Pulumi vs Scalr
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Pulumi and Scalr built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Pulumi if…
Infrastructure written in a language you already know, with a managed cloud that is free forever for individuals and open source — one user, unlimited projects and state management at $0.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Scalr if…
A bill that follows activity rather than inventory: $0.99 a run past 50 free a month, no per-user fee and no per-resource charge, with unlimited users and environments on both plans.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Pulumi: Your estate is large. Pulumi meters resources under management at $0.1825 each a month past the first 500, so the bill tracks how much infrastructure you have rather than how often you change it — Scalr charges per run and explicitly nothing per resource.
- Scalr: You need SSO or an audit trail on paper. Scalr's pricing page lists drift detection, policy enforcement and the registries among core features and names neither — where Spacelift and Pulumi both put them in a named tier.
5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Pulumi 0
Scalr 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Pulumi | Scalr |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| What the free plan includes | One user, IaC state management, unlimited projects and updates, up to 500 workflow minutes, and 5 million Pulumi Neo tokens a month — free forever for individuals and open source. | 50 runs a month with all core features, five concurrent runs, and no time limit or card. The plans differ only in volume. |
| Entry paid plan | $40/month for Team, which includes 40 Credits at $1 each and up to 500 resources; beyond that usage is billed on demand at $0.1825 per IaC resource per month. | $0.99 per run past the free 50 a month, with volume discounts — Scalr's own example is 100 runs for $99. There is no monthly plan fee to clear first. |
| Pricing model | Per resource under management, converted through a credit: 1 Credit = $1, one IaC resource costs 0.1825 a month and one managed secret 0.50. Workflow minutes are metered separately at $0.01 past 500 free. | Per run, and nothing else — the page states there are no per-user fees and no per-resource charges, which is the distinction from Pulumi and from the seat-based tools it competes with. Both plans start with five concurrent runs. |
| Observability | ||
| Self-hostable | Supported — Listed as a line item on the plan comparison, not a separate product | Limited — Self-hosted agents, unlimited on both plans; the control plane is Scalr's |
| Auth | ||
| Audit logs | Supported — Enterprise tier, above the $40/month Team plan | Not stated on the pricing page. Scalr lists drift detection, policy enforcement and the module and provider registries among its core features and does not mention an audit trail there. |
Where they differ.
What the free plan includes
- Pulumi
- One user, IaC state management, unlimited projects and updates, up to 500 workflow minutes, and 5 million Pulumi Neo tokens a month — free forever for individuals and open source.
- Scalr
- 50 runs a month with all core features, five concurrent runs, and no time limit or card. The plans differ only in volume.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pulumi Pricing ↗
“limited updates and history Up to 500 workflow minutes Pulumi Neo with 5M free tokens/month”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Scalr Pricing ↗
“Both start with five concurrent runs by default as of September 2026, an”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Entry paid plan
- Pulumi
- $40/month for Team, which includes 40 Credits at $1 each and up to 500 resources; beyond that usage is billed on demand at $0.1825 per IaC resource per month.
- Scalr
- $0.99 per run past the free 50 a month, with volume discounts — Scalr's own example is 100 runs for $99. There is no monthly plan fee to clear first.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pulumi Pricing ↗
“Team Everything you need to get started. $40 /month Includes 40 Credits Up to 500 resources, additional usage billed on demand”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Scalr Pricing ↗
“The Free plan covers up to 50 runs per month. Business is usage-based at $0.99 per run with volume discounts (for example, 100 runs is $99 per month).”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Pulumi
- Per resource under management, converted through a credit: 1 Credit = $1, one IaC resource costs 0.1825 a month and one managed secret 0.50. Workflow minutes are metered separately at $0.01 past 500 free.
- Scalr
- Per run, and nothing else — the page states there are no per-user fees and no per-resource charges, which is the distinction from Pulumi and from the seat-based tools it competes with. Both plans start with five concurrent runs.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pulumi Pricing ↗
“Additional usage, in Credits (1 Credit = $1) 1 IaC resource 0.1825/month 1 managed secret 0.50/”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Scalr Pricing ↗
“Simple Pricing Predictable pricing. No per-user fees, no per-resource charges.”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Self-hostable
- Pulumi
- Supported — Listed as a line item on the plan comparison, not a separate product
- Scalr
- Limited — Self-hosted agents, unlimited on both plans; the control plane is Scalr's
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pulumi Pricing ↗
“Commitment pricing Self-hosting Updates Unlimited Unlimited Unlimit”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Scalr Pricing ↗
“Concurrency No extra charge No extra charge Self-hosted agents Unlimited Unlimited Users Unlimited Unlimited Environments Unlimited”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Audit logs
- Pulumi
- Supported — Enterprise tier, above the $40/month Team plan
- Scalr
- Not stated on the pricing page. Scalr lists drift detection, policy enforcement and the module and provider registries among its core features and does not mention an audit trail there.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pulumi Pricing ↗
“Unlimited users SAML/SSO and RBAC Neo scheduled tasks Internal developer platform (IDP) Audit logs Drift detection and remediation”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Scalr Pricing ↗
“the full set of core features such as drift detection, policy enforcement, and the module and provider registries”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Pulumi or Scalr?
Pulumi: $40/month for Team, which includes 40 Credits at $1 each and up to 500 resources; beyond that usage is billed on demand at $0.1825 per IaC resource per month.
Scalr: $0.99 per run past the free 50 a month, with volume discounts — Scalr's own example is 100 runs for $99. There is no monthly plan fee to clear first.
Should I choose Pulumi or Scalr?
Pick Pulumi if Infrastructure written in a language you already know, with a managed cloud that is free forever for individuals and open source — one user, unlimited projects and state management at $0.
Pick Scalr if A bill that follows activity rather than inventory: $0.99 a run past 50 free a month, no per-user fee and no per-resource charge, with unlimited users and environments on both plans.