Pulumi vs Terraform: When to Choose General-Purpose Languages Over HCL

The infrastructure-as-code landscape has a genuine architectural split: Terraform uses HCL, a domain-specific language designed specifically for infrastructure declaration, while Pulumi lets you define infrastructure in TypeScript, Python, Go, or C#. This is not just a syntax preference - it fundamentally changes how you structure, test, and maintain your infrastructure code.

Terraform's HCL is deliberately constrained. It excels at declaring resources and their relationships in a readable, auditable format. The massive provider ecosystem, extensive documentation, and large community make it the safe default choice.…