Pulumi vs Spacelift
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Pulumi and Spacelift 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 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.
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.
- 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.
3 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
Spacelift 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Pulumi | Spacelift |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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. |
| Auth | ||
| 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.
- 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.
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
- Spacelift Pricing ↗
“Always free for small teams NO CREDIT CARD, NO TIME LIMIT”
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.
- 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.
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
- Spacelift Pricing ↗
“Starter + For growing teams looking to optimize team workflows with infrastructure automation. $20,000 Start your trial”
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.
- 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.
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
- Spacelift Pricing ↗
“INCLUDED IN STARTER PLUS: 1 private worker Spaces IaC support Workflow customization VCS integration Resource visualization Cloud cost estimation”
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 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.