Ansible vs Terraform

 

🔧 Ansible vs Terraform

Feature	Ansible	Terraform
Primary Purpose	Configuration management & automation	Infrastructure provisioning (IaC)
Language Used	YAML (Playbooks)	HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language)
Execution Model	Agentless (uses SSH)	Declarative, state-based
State Management	No persistent state	Maintains state files to track infrastructure
Use Case	Installing software, configuring systems	Creating cloud resources (VMs, networks, etc.)
Cloud Support	Supports cloud tasks but not cloud-native	Designed for multi-cloud provisioning
Learning Curve	Easier for beginners	Requires understanding of state and dependencies
Idempotency	Yes	Yes
Community & Ecosystem	Large, with many modules	Large, with many providers and modules

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🧠 Summary

• Use Ansible when you want to configure servers, install packages, manage users, or automate operational tasks.
• Use Terraform when you want to provision infrastructure like virtual machines, networks, databases, and cloud services.