Terraform
February 22, 2026
What it is
Terraform (HashiCorp) uses HCL to define infrastructure; providers (AWS, GCP, Azure, K8s, etc.) create and update resources. State is stored locally or remotely (e.g. S3, Terraform Cloud).
Usage
Provision clouds, Kubernetes, databases, and networking; plan/apply workflow; modules for reuse; workspaces for environments.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Huge provider ecosystem | State and locking require discipline |
| Declarative, plan before apply | HCL learning curve; sometimes provider quirks |
| Multi-cloud and on-prem | HashiCorp license change (see OpenTofu) |
| Mature and widely adopted |
Alternatives
OpenTofu (drop-in fork), Pulumi (real languages). Why Terraform: De facto standard for IaC; most providers and examples.
When to use it
You need to manage cloud or on-prem resources declaratively and want broad provider support.
Links
- Homepage: https://www.terraform.io/
- Documentation: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/docs