# Infrastructure as code for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "infrastructure-as-code tool" and as "IaC platform for provisioning cloud resources", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/cloud/infrastructure-as-code/2026-11/enterprise

**Standing:** Terraform leads with 62% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 60 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Terraform](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/terraform/index.md) | 62% | 24% | 96 |
| 2 | [OpenTofu](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/opentofu/index.md) | 18% | 9% | 53 |
| 3 | [Spacelift](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/spacelift/index.md) | 8% | 0% | 24 |
| 4 | [Pulumi](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/pulumi/index.md) | 3% | 16% | 74 |
| 5 | [AWS CloudFormation](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-cloudformation/index.md) | 3% | 35% | 49 |
| 6 | [Scalr](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/scalr/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 19 |
| 9 | [Crossplane](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crossplane/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 29 |
| 10 | [AWS CDK](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-cdk/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 28 |
| 11 | [env0](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/env0/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 14 |
| 43 | [Azure Bicep](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-bicep/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 37 |
| 51 | [Ansible](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ansible/index.md) | 0% | 54% | 24 |
| 54 | [Puppet](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/puppet/index.md) | 0% | 60% | 15 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 56 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Terraform; alternatives Pulumi, Spacelift
- GPT-5.4 mini: Terraform with HCP Terraform or Terraform Enterprise; alternatives OpenTofu, Pulumi
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: OpenTofu, Terraform; alternatives AWS CDK, Crossplane, Pulumi, Spacelift
- Perplexity Sonar: Terraform; alternatives OpenTofu, Pulumi
- Grok 4.20: OpenTofu, Terraform; alternatives AWS CDK, Ansible, Crossplane, Pulumi
- Mistral Small: Terraform; alternatives OpenTofu, Pulumi
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Terraform; alternatives AWS CloudFormation, Crossplane, OpenTofu, Pulumi
- Llama 4 Maverick: Terraform; alternatives AWS CloudFormation, Pulumi
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Terraform; alternatives AWS CloudFormation, Crossplane, OpenTofu, Pulumi
- Kimi K2: Terraform; alternatives OpenTofu, Pulumi, Scalr, Spacelift
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Terraform; alternatives AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Azure Bicep, Checkov
- MiniMax M2.5: OpenTofu, Terraform; alternatives Pulumi, Spacelift
- GPT-6 Luna: Terraform; alternatives AWS CDK, OpenTofu, Pulumi
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Terraform; alternatives AWS CDK, AWS CloudFormation, Crossplane, Pulumi

## Sources the answers cite

71 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- pulumi.com: 42 answers, 115 citations
- docs.aws.amazon.com: 29 answers, 43 citations
- spacelift.io: 18 answers, 29 citations
- developer.hashicorp.com: 16 answers, 31 citations
- github.com: 16 answers, 25 citations
- techtarget.com: 15 answers, 19 citations
- envzero.com: 15 answers, 17 citations
- toolradar.com: 13 answers, 14 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://pulumi.com/docs/iac/comparisons/terraform (16 answers)
- https://techtarget.com/news/8-popular-infrastructure-as-code-IaC-tools-to-consider/858033 (14 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/infrastructure-as-code-tools (13 answers)
- https://pulumi.com/blog/infrastructure-as-code-tools (13 answers)
- https://computingforgeeks.com/best-infrastructure-as-code-iac-cloud-automation-tools (12 answers)
- https://pulumi.com/blog/best-terraform-alternatives (12 answers)
- https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tools/best-iac-tools/126145308 (11 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/cloud/infrastructure-as-code/enterprise (11 answers)
- https://toolradar.com/best/infrastructure-as-code (11 answers)
- https://pulumi.com/blog/why-choose-pulumi-over-terraform (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Terraform: 23 of 96 labels negative. "IaC Tools to Approach with Caution ... HCP Terraform (formerly Terraform Cloud): ... your monthly bill can jump unpredictably" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)
- AWS CloudFormation: 17 of 49 labels negative. "Why to avoid: Writing infrastructure in raw, un-abstracted JSON or declarative YAML templates leads to thousands of lines of unreadable, non-reusable code." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Azure Bicep: 16 of 37 labels negative. "Why to avoid: Writing infrastructure in raw, un-abstracted JSON or declarative YAML templates leads to thousands of lines of unreadable, non-reusable code." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Pulumi: 12 of 74 labels negative. "Pulumi Cloud (Managed SaaS): ... Why it's unpredictable: Scaling to thousands of users on Pulumi Cloud requires Enterprise-tier seat costs" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Terraform at 62%.

- Terraform: 53% to 62%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 56, unchanged.
- Pulumi: 10% to 3%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 4 of 56.
- OpenTofu: 15% to 18%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 of 56, unchanged.
- Spacelift: 5% to 8%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 3 of 56.
- AWS CloudFormation: 5% to 3%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 of 56, unchanged.
- AWS CDK: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 10 of 56.
- Scalr: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 6 of 56.
- Crossplane: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 9 of 56.
- env0: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 11 of 56.
- Azure Bicep: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 43 of 56.
- Ansible: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 51 of 56.
- Puppet: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 65 → 54 of 56.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.