, and as “IaC platform for provisioning cloud resources”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 56 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Terraform

Clear leader

46% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Terraform50%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-market

Terraform46%Clear leaderThis page Enterprise

Terraform58%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Terraform20%70endorsed leader

OpenTofu0%49endorsed leader

Pulumi6%66accepted challenger

AWS CDK11%28accepted challenger

Show the eight products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Chef69%13criticized challenger

Puppet69%16criticized challenger

Azure Resource Manager templates21%14accepted challenger

AWS CloudFormation16%38accepted challenger

Crossplane12%25accepted challenger

Spacelift10%10accepted challenger

Ansible8%39accepted challenger

Azure Bicep5%21accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Terraform vs OpenTofu Terraform vs Pulumi OpenTofu vs Pulumi

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%

Key

Terraform46%

OpenTofu39%

Pulumi7%

AWS CDK2%

Ansible0%

AWS CloudFormation0%

Azure Bicep0%

Crossplane0%

Spacelift0%

Azure Resource Manager templates0%

Chef0%

Puppet0%

02What they warned about

Six of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2 and GLM 4.7 FlashX changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Puppet

69%

11 of 16 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 4 hard negative

“Tools Often Considered Legacy or Declining (Be Cautious for New Projects)... **Avoid for new work**: Pure legacy config tools” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

Chef

69%

9 of 13 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 4 hard negative

“Chef Infra Server hits end-of-life in Nov 2026... Avoid for new work: Pure legacy config tools” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

Terraform

20%

14 of 70 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“Avoid starting new projects with: 1. Terraform under BSL (use OpenTofu instead)” Kimi K2, negative prompt

SaltStack

71%

5 of 7 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“Mutable infrastructure model (in-place changes lead to drift), steep learning curves... declining adoption” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

57 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 697 links across 209 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

pulumi.com

vendor site · Pulumi36 answers · 47 citations · 10 models

apiiro.com

31 answers · 31 citations · 9 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow26 answers · 26 citations · 9 models

cortex.io

vendor site · Cortex22 answers · 22 citations · 7 models

checkthat.ai

21 answers · 22 citations · 8 models

spacelift.io

vendor site · Spacelift20 answers · 23 citations · 9 models

devtoollab.com

16 answers · 16 citations · 8 models

firefly.ai

13 answers · 14 citations · 7 models

claranet.com

13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

computingforgeeks.com

12 answers · 12 citations · 7 models

gitnux.org

12 answers · 12 citations · 7 models

devopsplatforms.com

11 answers · 11 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

apiiro.com/blog/best-iac-tools

31 answers · 9 models

pulumi.com/blog/infrastructure-as-code-tools

31 answers · 9 models

guideflow.com/blog/infrastructure-as-code-tools

26 answers · 9 models

cortex.io/post/best-infrastructure-as-code-iac-tools

22 answers · 7 models

checkthat.ai/answers/what-are-the-best-infrastructure-as-code-tools

21 answers · 8 models

devtoollab.com/blog/best-infrastructure-as-code-tools

16 answers · 8 models

spacelift.io/blog/infrastructure-as-code-tools

14 answers · 8 models

computingforgeeks.com/best-infrastructure-as-code-iac-cloud-automation-tools

12 answers · 7 models

gitnux.org/best/infrastructure-as-code-software

12 answers · 7 models

devopsplatforms.com/buying-guides/best-iac-tools

10 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best infrastructure-as-code tool for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which IaC platform for provisioning cloud resources would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top infrastructure-as-code tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best infrastructure-as-code tool for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an infrastructure-as-code tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which infrastructure-as-code tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Terraform

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Pulumi

TerraformHeld

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager (ARM)/Bicep, Pulumi

Pulumi, Terraform

Two alternatives

AWS CDK, OpenTofu

Terraform

One alternative

AWS CloudFormation

no first choiceagainst: Azure Resource Manager templates, Chef, Puppet, Terraform, tfsec

GPT-5.4 miniOpenTofu, Terraform

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

Terraform/OpenTofuChanged

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

Terraform

Six alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure Bicep, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu, Terraform/OpenTofu

Four alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Bicep, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, Terraform

against: Pulumino first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashOpenTofu

Four alternatives

Pulumi, Spacelift, Terraform, env0

against: AWS CDK, Azure Bicep, CrossplaneOpenTofuHeld

Three alternatives

Pulumi, Spacelift, env0

against: TerraformOpenTofu, Terraform

Five alternatives

AWS CDK, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Crossplane, Pulumi

OpenTofu

Four alternatives

AWS CDK, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

against: Spacelift, TerraformOpenTofu, Pulumi

Five alternatives

Crossplane, Scalr, Spacelift, Terraform, env0

against: AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager templates, CDK for Terraform, Chef, Puppet, SaltStack, Terraform

Perplexity SonarTerraform

Three alternatives

Ansible, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu, TerraformChanged

Six alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Pulumi, Spacelift, env0

Terraform

Six alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure Resource Manager / Bicep, Crossplane, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Terraform

no first choiceagainst: Chef, Puppet, SaltStack

Grok 4.1 FastOpenTofu, Terraform

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation / CDK, Atlantis, Pulumi

OpenTofu, TerraformHeld

Three alternatives

AWS CDK, Crossplane, Pulumi

against: Cloud-NativePulumi, Terraform

Five alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Crossplane, OpenTofu

OpenTofu

Five alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

against: TerraformTerraform

Three alternatives

Ansible, OpenTofu, Pulumi

against: AWS CloudFormationagainst: AWS CloudFormation, Chef, Crossplane, Pulumi, Puppet, SaltStack

