head to head · open source
OpenTofu vs boto3
OpenTofu has 30,703 GitHub stars, 1,414 forks, 320 open issues and last shipped yesterday. boto3 has 9,923 stars, 2,007 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. OpenTofu leads on adoption by 209% (30,703 vs 9,923 stars). OpenTofu is written in Go under MPL-2.0; boto3 is written in Python under Apache-2.0. OpenTofu has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, boto3 20%. OpenTofu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| OpenTofu | boto3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenTofu if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick boto3 if
- You want the boto3 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and boto3 fits your workflow better
About OpenTofu
Homepage Slack Get Started OpenTofu is an OSS tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. OpenTofu can manage existing and popular service providers as well as custom in house solutions. Getting help and contributing Have a question? Post it in GitHub Discussions Open a GitHub issue Join us in the opentofu channel on the CNCF Slack! Want to contribute? Please read the Contribution Guide. Recurring Events Community Meetings on Wednesdays at 12:30 UTC (calendar) Technical Steering Committee Meetings every other Tuesday at 4pm UTC (calendar) [!TIP] For more OpenTofu events…
read the full OpenTofu overview →
About boto3
=============================== Boto3 The AWS SDK for Python =============================== Boto3 is the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Software Development Kit (SDK) for Python, which allows Python developers to write software that makes use of services like Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2. You can find the latest, most up to date, documentation at our doc site , including a list of services that are supported. Boto3 is maintained and published by Amazon Web Services . Boto (pronounced boh toh) was named after the fresh water dolphin native to the Amazon river. The name was chosen by the author of the original Boto…
read the full boto3 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenTofu or boto3 more popular?
OpenTofu has 30,703 GitHub stars and boto3 has 9,923. OpenTofu has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenTofu and boto3 free?
Both are open source. OpenTofu is licensed under MPL-2.0 and boto3 under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenTofu and boto3?
OpenTofu is written in Go and boto3 in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenTofu or boto3?
Choose OpenTofu if you want the larger community (30,703 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose boto3 if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.