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The traditional method of manually configuring infrastructure environments is laborious and prone to errors.
To overcome this challenge, many organizations are now turning towards Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
What is IaC?
IaC helps organizations reduce costs, increase speed and eliminate risks associated with manual configuration.
It also enables organizations to replicate environments quickly and accurately and scale their operations.
IaC Approaches
There are two approaches to IaC.
They include declarative (functional) vs. imperative (procedural).
Geekflare has researched and listed the best IaC tools you might use today to automate your infrastructure configuration deployment.
Most of the listed below offer open-source version, which is good to try in your non-production environment.
Terraform
Terraformby HarshiCorp is an open-source IaC tool.
The Terraform platform then automates the creation and management of cloud infrastructure based on the defined configuration.
Pricing for the business plan is available upon request.
Pulumi
Pulumiadvertises its platform as infrastructure as code for engineers.
The open-source platform is designed to help developers create and manage cloud resources across different providers.
They also offer a 14-day free trial.
Env0
Env0is an IaC automation platform designed to help DevOps teams manage multi-cloud and cloud-native environments.
Env0 is built to ease deployment.
This tool reduces pipeline maintenance and manual tooling, allowing developers to focus on the big problems.
Estimating the cost impact of each IaC change is easy when using Env0.
The automatic tagging functionality allows you to monitor actual costs incurred during each deployment.
This feature makes it easy to manage usage-priced cloud resources.
Env0 Features
Env0 has a free plan that allows unlimited concurrent runs.
However, you might only have a maximum of 3 users and 50 monthly deployments.
Env0 also offers a Custom plan for enterprises.
Spacelift
Spaceliftis a CI/CD solution built for cloud-agnostic IaC software.
They offer a free tier with limited options.
You may ping the AWS CloudFormation sales team for custom quotes or use theAWS pricing calculatorto get an estimate.
Progress Chef
Chefprovides a flexible framework for infrastructures, applications, and services deployment and management.
Crossplane
Built on Kubernetes,Crossplaneis an open-source platform that orchestrates applications and infrastructure.
The pro (for production and teams) plan starts at $99.
Pricing for the enterprise plan is available on request.
There are various factors to consider when researching and shopping for IaC software.
Automated deployments can help keep costs low by reducing mistakes, improving speed, and optimizing workloads.
Many IaC tools offer automation features, so its important to compare different products in terms of automation capabilities.
Look for an IaC tool that offers scalability features such as dynamic orchestration or autoscaling.
The right IaC tool should balance cost efficiency with the features that matter most to your organization.
Compare pricing models between vendors and check out free trials before deciding on a solution.
Additionally, research what licensing fees may apply for additional users or third-party applications.
When selecting an IaC tool, finding one that offers robust integration and extensibility options is important.
This allows you the flexibility to customize your workflow according to your specific needs.
Additionally, good extensibility options allow you to create custom integrations and connectors if needed.
Security should always be a priority when evaluating any technology.
The best tool for you depends on your specific needs and requirements.
This will enable you to assess the tools and pick the best option for your business needs.