Mistral SmallTerraform

Four alternatives

AWS CDK, Azure Bicep, OpenTofu, Pulumi

TerraformHeld

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager templates, Pulumi

Crossplane, Pulumi, Terraform

Six alternatives

AWS CloudFormation / AWS CDK, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Azure Resource Manager templates, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, OpenTofu

OpenTofu

Three alternatives

Crossplane, Pulumi, Terraform

no first choicenothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashTerraform

Four alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu, TerraformChanged

One alternative

Pulumi

against: AWS CDKTerraform

Five alternatives

AWS CloudFormation / AWS CDK, Ansible, Crossplane, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu

One alternative

GitHub Actions

against: Pulumi, TerraformPulumi, Terraform/OpenTofu

Two alternatives

CloudFormation/CDK, Terraform

against: AWS CloudFormation, CDK for Terraform, Chef, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, Puppet, SaltStack, Terraform

Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceTerraformChanged

Two alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Pulumi

no first choiceOpenTofu, Terraform

Two alternatives

Crossplane, Pulumi

no first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashTerraform

Four alternatives

AWS CDK, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

TerraformHeld

One alternative

Pulumi

Terraform

Four alternatives

Ansible, Crossplane, OpenTofu, Pulumi

against: AWS CloudFormation / CDKOpenTofu, Terraform

Two alternatives

Ansible, Pulumi

Terraform

Four alternatives

AWS CDK, Azure Bicep, Crossplane, Pulumi

against: AWS CloudFormation / CDK, Azure Bicep / ARM, Chef, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, Puppet, Terraform

Kimi K2OpenTofu, Terraform

Two alternatives

AWS CDK, Pulumi

OpenTofuChanged

Three alternatives

AWS CDK, Pulumi, Terraform

Terraform

Four alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu

Four alternatives

AWS CDK, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Pulumi

against: TerraformAWS CDK, Pulumi, Terraform

Two alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, OpenTofu

against: CDK for Terraform, Crossplaneagainst: AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager templates, CDK for Terraform, Chef, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, Puppet, Terraform

GLM 4.7 FlashXOpenTofu, Terraform

Three alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Pulumi

TerraformChanged

Two alternatives

Pulumi, Scalr

no first choiceOpenTofu

Three alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Terraform

against: PulumiPulumi, Terraform

Five alternatives

AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Bicep, Google Cloud Infrastructure Manager, OpenTofu

against: Chef Infra Server, Cloudify, Puppet, SaltStack, Terraform

MiniMax M2.5Terraform

Two alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Pulumi

against: Ansible, Chef, PuppetTerraformHeld

Two alternatives

OpenTofu, Pulumi

Terraform

Seven alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure Resource Manager templates, Crossplane, Google Cloud Deployment Manager, OpenTofu, Pulumi

OpenTofu

Four alternatives

AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager templates, Pulumi, Terraform

against: Terraformno first choiceagainst: Ansible, Puppetagainst: AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure ARM/Bicep, Chef, Puppet, Terraform

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 13:21	no	0	5 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:07	no	0	3 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 13:19	yes	15	27 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 09:30	yes	20	7 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 09:58	yes	20	10 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 11:02	yes	15	9 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 11:16	yes	10	18 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 13:55	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 10:50	no	0	34 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 09:25	yes	15	22 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 10:55	yes	28	42 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 13:56	no	0	23 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 10:14	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 12:26	yes	2	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 14:14	yes	7	22 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 12:52	yes	16	7 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 13:45	yes	19	10 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 11:06	yes	5	7 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 12:05	yes	10	12 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 14:09	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 10:32	no	0	41 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 11:53	yes	18	59 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 13:44	yes	10	25 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 12:05	yes	5	29 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 11:00	yes	9	10 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 10:08	yes	8	9 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 11:40	yes	13	31 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 10:00	yes	20	8 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 14:03	yes	20	14 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 11:47	yes	5	8 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 12:18	yes	10	20 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 12:05	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 12:12	yes	5	24 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 12:28	yes	10	29 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 11:18	no	0	39 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 12:35	yes	5	21 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 13:32	no	0	4 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:49	no	0	3 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 13:52	yes	11	24 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 12:46	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 11:52	yes	13	9 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 11:56	yes	5	5 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 14:05	yes	13	29 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 11:03	yes	5	2 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 12:30	yes	10	72 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 10:19	yes	10	21 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 12:07	yes	18	36 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 12:26	yes	15	55 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 12:45	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 09:52	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 10:13	yes	11	27 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 13:53	yes	20	7 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 13:48	yes	13	10 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 14:06	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 10:44	yes	23	26 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 09:51	yes	5	2 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 13:54	no	0	38 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 13:13	no	0	65 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 14:05	yes	28	42 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 12:26	yes	5	18 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 13:15	yes	16	10 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:41	no	0	5 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 13:45	yes	23	23 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 09:46	yes	20	5 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 10:39	yes	41	21 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 13:18	yes	5	7 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 13:52	yes	30	58 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 09:24	yes	5	3 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 10:40	yes	23	61 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 10:59	yes	25	50 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 13:10	yes	24	32 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 11:56	yes	5	21 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) read as Azure Resource Manager templates

Unresolved, counted raw

Chef 360 Platform

Chef Infra Server

Cloudify

Serverless Framework

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Infrastructure as code

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in cloud and infrastructure