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OpenTofu

Open-source Terraform fork — community-driven Infrastructure as Code.

OpenTofu is an open-source fork of Terraform created by the Linux Foundation after HashiCorp switched Terraform to the BSL license. Designed to preserve existing Terraform workflows and configurations, it offers state encryption, early variable evaluation, and a community-driven development model. Backed by major cloud providers and companies.

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About OpenTofu

OpenTofu was created in September 2023 as a direct response to HashiCorp's decision to change Terraform's license from MPL 2.0 to the Business Source License (BSL). Managed by the Linux Foundation, it aims to keep Infrastructure as Code truly open source.

OpenTofu is positioned as a drop-in replacement that preserves existing Terraform workflows and configurations, and its current ecosystem spans 3,900+ providers and 23,600+ modules. It has also introduced unique features not available in Terraform, including state file encryption, early variable and local evaluation, and provider-defined functions.

The project has strong industry backing from companies including Gruntwork, Spacelift, env0, Scalr, and major cloud providers. It's completely free under the MPL 2.0 license.

Pricing & Platform Specs

Pricing Summary

Free and 100% open source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0) as a Linux Foundation project (24k+ GitHub stars) with $0 software licensing fees. OpenTofu operates with zero commercial usage restrictions, seat charges, or resource-under-management (RUM) fees for self-managed CLI and CI/CD automation. Enterprise support, commercial SLAs, and managed cloud orchestration platforms are provided through an ecosystem of independent vendors (including Spacelift, env0, Scalr, and Harness).

full pricing breakdown →

Supported Platforms

CLI on macOS, Windows, Linux. Works with all major cloud providers.

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Alternatives

All OpenTofu alternatives →
Crossplane logo

Crossplane

Kubernetes-native cloud infrastructure control plane

Crossplane is a CNCF Graduated open-source project that extends Kubernetes to manage cloud infrastructure through declarative APIs. Platform teams compose custom infrastructure abstractions as Compositions and publish them as self-service APIs. It provisions resources across AWS, Azure, GCP, and 200+ providers directly from kubectl. Used by 450+ organizations with 11,000+ GitHub stars.

Open Source
Twill AI logo

Twill AI

Autonomous coding agents that ship while you sleep

Twill is an autonomous coding agent platform that implements features, fixes bugs, and ships pull requests without manual intervention. Uses structured workflow of research, planning, human review, implementation in isolated sandbox, AI code review, then merge. Supports custom agent configurations with multiple LLM providers, isolated dev environments for verification, and integrations with GitHub, Linear, Sentry, Notion, and cloud platforms for end-to-end engineering automation.

paid

Side-by-Side Comparisons

Terraform logo
Terraform
vs
OpenTofu logo
OpenTofu

Terraform vs OpenTofu — Established IaC Standard vs Community-Governed Open-Source Fork

Terraform and OpenTofu share the same codebase origin but diverge on licensing and governance. Terraform operates under HashiCorp's Business Source License with the largest IaC ecosystem of 4,800+ providers. OpenTofu is the Linux Foundation-governed fork under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 with 100 percent backward compatibility to Terraform 1.5.x, offering an open-source guarantee that Terraform no longer provides.

TerraformOpenTofu

Community experience

Sources & verification

Sources checked
Content verified

Verification dates are editorial checks. Routine CMS saves and automatic updatedAt timestamps do not advance them.

FAQ

What is OpenTofu?

OpenTofu is an open-source fork of Terraform created by the Linux Foundation after HashiCorp switched Terraform to the BSL license. Designed to preserve existing Terraform workflows and configurations, it offers state encryption, early variable evaluation, and a community-driven development model. Backed by major cloud providers and companies.

Is OpenTofu free?

Yes — OpenTofu is open source and free to use. Free and 100% open source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0) as a Linux Foundation project (24k+ GitHub stars) with $0 software licensing fees. OpenTofu operates with zero commercial usage restrictions, seat charges, or resource-under-management (RUM) fees for self-managed CLI and CI/CD automation. Enterprise support, commercial SLAs, and managed cloud orchestration platforms are provided through an ecosystem of independent vendors (including Spacelift, env0, Scalr, and Harness).

Is OpenTofu open source?

Yes — OpenTofu is open source.

Is OpenTofu still maintained?

Yes — OpenTofu is active. Its listing was last verified on September 6, 2026.

What are the best OpenTofu alternatives?

The first editor-selected OpenTofu alternatives are Crossplane, Twill AI.

How does OpenTofu score in our review?

The published editorial review lists OpenTofu at 83/100 overall across speed, privacy, and developer experience. Check the review's evidence status and test metadata for its verification level.