introduction
Despite the industry standard of Terraform long, our usage of cloud resources has been transformed by new licensing changes and community concerns that led to the birth of OpenTofu—a truly open-source alternative.’ In an article in this paper we will explore why OpenToFu was created, how it compares with TerraFORM (and what IaC tools are available).
why was opentofu created?
The company behind Terraform, HashiCorp, announced in August 2023 that it had switched from the open-source Mozilla Public License (MPL) to Business Source License(BSL), a change which limited how Terraformed could be used for commercial and cloud providers, leading to widespread concern among the communities of Open-Source and DevOps.
The launch of OpenTofu was aimed at reaching the target audience as a community-driven fork of Terraform v1.5, which is intended to be based on an initiative by its developer and missionary base.
- Preserve true open-source IaC: OpenTofu is licensed under the MPL, ensuring it remains free and open for all users and contributors.
- Maintain compatibility: OpenTofu started as a drop-in replacement for Terraform, supporting existing configurations and workflows.
- Foster community governance: Unlike Terraform, OpenTofu is managed by a foundation and a broad group of contributors, not a single vendor.
opentofu vs. terraform
| Feature | OpenTofu | Terraform (post-BSL) |
|---|---|---|
| License | MPL (Open Source) | BSL (Source-available, not OSI-approved) |
| Community | Foundation & community-driven | Vendor-driven (HashiCorp) |
| Compatibility | Compatible with Terraform v1.5+ | Native |
| Ecosystem | Growing, supports providers | Mature, large provider base |
| Governance | Open, transparent | Controlled by HashiCorp |
In summary OpenTofu is the best for teams who value open governance, long-term stability and true open-source licensing.
alternatives to opentofu and terraform
While OpenTofu and Terraform are popular, a number of other IaC tools offer unique features.
1. pulumi
- Language support: Write infrastructure in TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, and more.
- Modern developer experience: Leverages real programming languages for logic and testing.
- Cloud support: AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and more.
2. ansible
- Agentless: Uses SSH, no agents required.
- Configuration management: Great for provisioning and ongoing config, not just infra creation.
- YAML-based: Simple, human-readable playbooks.
3. aws cloudformation
- AWS-native: Deep integration with AWS services.
- Declarative templates: JSON or YAML.
- Managed service: No extra tools to install.
4. google cloud deployment manager / azure resource manager
- Cloud-specific: Native to GCP and Azure, respectively.
- Template-driven: YAML, JSON, or domain-specific languages.
5. crossplane
- Kubernetes-native: Manage cloud resources using Kubernetes CRDs.
- Composable: Build your own platform abstractions.
conclusion
In response to the licensing changes of Terraform, it ensured that the IaC community has a truly open and community-governed alternative; while OpenTofu and Terraformed remain top choices in relation to their respective communities (the latter being known as Opentofus), tools such as Pulumi, Ansible or Crossplane are still best options for making good alternatives depending on your needs. As the landscape of IAC evolves, open-source and Community-driven solutions like OpenTufuer is more important than ever.