We use HashiCorp Terraform for Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
Manager- Automation Engineering at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
An easy-to-deploy solution that can be used for Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of HashiCorp Terraform is the custom modules."
- "HashiCorp Terraform state management could be improved to be used efficiently with multi-users."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of HashiCorp Terraform is the custom modules. The custom modules are built for each piece, like network and security, based on how the customers are. Then, we can tie them together, centralize them easily, and build them.
What needs improvement?
HashiCorp Terraform state management could be improved to be used efficiently with multi-users. Even though there are logs, there are always issues I've seen with people manipulating the TerraForm state. We cannot work efficiently with the solution if the state is incorrect. Due to certain reasons, if I have to change some piece of some resource, I cannot change it. I have to destroy the whole thing and then build a new one.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HashiCorp Terraform for three years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HashiCorp Terraform is a stable solution. I rate HashiCorp Terraform an eight or nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 20 users are using HashiCorp Terraform in our organization.
I rate HashiCorp Terraform an eight or nine out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
HashiCorp Terraform's initial setup is simple. Especially with TerraForm Cloud, you don't have to do anything since it's a SaaS platform. Also, TerraForm Enterprise is easy to install.
What about the implementation team?
HashiCorp Terraform's deployment is very easy and doesn't take much time.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment with HashiCorp Terraform.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HashiCorp Terraform's pricing depends on the way people use it. Not everyone uses the solution the way HashiCorp recommends to use it. HashiCorp Terraform goes by workspaces, and workspaces are more expensive than nodes. The nodes are cheaper.
People implement the solution in different ways. So you can use the solution with less money and make it cheaper, but that's not the recommended way. If you use the solution according to the recommended way by HashiCorp, it is more expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I am using the latest version of HashiCorp Terraform.
I recommend users build the framework and the modules correctly right from the beginning. Then, build the workspace as recommended by HashiCorp. According to HashiCorp's recommendation, one workspace should exist per application or environment. That's how people need to build it.
Then, modularize everything and make custom modules for the organizations. Especially things that stay out of the application, like security, network, and compute, should be in separate modules. Later, they can be brought into the application.
Overall, I rate HashiCorp Terraform an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
A stable solution for that helps to create a well-designed infrastructure
Pros and Cons
- "It is one of the best things because now we have everything automated with Terraform. We didn't have an outage for the last three years because everything is written in a code, and every change we have made is recorded. If we didn't have a tool like Terraform, it would be extremely complex to achieve this level of maturity with infrastructure."
- "The solution is complex when we use it for a loop. This is a problem, not because of the language itself, but because of how the infrastructure generally works. It's different from Python."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for three things. Firstly, to automate the infrastructure, like enabling Logpush to Datadog. Secondly, for Cloudflare AWS and Insight AWS. Thirdly, we use Terraform to create infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
It is one of the best things because now we have everything automated with Terraform. We didn't have an outage for the last three years because everything is written in a code, and every change we have made is recorded. If we didn't have a tool like Terraform, it would be extremely complex to achieve this level of maturity with infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
The state file is the most valuable feature because it helps one know what exactly one has.
What needs improvement?
The solution is complex when we use it for a loop. This is a problem, not because of the language itself, but because of how the infrastructure generally works. It's different from Python.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. I rate it nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is not very scalable. I rate it six out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is complex.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI with the tool's use.
What other advice do I have?
I plan to use the solution more in the future. I recommend people to use it as it is the best tool in the market at the moment to create infrastructure anywhere.
I rate it ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
HashiCorp Terraform
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about HashiCorp Terraform. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Managing Trustee and CTO at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
Reliable, useful for automation, and helps provide for multiple hybrid cloud implementations
Pros and Cons
- "It allows for the abstraction of the work away from the developer into automated processes."
- "The user interface could be easier for non-technical people."
What is our primary use case?
It enables us to create our cloud implementations without a technician needing to sign on to the cloud.
What is most valuable?
We are able to do multiple hybrid cloud implementations for clients that need to support Azure and AWS.
It allows for the abstraction of the work away from the developer into automated processes.
The reuse simplification is very good.
It can enforce DevOps.
It is stable.
Technical support has been fine.
What needs improvement?
The workflow and automation could be better.
The user interface could be easier for non-technical people.
There's a learning curve involved with the setup; however, it is low to medium.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a long time. I've used it for 12 years at least.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is excellent. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's not a customer-facing solution. We've never had an issue with it. However, it is not a primary concern of ours in terms of the ability to expand.
