HCP Terraform vs. Firefly

Considering a HCP Terraform alternative?

Here’s a walkthrough for DevOps and Platform pros who just want to know what else is out there.

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Firefly is an alternative to HCP Terraform that lets you:

Continuously scan and map your entire cloud footprint

Automatically codify unmanaged (ClickOps) resources into Terraform or OpenTofu

Orchestrate IaC using your existing CI/CD pipelines or Firefly runners

Enforce unified governance and shift-left FinOps from Code to Cloud

Detect and fix configuration drift in real time

Recover from downtime faster with automated DR-as-Code

Work seamlessly across Terraform, OpenTofu, CloudFormation, Helm, and more, with no lock-in

See how Firefly stacks up against HCP Terraform

Firefly

HCP Terraform

Cloud scanning & discovery

Know what’s running in your cloud and eliminate context switching

Firefly

Continuous scanning of all resources across multi-cloud, K8s, and tools (Cloudflare, okta, etc.) Cloud system of record with dependency mapping and context. Maps codified vs. drifted/unmanaged (ClickOps) resources.

Terraform Cloud

Can’t scan the cloud. Sees only what it deploys.
No unmanaged resource discovery.

IaC Coverage

Understand which parts of your cloud are managed by Terraform

Firefly

IaC coverage analysis and notification for ClickOps and drifts.

Terraform Cloud

No IaC coverage visibility or alerts.

Codification

Achieve 100% IaC coverage and bridge skill gaps

Firefly

AI generates IaC for existing unmanaged resources (ClickOps). Produces modular, reusable templates for maximum standardization and efficiency.

Terraform Cloud

Manual, labor-intensive Terraform only imports. Not modulized/reusable.

Unified Governance Engine

Maintain the cloud you desire and enforce policies at run-time or pre-production

Firefly

Single governance engine from code to cloud. Find and fix policy violations before they reach production. Built-in guardrails for reliability, compliance, cost, tagging, EOL, and more. Shift-left FinOps. Leverage AI to remediate misconfigurations.

Terraform Cloud

Limited to Terrafform apply-stage only (can’t govern cloud resources post-deployment).

Drift Management

Detect and eliminate drift for liability and efficiency

Firefly

Real-time drift detection. Ready-to-use remediation to reduce MTTR and discover drifts across your existing cloud environment. Module versioning drift detection.

Terraform Cloud

Scheduled (cron) drift detection only. Scale limitations. No auto-remediation or module relevancy.

Disaster Recovery

Keep your cloud resilient and withstand the next downtime

Firefly

Recover quickly from incidents by redeploying infrastructure from one region to another. Meet RTO and resilience standards. Maintain cloud resiliency posture.

Terraform Cloud

No disaster recovery capabilities.

Flexible Deployment Module

Manage IaC in your existing CI/CD

Firefly

Orchestrate IaC using your existing CI/CD pipelines or Firefly runners.

Terraform Cloud

HCP runners only.

Multi IaC

Future-proof your cloud and use the best tool for each task

Firefly

Multi IaC support (Terraform, OpenTofu, CloudFormation, Helm, Kustomize, etc.) Extensible, no vendor lock-in.

Terraform Cloud

No cross-tool support.

ROI

Achieve faster results and predictable scaling

Firefly

High and Fast ROI. Predictable asset-based pricing.

Terraform Cloud

Asset-based pricing. Slow and low ROI.

Why you shouldn’t use Firefly as a HCP Terraform alternative

If you’re the kind of DevOps pro who enjoys surprises - unmanaged resources, blind spots, and late-night debugging, then HCP Terraform is perfect for you.
(Seriously, you can close this page now. But we’ll still be here when you’re ready for order in the chaos.)

If you are certain that you have full visibility of your assets, even across multi-cloud environments

Your cloud is fully documented, perfectly mapped, and every unmanaged or drifted resource is accounted for, across every cloud and service.

If you love adding yet another tool to your existing tech stack, or relying on an additional CI/CD platform that doesn't integrate into your current workflow

For organizations where Firefly isn’t a fit, IaC automation is simply not a priority.

If naive codification without support for dependencies or modules is “good enough”

You also may need to be a fan of doing unnecessary manual work instead of using templates (or modules), or enjoy using crappy code that doesn't follow best practices.

If not having any asset history or change log makes you feel like a daredevil, and you enjoy the challenge of solving problems when you can't see what changes were made, or who made them

Your team doesn’t care to be able to roll back to previous versions, and already feels confident in their ability to pass auditing and do troubleshooting as is.

If, for your team, ensuring that deployments and configurations are within policy is more effective when handled manually

In this scenario, your DevOps engineers are uncharacteristically impervious to human error.

If, in the event of an incident, your engineers would rather re-create your configurations than keep them centrally documented

Chaos is the spice of life, and you believe that redoing work is the cornerstone of positive morale.

Weighing your options?
Book a demo to see Firefly at work

Without Firefly, you're left with HCP Terraform's limited visibility, delayed drift detection, single-language support, and potential vendor lock-in. But hey, some people enjoy living on the edge — and if that sounds familiar, we applaud your courage.

Why Firefly?

Comprehensive asset visibility & inventory

Simplified IaC provisioning

Use your preferred CI/CD

Real-time drift detection & remediation

Multi-language IaC support & codification

Unified governance across cloud resources

Self-hosted options for true control