head to head · open source
Pulumi vs boto3
Pulumi has 25,840 GitHub stars, 1,478 forks, 2,419 open issues and last shipped yesterday. boto3 has 9,923 stars, 2,007 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Pulumi leads on adoption by 160% (25,840 vs 9,923 stars). Pulumi is written in Go under Apache-2.0; boto3 is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Pulumi has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, boto3 20%. Pulumi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (aws, cloud), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Pulumi | boto3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pulumi if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-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 Pulumi
Infrastructure as Code for Humans and Agents Pulumi Infrastructure as Code is the easiest way to build and deploy infrastructure, of any architecture and on any cloud, using programming languages that you already know and love. Code and ship infrastructure faster with your favorite languages and tools, and embed IaC anywhere with Automation API. Simply write code in your favorite language and Pulumi automatically provisions and manages your resources on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, and 300+ providers using an infrastructure as code approach. Skip the YAML, and use standard language features…
read the full Pulumi 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 Pulumi or boto3 more popular?
Pulumi has 25,840 GitHub stars and boto3 has 9,923. Pulumi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pulumi and boto3 free?
Both are open source. Pulumi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and boto3 under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pulumi and boto3?
Pulumi 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, Pulumi or boto3?
Choose Pulumi if you want the larger community (25,840 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose boto3 if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.