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Terraform VS OrbStack

Compare Terraform VS OrbStack and see what are their differences

Terraform logo Terraform

Tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.

OrbStack logo OrbStack

Fast, light, simple Docker & Linux on macOS
  • Terraform Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-24
  • OrbStack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22

Terraform features and specs

  • Infrastructure as Code
    Terraform allows you to define your infrastructure in configuration files that can be versioned and stored in a version control system. This makes it easy to track changes, roll back if necessary, and collaborate with team members.
  • Multi-Cloud Support
    Terraform supports various cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and others. This allows you to manage your entire infrastructure using a single tool, regardless of the underlying provider.
  • Immutability
    Terraform promotes immutable infrastructure, meaning once a component is created, it is not modified in place but replaced if changes are needed. This leads to more predictable and stable deployments.
  • State Management
    Terraform maintains the state of your infrastructure, which helps in tracking resource changes over time and making incremental updates. This is crucial for applying changes in a controlled manner.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Terraform has a large and active community, along with a rich ecosystem of providers and modules. This makes it easier to find support, share solutions, and leverage pre-built components.

Possible disadvantages of Terraform

  • Complex State Management
    While state management is a significant feature, managing state files can become complex and risky. Issues like state file corruption or sharing between team members can lead to challenges.
  • Learning Curve
    Terraform has a steep learning curve for beginners, especially those who are not familiar with infrastructure as code concepts or the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL).
  • Partial Updates
    Terraform's plan and apply operations are not atomic, meaning that partial updates can sometimes leave your infrastructure in an inconsistent state if an error occurs during execution.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies between resources can be challenging in Terraform. Misconfigured dependencies can lead to issues during resource creation, deletion, or updates.
  • Cost Management
    While Terraform is excellent for provisioning resources, it does not have built-in cost management or optimization features. Users need to rely on third-party tools to manage and optimize costs.

OrbStack features and specs

  • Performance
    OrbStack is optimized for high performance, providing faster boot times and efficient resource usage compared to other virtualization platforms.
  • User Interface
    The platform offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface that simplifies management and set up of virtual machines and containers.
  • Integration
    OrbStack integrates well with various development tools and environments, enhancing workflow efficiency for developers.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    It supports multiple platforms, making it versatile and accessible for users across different operating systems.
  • Security
    The platform is designed with robust security features to protect virtualized environments and ensure data integrity.

Possible disadvantages of OrbStack

  • Limited Documentation
    Some users might find the available documentation scarce, making it harder to find solutions to specific issues or advanced configurations.
  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve for users who are new to virtualization technologies.
  • Pricing
    Depending on the licensing model, OrbStack can be costly for individual developers or small teams with limited budgets.
  • Resource Intensity
    Though efficient, the platform may require significant system resources, which could be a drawback for users with less powerful hardware.
  • Compatibility Issues
    While OrbStack supports various platforms, there might be occasional compatibility issues with specific hardware or software configurations.

Terraform videos

Wampler Terraform | Reverb Tone Report Demo

More videos:

  • Review - MOD PEDAL POWERHOUSE! Wampler TERRAFORM
  • Demo - IT'S FINALLY HERE! | Wampler Terraform Demo | It's as good as you hoped!!!

OrbStack videos

OrbStack: A Lightweight Alternative for Docker

More videos:

  • Review - Practices for Docker on Mac Mini M2 Pro with OrbStack #mac #orbstack #docker #container

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Terraform and OrbStack)
DevOps Tools
95 95%
5% 5
Developer Tools
82 82%
18% 18
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Continuous Integration And Delivery

