Terraform Cloud vs. Spacelift: A Matter-of-Fact Weakness Analysis (and a look at Scalr)

Choosing the right Infrastructure as Code (IaC) management platform is crucial for organizations looking to automate and scale their cloud operations efficiently. Terraform Cloud and Spacelift are prominent players in this space, each offering a suite of features to manage Terraform workflows. However, like any technology, they come with their own sets of weaknesses that potential users should carefully consider. This post provides a matter-of-fact examination of these limitations, and also introduces Scalr as another competitor in this domain.

At a Glance: Key Weaknesses

Feature/Aspect	Terraform Cloud Weaknesses	Spacelift Weaknesses	Scalr Weaknesses
Pricing Model	Resource Unit Metric (RUM) can lead to unpredictable costs.	Concurrency-based pricing can be perceived as expensive as usage scales.	(Focus on strengths; pricing model not highlighted as a primary weakness in the provided text)
IaC Tool Support	Primarily Terraform-only; limited multi-IaC support.	Strong for TF/OpenTofu/Pulumi; others may need more custom scripting in hooks.	Focused on Terraform/OpenTofu; no native support for others like Pulumi/CloudFormation.
Performance	Slow plan/apply times for large monolithic states.	-	(Noted for impressive scaling, not a weakness here)
Workflow/Customization	Limited customization of run workflows.	Steeper learning curve for advanced features (e.g., complex OPA policies, hooks).	-
Policy Language	Proprietary (Sentinel); potential vendor lock-in.	OPA is powerful but can have a steeper learning curve.	-
Dependency Mgmt.	Managing dependencies between workspaces can be manual.	Some limitations with Terragrunt run-all state mapping and stack deletion.	-
Feature Access	Advanced features often gated behind higher-priced tiers.	-	-
Scalability Concerns	Permissions and policy management can be cumbersome for very large organizations.	-	(Noted for scaling well)
Market Presence	Established.	Still growing compared to Terraform Cloud.	Visibility and brand recognition still growing.
Other	-	Automation for creating Spacelift Stacks was a past pain point (now largely addressed).	-

Terraform Cloud: Examining the Drawbacks

Terraform Cloud, by HashiCorp, is a popular choice for managing Terraform runs, state, and collaboration. While it offers a streamlined experience for many, certain aspects can present challenges:

• Resource Unit Metric (RUM) Pricing Concerns: A significant point of contention for many users is the RUM pricing model. This can lead to unpredictable monthly costs, making budgeting difficult, especially for organizations with fluctuating infrastructure provisioning needs.
• Primarily Terraform-Focused: While excellent for Terraform, its native support for other IaC tools is limited. Teams utilizing a multi-IaC strategy (e.g., Pulumi, CloudFormation alongside Terraform) might find this restrictive, often requiring workarounds or separate tooling.
• Performance with Large Monolithic States: Users managing large, monolithic Terraform states have reported slow plan and apply times. This can become a bottleneck in CI/CD pipelines and hinder rapid iteration.
• Manual Workspace Dependency Management: As infrastructure complexity grows, managing dependencies between different workspaces or projects in Terraform Cloud can become a manual and error-prone process. This often requires custom scripting or careful orchestration outside the platform.
• Limited Workflow Customization: The ability to deeply customize run workflows is somewhat constrained. While it offers standard lifecycle hooks, users requiring highly specific or complex pre-plan, post-plan, or pre-apply actions might find the options insufficient without significant effort.
• Proprietary Policy Language (Sentinel): Terraform Cloud employs Sentinel for policy-as-code. While powerful, Sentinel is a proprietary language specific to the HashiCorp ecosystem. This means teams need to invest in learning and maintaining skills in a language that isn't broadly applicable outside of HashiCorp tools, potentially creating vendor lock-in concerns.
• Feature Gating by Tier: Many advanced and critical features, such as detailed audit logging, more granular policy controls, and self-hosted agents with custom networking, are often gated behind higher-priced enterprise tiers. This can make essential functionalities inaccessible for smaller organizations or those with tighter budgets.
• Scaling Permissions and Policy Management: For very large organizations with numerous teams and projects, managing permissions and policies at scale can become cumbersome. The granularity and ease of administration for complex organizational structures have been cited as areas for improvement.