Most business analysts and sometimes architects use the solution. We have 1700 people in our organization, and we are doing 100 projects at a time. Almost all of the projects require the use of the product. Half of the people are engaged in the solution in one way or another. We have about 750 people using it.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple for the most part.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is expensive. It's more for enterprise implementations. The cost is above average in general.
What other advice do I have?
We're a consulting company.
I'd advise other users to automate to the greatest extent possible to get the best ROI.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten, even though the workflow is not the strongest on the market.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Growth at a security firm with 51-200 employees
An affordable and scalable solution that provides a self-service infrastructure
Pros and Cons
- "The solution helps us save a lot of costs."
- "The product must improve DevOps features."
What is our primary use case?
I am using the solution on AWS to scale our operations using Infrastructure as Code.
How has it helped my organization?
Terraform is the most useful product for creating Infrastructure as Code. It has a lot of consistency, and we can control it in code. It provides a self-service infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
The solution helps us save a lot of costs. The product’s integrations help us a lot.
What needs improvement?
The product must improve DevOps features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I never had any stability issues. I rate the stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale the product. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use other solutions for security in DevOps.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is deployed on the cloud. It is easy to deploy the solution. The documentation helps us a lot.
What was our ROI?
The tool has a lot of value. It pays for itself. We save a lot of time using the automation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is fairly priced.
What other advice do I have?
We're still learning how to use DevOps with our SOC. We need to improve our use cases. The tool is helpful for us to keep the same standards throughout the cloud. Currently, I'm only using AWS. I'm planning to use Azure in a few months. I would advise people to start using the solution. It is a cheap tool and saves us a lot of work. Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sr. MTS Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A rapid and promising tool that helps us with our operations
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution."
- "Terraform doesn't support Artifactory as a backend."
How has it helped my organization?
HashiCorp Terraform does a good job and helps us set up all operations.
What is most valuable?
There are no specific valuable features as the whole product is good.
What needs improvement?
Terraform doesn't support Artifactory as a backend.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used this solution for about four years and are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I am unsure about the scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We have never used their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have not used any other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution a ten out of ten. HashiCorp Terraform is a rapid and promising tool.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CTO at Translucent Computing Inc
Suited for managing complex environments, useful shared collaboration, but has testing issues
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
HashiCorp Terraform is a system solution that allows for infrastructure to be managed as code. allows for the efficient creation and management of infrastructure by packaging everything together in one package. This includes the networking, security, and encryption for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) deployment.
How has it helped my organization?
By using HashiCorp Terraform, the infrastructure is all in one place and can be easily tested and checked for security vulnerabilities before deployment.
What is most valuable?
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.
The infrastructure is transparent, as it is stored in a source control system, such as Bitbucket, making it easy for all team members to access and review. Furthermore, Terraform enables the creation of a deployment pipeline using tools, such as Atlantis, which automates the process of scanning and deploying the code. This streamlines the deployment process and adds features, such as auditing, risk management, and security scanning to the deployment process. Terraform provides a more organized and secure way of managing infrastructure, compared to the traditional ad-hoc method.
What needs improvement?
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.
It is possible that when using a plugin with HashiCorp Terraform, there may be security issues or the plugin may become outdated in the future. HashiCorp Terraform only takes responsibility for the infrastructure and code of the program itself, not the plugin. This is a point of concern as it is the responsibility of the user to police and manage the plugins, which can be a significant overhead. Additionally, the solution requires plugins for modules, so without them, Terraform cannot communicate with certain resources.
To improve this, it would be beneficial if HashiCorp Terraform had a system in place where they certify and test the plugins. This would take the burden off of users and reduce the cost of using the solution. The current system relies heavily on open-source plugins which may not be fully developed, lack features, or may not be secure. It is not uncommon for users to have to fork or manage these plugins themselves, which can be a significant undertaking.
The module system in the solution is not the best, as it forces users to rely on third-party developers who may not be qualified from a security or engineering standpoint. This can create a problem for users as they may not have access to all the features they need, and may have to fork or manage the plugins themselves. HashiCorp Terraform, as the creators of this system, should take more responsibility for the management and security of these third-party plugins.
