# Pulumi vs Spacelift

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/pulumi-vs-spacelift/

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Pulumi | Spacelift |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. | 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 | $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. | $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 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. | 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/SSO with RBAC, on Enterprise; SCIM sync on the tier above | Supported — SAML 2.0 and OIDC, from the Business tier |
| Audit logs | Supported — Enterprise tier, above the $40/month Team plan | Supported — In the Business tier, alongside 5-30 private workers |

## 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. ([source](https://www.pulumi.com/pricing/))
- 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

- 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. ([source](https://www.pulumi.com/pricing/))
- 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

- 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. ([source](https://www.pulumi.com/pricing/))
- 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))

## Which should you choose?

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 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: 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.

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: Pulumi: Supported — Listed as a line item on the plan comparison, not a separate product

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Pulumi or Spacelift?**

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.
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 Pulumi or Spacelift?**

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 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.