# AWS CloudFormation alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 165 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where AWS CloudFormation holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/aws-cloudformation/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Terraform: 75
- OpenTofu: 49
- Pulumi: 14
- Ansible: 7
- Terraform/OpenTofu: 5
- Spacelift: 3

## Infrastructure as code

**Small business**: 54 of 84 answers did not name AWS CloudFormation (AWS CloudFormation is #6 of 10 at 0%).

- Terraform: first choice in 28 of those 54
- OpenTofu: first choice in 25 of those 54
- Pulumi: first choice in 6 of those 54
- Ansible: first choice in 4 of those 54
- Terraform/OpenTofu: first choice in 4 of those 54
- Terraform using HCP Terraform's Free plan: first choice in 1 of those 54

**Mid-market**: 53 of 84 answers did not name AWS CloudFormation (AWS CloudFormation is #6 of 12 at 0%).

- Terraform: first choice in 20 of those 53
- OpenTofu: first choice in 17 of those 53
- Ansible: first choice in 3 of those 53
- Terraform with HCP Terraform: first choice in 2 of those 53
- Pulumi: first choice in 1 of those 53

**Enterprise**: 58 of 84 answers did not name AWS CloudFormation (AWS CloudFormation is #5 of 13 at 5%).

- Terraform: first choice in 27 of those 58
- OpenTofu: first choice in 7 of those 58
- Pulumi: first choice in 7 of those 58
- Spacelift: first choice in 3 of those 58
- Scalr: first choice in 1 of those 58
- Terraform with HCP Terraform: first choice in 1 of those 58
- Terraform/OpenTofu: first choice in 1 of those 58

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.