Terraform & Infrastructure as Code
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool that lets you define cloud and on-premises resources in human-readable configuration files, then create and manage them reproducibly. Instead of clicking through cloud consoles, teams describe their infrastructure as code and apply changes predictably.
At a glance
- Created by
- HashiCorp
- First released
- 2014
- Language
- HCL
- Type
- Infrastructure as Code
- License
- BSL 1.1
What is Terraform?
By making infrastructure versioned, reviewable, and repeatable, Terraform brings software-engineering discipline to operations. It works across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and hundreds of providers, making it the leading tool for consistent, multi-cloud infrastructure management.
Why teams choose Terraform
Define infrastructure as version-controlled code
Reproducible environments across dev, staging, and prod
Works across AWS, Azure, GCP, and hundreds of providers
Plan changes safely before applying them
Brings code review and history to infrastructure
When to use Terraform
- Managing cloud infrastructure reproducibly
- Multi-cloud or provider-agnostic setups
- Teams that want reviewable, versioned infrastructure
- Spinning up consistent environments on demand
Things to consider
- State management needs care in a team setting
- A learning curve for its language and workflow
- Licensing moved to BSL; the OpenTofu fork is fully open-source
What we build with Terraform
Reproducible environments
Identical dev, staging, and production infrastructure from code.
Multi-cloud setups
Managing resources across several providers consistently.
Infrastructure reviews
Version-controlled changes with plan-and-review workflows.
Automated provisioning
Spinning up and tearing down environments on demand.
Products & companies built with Terraform
Terraform is trusted in production by well-known companies, including:
Terraform works well with
Terraform — frequently asked questions
What is Terraform used for?
Terraform is used to define and manage cloud infrastructure as code. Instead of configuring resources by hand in a console, teams describe them in configuration files and apply changes reproducibly across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other providers.
What is infrastructure as code?
Infrastructure as code (IaC) means managing servers, networks, and cloud resources through version-controlled configuration files rather than manual setup. It makes infrastructure reproducible, reviewable, and automatable — the same discipline used for application code.
Is Terraform still open-source?
Terraform moved to the Business Source License (BSL) in 2023. In response, the community created OpenTofu, a fully open-source fork under the Linux Foundation. Both are widely used and largely compatible.
Who uses Terraform?
Terraform is used by teams at companies like Uber, Slack, Starbucks, and GitHub, and it's a standard tool for infrastructure-as-code across the industry.
Related devops & cloud technologies
Building with Terraform?
CodersArts Build ships production Terraform projects on a fixed scope, price, and timeline — with full source-code ownership on handover.