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Terraform and OrbStack

Terraform Reviews

Do not use AWS CloudFormation
Terraform, on the other hand, will occupy your shell until the directly-involved AWS service coughs up an error. No additional tooling is required. Terraform will just relay the error message from the affected service indicating what you’ve done wrong.
Top 5 Ansible Alternatives in 2022: Server Automation Solutions by Alexander Fashakin on the 19th Aug 2021 facebook Linked In Twitter
Although Terraform and Ansible are both server automation tools, there are still a few significant differences between the two. For example, Terraform is declarative while Ansible allows for both procedural configurations and declarative configurations. Also, Ansible works best as a configuration management tool while Terraform leans towards cloud orchestration.
35+ Of The Best CI/CD Tools: Organized By Category
Terraform is compatible with a wide range of Cloud providers, including Azure, VMWare, and AWS. If you’re subscribed to multiple cloud providers, Terraform is a great way to ensure that they have consistent configurations.
Why we use Terraform and not Chef, Puppet, Ansible, SaltStack, or CloudFormation
Example: Terraform and Ansible. You use Terraform to deploy all the underlying infrastructure, including the network topology (i.e., VPCs, subnets, route tables), data stores (e.g., MySQL, Redis), load balancers, and servers. You then use Ansible to deploy your apps on top of those servers.This is an easy approach to start with, as there is no extra infrastructure to run...
Ansible overtakes Chef and Puppet as the top cloud configuration management tool
Breaking these results down year-over-year, use of Ansible grew from 36% in 2018 to 41% in 2019--surpassing Chef, which grew from 36% to 37%, as well as Puppet, which grew from 34% to 37%. Rounding out the list is Terraform, which experienced a jump from 20% to 31%, and Salt, which increased in usage from 13% to 18%.

OrbStack Reviews

We have no reviews of OrbStack yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Terraform might be a bit more popular than OrbStack. We know about 32 links to it since March 2021 and only 23 links to OrbStack. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Terraform mentions (32)

  • Scaffolding Serverless Web Application on AWS
    Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you build, change, and version infrastructure safely and efficiently. Terraform code is in the terraform directory. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Integrating Terraform with CI/CD Pipelines
    In recent years, there has been a significant shift towards automation of infrastructure deployment processes. One popular tool that has emerged as a key player in this space is Terraform, an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) software tool developed by HashiCorp. This article will explore how Terraform can be integrated into continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines using GitHub Actions as an... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Deploying Your Outdoor Activities Map with Terraform
    Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code software tool created by HashiCorp. It allows you to define and manage your infrastructure as code, making it easy to provision and manage resources across multiple cloud providers. With Terraform, you can ensure consistent and repeatable deployments, making it an ideal choice for automating your cloud infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Trigger CI using Terraform Cloud
    Continuous Integration(CI) pipelines needs a target infrastructure to which the CI artifacts are deployed. The deployments are handled by CI or we can leverage Continuous Deployment pipelines. Modern day architecture uses automation tools like terraform, ansible to provision the target infrastructure, this type of provisioning is called IaaC. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Using Let's Encrypt with the Puppet Enterprise console
    Had an itch I've been meaning to scratch for a while. I build my Puppet environment using Terraform, which makes it nice and easy to tear things down and rebuild them. That is great, but it does leave me with an issue when it comes to the console SSL certificates. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
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OrbStack mentions (23)

  • Docker limits unauthenticated pulls to 10/HR/IP from Docker Hub, from March 1
    If you're on Mac worth checking out the commercial https://orbstack.dev/ Reasonable price for better dev efficiency. Free for personal use. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Build a data-intensive Next.js app with Tinybird and Cursor
    This is a Docker image, so you just need a Docker runtime on your machine (if you're using MacOS, I recommend OrbStack). - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Troubleshooting Docker Desktop: Tips and Alternatives for Developers
    OrbStack: Although it’s a paid tool, OrbStack promises faster, lighter, and simpler container and Linux management compared to Docker Desktop. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Docker Desktop Broken on Mac OS Update for over a Week
    How can update like this even happen and I'm still waiting for the post mortem on this. [0] Quite frankly a very basic intern mistake but done by "seniors". In the mean time, I'm using Orbstack. [1] Much faster, lightweight and native. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42695066. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Hosting HuggingFace Models with KoboldCpp and RunPod
    Simply run docker compose down or use GUIs such as Rancher Desktop, Docker Desktop, or OrbStack to shut down the containers. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Terraform and OrbStack, you can also consider the following products

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service

Portainer - Simple management UI for Docker

Puppet Enterprise - Get started with Puppet Enterprise, or upgrade or expand.

Podman - Simple debugging tool for pods and images

Packer - Packer is an open-source software for creating identical machine images from a single source configuration.

Docker Desktop - Docker Desktop is a one-click-install application that lets you to build, share, and run containerized applications and microservices.