Spacelift: Understanding its Limitations

Spacelift has emerged as a strong competitor, offering a flexible and developer-centric approach to IaC management. However, it's not without its own set of weaknesses:

• Perceived Cost at Scale: While its concurrency-based pricing is generally more predictable than Terraform Cloud's RUM model, Spacelift can be perceived as expensive by some organizations, particularly as usage and the number of concurrent runs increase.
• Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Spacelift offers powerful capabilities, especially around policy enforcement with Open Policy Agent (OPA) and customizable workflows. However, leveraging these advanced features, such as writing complex OPA policies or intricate before and after hooks, can have a steeper learning curve compared to simpler use cases.
• Terragrunt run-all Limitations: Some users have reported limitations or complexities when dealing with Terragrunt's run-all command, specifically concerning state mapping and the clean deletion of all stacks managed by such a command.
• Historical Stack Creation Automation: In the past, automating the creation and configuration of Spacelift Stacks themselves was a pain point for some users. This has been largely addressed with the introduction of a Kubernetes operator and a Terraform provider for Spacelift, but early adopters might have faced this challenge.
• Growing Market Presence: As a newer entrant compared to the more established Terraform Cloud, Spacelift's market presence and community ecosystem are still growing. While adoption is rapidly increasing, some organizations might prefer the longer track record of more tenured solutions.
• Custom Scripting for Non-Core IaC Tools: While Spacelift boasts strong native support for Terraform, OpenTofu, and Pulumi, achieving full remote plan/apply capabilities for other IaC tools might rely more heavily on custom scripting within its hook system rather than out-of-the-box integrations.

Scalr: An Alternative with its Own Profile

Scalr is another established platform in the IaC management space, often drawing comparisons for its focus on Terraform and OpenTofu workflows. It presents a different set of trade-offs:

Strengths often cited:

• Improved Setup Complexity: Reports from users indicate that Scalr has significantly improved its initial setup complexity since earlier versions (around 2021), making it easier to get started.
• Impressive Scaling: Scalr is noted for its ability to scale to handle a very high volume of runs (reportedly into the millions) without inconsistent performance, a key consideration for large enterprises.
• Reporting and Analytics: Some reviews, including those on platforms like G2, highlight Scalr's robust reporting and analytics capabilities, offering valuable insights into IaC operations.
• Early Player with Growing Community: Scalr was one of the earlier dedicated platforms in the Terraform Automation and Collaboration Software (TACO) space, and it maintains an engaged and growing community.

Weaknesses to consider:

• Terraform/OpenTofu Focus: Scalr's primary strength lies in its deep support for Terraform and its fork, OpenTofu. However, it does not offer native support for other IaC tools like Pulumi or AWS CloudFormation, which makes it less suitable for organizations with a diverse IaC toolset.
• Brand Recognition: While well-regarded within its user base, Scalr's overall brand visibility and market recognition are still growing when compared to a giant like HashiCorp's Terraform Cloud.

Choosing Your Path: Weighing the Weaknesses

The decision between Terraform Cloud, Spacelift, and alternatives like Scalr ultimately depends on an organization's specific requirements, existing toolchain, budget, and operational maturity.

• Terraform Cloud might be a natural starting point for teams heavily invested in the HashiCorp ecosystem, but be wary of RUM pricing and potential limitations in customization and multi-IaC support.
• Spacelift offers greater flexibility, powerful policy features with OPA, and broader IaC tool support, but this can come with a steeper learning curve for advanced functionalities and potentially higher costs at scale for some.
• Scalr presents a compelling option for organizations prioritizing massive scalability and robust analytics for Terraform/OpenTofu workflows, provided its narrower IaC tool focus aligns with their strategy.

A thorough evaluation of these weaknesses, mapped against your organization's priorities, is essential before committing to a platform that will underpin your infrastructure automation.