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HashiCorp Terraform pros and cons

Vendor: HashiCorp

4.3 out of 5

46 reviews
95% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

HashiCorp Terraform offers automation to increase efficiency and manage multi-cloud environments with infrastructure as code. It supports various platforms and replicates infrastructure easily, enhancing scalability. This flexibility allows seamless deployment across clouds with minimal changes. However, object-oriented improvements, better integration, handling of sensitive information, and more dedicated providers are needed. Despite limited programming capabilities, Terraform remains a robust tool for multi-cloud management through customizable modules.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

HashiCorp Terraform provides automation and management capabilities, allowing tasks to be performed without manual intervention.

It offers infrastructure as code, enabling developers to write and manage infrastructure with code, enhancing efficiency and scalability.

The ability to use custom modules and integrate across various platforms makes HashiCorp Terraform flexible and adaptable.

HashiCorp Terraform supports multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering flexibility for deployment across different environments.

The state file in HashiCorp Terraform is critical for tracking changes in infrastructure, providing stability and predictability.

CONS

HashiCorp Terraform could improve its state locking functionality, as force-unlocking sometimes fails and requires manual intervention.

There is a need for better integration with VCloud Director to avoid time wasted during virtual machine creation.

HashiCorp Terraform should enhance its support for multi-user state management.

There are challenges in managing sensitive information, especially regarding secret files or credentials.

HashiCorp Terraform has issues with backend stability, leading to unexpected terminations and destruction of running projects.

HashiCorp Terraform Pros review quotes

Tech Lead DevSecOps at Letsbank

Jul 5, 2023

It is the customization of Terraform's modules that I find most valuable.

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Principal DevOps Engineer at 10Pearls.

Apr 23, 2024

Terraform is that it is an open-source tool that gives us great flexibility. Using the Terraform HCL, we are not restricted to a single cloud provider. If my client asks me to deploy the same infrastructure on Azure or GCP, I can use the same code with minor modifications to account for the different providers. This means we are not limited to a specific cloud.

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reviewer1980198

Senior Build And Release Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 4, 2022

The concept of infrastructure as code is quite intriguing. We have an infrastructure in our code and a state file where we can verify whether something is changed when it was changed, and who changed it. When we use Terraform, these kinds of things fascinate us.

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HashiCorp Terraform

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Learn what your peers think about HashiCorp Terraform. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.

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VR

Partner & principal technologist at SwanSpeed Consulting

Apr 1, 2023

One of the most valuable features is that it offers the ability to create a VPC, Virtual Private Cloud and VPN connectivity to the VPC can be automated without having to do it manually.

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CTO at Translucent Computing Inc

Jan 27, 2023

The valuable features of HashiCorp Terraform are the infrastructure can be written, shared, and collaborated on using code, which speeds up deployment. Additionally, bugs and issues can be fixed in the code and redeployed, making it less risky. It is a more efficient method compared to the traditional approach of writing scripts to set up infrastructure.

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Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at The White House

Mar 1, 2022

Provides automation which has increased our efficiency.

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IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees

Jun 28, 2024

Terraform has extensive integrations across various platforms. It includes modules that enhance functionality and support for secure practices, such as Terraform Sentinel, which offers code analysis capabilities.

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AP

Sr. Systems Engineer / Tech Logic Consultant. at a non-tech company with self employed

Nov 13, 2020

I like the function that shows me a preview of what is happening in the infrastructure.

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Site Reliability and DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Aug 29, 2023

The most valuable features of the solution are its simplicity of SQL language, its compatibility with multiple cloud providers, and its modules like the open source modules available, especially considering the fact that I work mainly on AWS.

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Senior Devops Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Mar 5, 2024

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the modules it offers.

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HashiCorp Terraform Cons review quotes

Tech Lead DevSecOps at Letsbank

Jul 5, 2023

Terraform could create more examples in the documentation.

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Principal DevOps Engineer at 10Pearls.

Apr 23, 2024

Terraform does not provide an automatic feature to convert infrastructure code from one cloud platform to another.

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reviewer1980198

Senior Build And Release Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 4, 2022

I would want to see more programmatic capabilities implemented, such as if, else, and simple to manage things in terms of how I can use some programming functions to assist us to achieve more. I would like to have programming language-relevant features, to have programming language be the primary way.

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HashiCorp Terraform

Free Report: HashiCorp Terraform Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about HashiCorp Terraform. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.

838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.

VR

Partner & principal technologist at SwanSpeed Consulting

Apr 1, 2023

I still struggle a bit when configuring VPNs when we have multiple rules. If we have five or six virtual private clouds and we have to give rights between those multiple VPCs, we can have big problems. I think it was a learning curve and then we improved it.

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CTO at Translucent Computing Inc

Jan 27, 2023

HashiCorp Terraform is an open-source tool that relies on external developers to create plugins to expand its capabilities. However, this approach can be problematic as not all plugins are created by professionals and some may have security vulnerabilities. In the case of GKE, Google has created a solid plugin, but for other services, one must search for plugins on the HashiCorp Terraform registry, which can be hit or miss, as many plugins are created by students or hobbyists, who may not continue to maintain or update them. This model of open-sourced plugins may not be the most reliable or secure way of expanding the tool's capabilities.

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Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at The White House

Mar 1, 2022

Terraform lacks in running script.

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IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees

Jun 28, 2024

Terraform should monitor the backend storage more closely. You can handle it within Azure, but HashiCorp should release a dedicated tool to protect those secrets and ensure they're fully encrypted.

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AP

Sr. Systems Engineer / Tech Logic Consultant. at a non-tech company with self employed

Nov 13, 2020

If you are copying something from a well running machine to a remote machine, there are some issues with the current version, but it is acceptable.

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Site Reliability and DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Aug 29, 2023

From a user's perspective, it would be great if a UI tool is made available in the open source version as well, but I don't think it may be introduced because of the high costs for it announced by HashiCorp in its licensed version...HashiCorp Terraform can improve backward compatibility.

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Senior Devops Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Mar 5, 2024

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Configuration Management

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Configuration Management

Popular Comparisons

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Microsoft Intune vs HashiCorp Terraform

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs HashiCorp Terraform

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs HashiCorp Terraform

BigFix vs HashiCorp Terraform

VMware Aria Automation vs HashiCorp Terraform

Red Hat Satellite vs HashiCorp Terraform

AWS Systems Manager vs HashiCorp Terraform

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs HashiCorp Terraform

BMC TrueSight Server Automation vs HashiCorp Terraform

SUSE Manager vs HashiCorp Terraform

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management vs HashiCorp Terraform

Spring Cloud vs HashiCorp Terraform

ManageEngine OS Deployer vs HashiCorp Terraform

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