The use of open-source code, such as that used in this solution, can present issues as it may not always be fully supported or maintained by its creators. This publicly traded, multi-billion dollar company, may not want to take full responsibility for the plugins and modules that are created by third parties. This can be problematic for users, as they may have to police the plugins themselves to ensure they are secure and functional. Furthermore, while some companies such as Google may have the resources to create their own Terraform plugin and take responsibility for it, many other companies and developers do not have the same resources and may not take responsibility for maintaining their own plugins. This can lead to a broken system where users may have to pay extra to have broken plugins fixed. Overall, this highlights the need for a better system of support and maintenance for open-source code and plugins.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HashiCorp Terraform for approximately four years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. It is well suited to managing complex cloud environments, such as Google Kubernetes Engine, that require various services and configurations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HashiCorp Terraform is a cost-effective solution.
What other advice do I have?
HashiCorp Terraform has issues with testing and the modules. Overall, the concept is great. What they did works well. However, the extension to it is not the greatest.
I rate HashiCorp Terraform a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Has extensive integrations across various platforms
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use HashiCorp Terraform for Infrastructure as Code. It automates the deployment of infrastructure within the Azure platform. Terraform can manage almost all aspects of infrastructure provisioning. If there are tasks that Terraform cannot perform directly, you can use the Azure CLI or other tools and call them from within Terraform scripts.
How has it helped my organization?
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. Security logging and backend security are crucial, particularly regarding protecting sensitive information stored in the backend. Ensuring private endpoint usage is pivotal to safeguarding against potential vulnerabilities.
What is most valuable?
Terraform's strength lies in its modularity and the ability to use variables. You can organize your code within local and remote repositories, making it highly modular. This modularity allows you to call specific components as needed. Additionally, Terraform can toggle certain functionalities on or off through feature flags, a unique and powerful feature.
What needs improvement?
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 but this functionality is on its way for Terraform. They do have functionality that encrypts secrets and rotates which is great just like what Microsoft have and should be used in the wider community to safeguard public cloud systems
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HashiCorp Terraform for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is quite stable. You may not notice the updates, but you do see frequent changes in revisions because they've stabilized the platform. They've also introduced significant new versions and providers that work hand in hand with it. I don't encounter many errors that I can't fix straightforwardly. As an engineer, you receive error messages if you misconfigure things, and it informs you about that.
I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale to any size. It is suitable for SMEs.
I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Arm templates where difficult to managed initially and took a while to manage in nested calls and nested templates
How was the initial setup?
The integration is straightforward. Simply download the binary, test it accordingly, and authenticate via Azure CLI. I've used the standard binary because it's free and widely adopted for technical infrastructure as code.
The initial setup is very straightforward. I set up a Python environment, brought in Terraform, and utilized it with YAML. Everything has to be securely done. You have to set up some pieces on the backend. It's straightforward to deploy: get the binary, set it up on the build agent, and configure the settings the way you need.
What about the implementation team?
Inhouse Initially but I have learnt form other teams and vendors as all teams structure their code differently with best practices
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version of the solution.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Arm Templates and PowerShell Azure initially Pulumi (early days)
What other advice do I have?
I've been working with HashiCorp Terraform recently and have deployed environments with it.OpenAI has released GPT Terraform, which Microsoft is heavily investing in. Generic modules are available for deployment. Azure AI Portal and AI Studio are useful tools for creating models. It's straightforward to perform service training and update models for input-output data.
HashiCorp Terraform has made handling modules and variables more secure. They've integrated key vaults to ensure secrets and backend storage are protected. Accessing the backend storage could potentially leak sensitive information if not properly encrypted.
I'm using GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps. Additionally, I'm exploring an older system within the team that will be set up to support.
If the setup is built on old infrastructure, the backend of Terraform works and stores. Vagrant works differently where it doesn't need to check with the infrastructure to see what's there or updated. You get an API call for deployment.
Overall, I rate the solution as eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 28, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSr DevOps Engineer at Aptos
Can easily automate functions on the cloud and has easy commands
Pros and Cons
- "It's very easy to automate functions on the cloud with HashiCorp Terraform. The commands are easy as well."
- "The syntax is a bit difficult, and it would great if it could be easier."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to deploy resources on AWS.
What is most valuable?
It's very easy to automate functions on the cloud with HashiCorp Terraform. The commands are easy as well.
What needs improvement?
The syntax is a bit difficult, and it would great if it could be easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using HashiCorp Terraform for four and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HashiCorp Terraform is a stable solution. We have 15 people who use it in our organization.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are free and paid versions of the solution. We use the free version.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend HashiCorp Terraform and rate it at eight out of ten. I like that there is a free version of the product, but the coding could be easier.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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