head to head · open source
Pulumi vs vscode-infracost
Pulumi has 25,840 GitHub stars, 1,478 forks, 2,419 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vscode-infracost has 1,835 stars, 55 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pulumi leads on adoption by 1,308% (25,840 vs 1,835 stars). Pulumi is written in Go under Apache-2.0; vscode-infracost is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Pulumi has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, vscode-infracost 3%. Pulumi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (aws, azure, gcp), 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 | vscode-infracost | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 55 |
| 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 vscode-infracost if
- You want the vscode-infracost feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vscode-infracost 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 vscode-infracost
Infracost VS Code Extension Infracost's VS Code extension shows you cost estimates for Terraform right in your editor! It also surfaces FinOps policies and tagging issues so you can catch problems before they reach production. Table of contents Features Inline cost estimates Resource details sidebar FinOps policies and tag issues CloudFormation support Get started Requirements Configuration Commands Troubleshooting Contributing Features Cost estimates Inline cost estimates See cost estimates as code lenses directly above Terraform resource definitions. Costs update as you edit. Resource details sidebar Click a…
read the full vscode-infracost overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pulumi or vscode-infracost more popular?
Pulumi has 25,840 GitHub stars and vscode-infracost has 1,835. Pulumi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pulumi and vscode-infracost free?
Both are open source. Pulumi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and vscode-infracost under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pulumi and vscode-infracost?
Pulumi is written in Go and vscode-infracost in TypeScript. 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 vscode-infracost?
Choose Pulumi if you want the larger community (25,840 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose vscode-infracost if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.