Kyverno
7.7#1 in cloud governance softwareFree planFree planWebAPILinuxmacOS
VisitKyverno vs Terraform
What both publish
| Fact | Kyverno | Terraform |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 | 2012 |
| Integrations | CNCF lists common integrations with Argo CD, Backstage, Flux and Kubernetes for GitOps and platform governance. | HashiCorp lists integrations for AI and MCP servers, audit, CI/CD, VCS, security scanning, policy, cost management, SSO, observability, and multi-cloud platforms. |
| Licence | The project is open source under the Apache License 2.0. | HashiCorp changed future Terraform releases to the Business Source License 1.1, which restricts hosting or embedding the software to compete with Terraform. |
| Notable release | Kyverno 1.18, announced May 5, 2026, added HTTP policy-execution safeguards, CVE mitigations, CLI support for more policy types and performance improvements. | The HCP Terraform changelog records Terraform Actions, a Day 2 operations framework, as released on March 9, 2026. |
| Purpose | Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine for defining and enforcing policy as code. | Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-premises resources through human-readable configuration files. |
Kyverno plans
- KyvernoFree
- Open-source coreFree
Terraform plans
- FreeFree
- StandardPriced on request
- PremiumPriced on request
- Terraform Community EditionFree
- HCP Terraform FreeFree
- HCP Terraform Essentials$0.10 a month
Pick Kyverno if…
Kyverno is intended for platform engineering teams managing security, compliance, automation, and governance through policy as code. It suits teams working with Kubernetes clusters and policy checks in CI pipelines.
Pick Terraform if…
Terraform Community Edition suits practitioners who want a downloadable command-line tool for infrastructure provisioning. HCP Terraform's free features are described as suitable for small teams, while larger organizations may need paid collaboration and governance features.