# HCP Terraform vs Spacelift

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/hcp-terraform-vs-spacelift/

Every value below is read from HCP Terraform's and Spacelift's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | HCP Terraform | Spacelift |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| What the free plan includes | 500 managed resources. The cap is stated as a condition of downgrading rather than as a description of the plan — an organisation above it cannot move down to free — and the documentation names no other free allowance, so runs, users and concurrency are not known to be capped from this page. | Described only as 'always free for small teams', with no credit card and no time limit; the page puts no number on what small means. |
| Entry paid plan | $0.0001359 per managed resource per hour on the Essentials plan, with no monthly plan fee to clear first. HashiCorp's own worked example is 1,000 resources held continuously for a month, which it totals at $97.85. | $20,000 for Starter +, printed with no period attached — the plan card shows the figure beside the tier name and a trial button, and nothing on the page says whether it is monthly or annual. Recorded without a magnitude for that reason. |
| Pricing model | Per managed resource, per hour. The charge follows the peak resource count within each hour, so resources created and destroyed inside one hour are still billed for it: HashiCorp's own example bills an hour at a peak of 2,000 after 1,000 were added and 500 destroyed. Contract plans are offered at lower rates for larger organisations. | By concurrent private worker: Starter + includes one, and what a plan buys beyond that is features rather than volume — Spaces, workflow customization, policy, drift detection and cloud cost estimation. |
| SAML single sign-on | Supported — SAML 2.0, both SP- and IdP-initiated, with just-in-time provisioning | Supported — SAML 2.0 and OIDC, from the Business tier |
| Audit logs | Yes, on the Standard and Premium editions, with 14 days of retention, read through a dedicated Audit Trails API that needs an organisation or audit trail token rather than a user token. The documentation disagrees with itself on the tier: the audit trails reference says Standard and Premium, while the plan-management page lists audit logging among Premium-only features. Recorded as the audit page states it. Not available on self-hosted Terraform Enterprise. | Supported — In the Business tier, alongside 5-30 private workers |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- HCP Terraform: 500 managed resources. The cap is stated as a condition of downgrading rather than as a description of the plan — an organisation above it cannot move down to free — and the documentation names no other free allowance, so runs, users and concurrency are not known to be capped from this page. ([source](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cloud-docs/overview/manage-plan))
- Spacelift: Described only as 'always free for small teams', with no credit card and no time limit; the page puts no number on what small means. ([source](https://spacelift.io/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- HCP Terraform: $0.0001359 per managed resource per hour on the Essentials plan, with no monthly plan fee to clear first. HashiCorp's own worked example is 1,000 resources held continuously for a month, which it totals at $97.85. ([source](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cloud-docs/overview/estimate-cost))
- Spacelift: $20,000 for Starter +, printed with no period attached — the plan card shows the figure beside the tier name and a trial button, and nothing on the page says whether it is monthly or annual. Recorded without a magnitude for that reason. ([source](https://spacelift.io/pricing))

### Pricing model

- HCP Terraform: Per managed resource, per hour. The charge follows the peak resource count within each hour, so resources created and destroyed inside one hour are still billed for it: HashiCorp's own example bills an hour at a peak of 2,000 after 1,000 were added and 500 destroyed. Contract plans are offered at lower rates for larger organisations. ([source](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cloud-docs/overview/estimate-cost))
- Spacelift: By concurrent private worker: Starter + includes one, and what a plan buys beyond that is features rather than volume — Spaces, workflow customization, policy, drift detection and cloud cost estimation. ([source](https://spacelift.io/pricing))

### Audit logs

- HCP Terraform: Yes, on the Standard and Premium editions, with 14 days of retention, read through a dedicated Audit Trails API that needs an organisation or audit trail token rather than a user token. The documentation disagrees with itself on the tier: the audit trails reference says Standard and Premium, while the plan-management page lists audit logging among Premium-only features. Recorded as the audit page states it. Not available on self-hosted Terraform Enterprise. ([source](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cloud-docs/api-docs/audit-trails))
- Spacelift: Supported — In the Business tier, alongside 5-30 private workers ([source](https://spacelift.io/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick HCP Terraform if Running the reference implementation with a bill that starts at nothing and then tracks inventory: 500 managed resources free, and $0.0001359 per resource per hour after that with no plan fee to clear first.

Pick Spacelift if Orchestrating more than one IaC tool under one policy engine — Terraform, OpenTofu and Pulumi together — with drift detection, policy as code and an audit trail as the product rather than an add-on.

Consider something else: HCP Terraform — Your infrastructure churns. Billing follows the peak resource count within each hour, so a preview environment built and destroyed inside that hour is charged as though it had run the whole time — Scalr's per-run price and Spacelift's per-worker price both leave ephemeral estates alone.

Consider something else: Spacelift — You need to know what it costs. The first paid tier shows $20,000 with no period attached anywhere on the page, and what a plan buys is features and private workers rather than a volume you can forecast.

## Documented by only one

- Self-hostable: HCP Terraform: Supported — As Terraform Enterprise, a separate self-hosted distribution of the same application

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: HCP Terraform or Spacelift?**

HCP Terraform: $0.0001359 per managed resource per hour on the Essentials plan, with no monthly plan fee to clear first. HashiCorp's own worked example is 1,000 resources held continuously for a month, which it totals at $97.85.
Spacelift: $20,000 for Starter +, printed with no period attached — the plan card shows the figure beside the tier name and a trial button, and nothing on the page says whether it is monthly or annual. Recorded without a magnitude for that reason.

**Should I choose HCP Terraform or Spacelift?**

Pick HCP Terraform if Running the reference implementation with a bill that starts at nothing and then tracks inventory: 500 managed resources free, and $0.0001359 per resource per hour after that with no plan fee to clear first.
Pick Spacelift if Orchestrating more than one IaC tool under one policy engine — Terraform, OpenTofu and Pulumi together — with drift detection, policy as code and an audit trail as the product rather than an add-on.