Key similarities of Scalr and Terraform Cloud that make Scalr the alternative

When you weigh alternatives to Terraform Cloud (TFC), the differentiators get most of the attention. Just as important is whether the alternative actually covers the functionality you use every day. Scalr is the only remote operations backend other than TFC, so the workflows you run in TFC keep working after you move. This post walks through where the two products line up.

Structure

Scalr improves on the overall structure, but the organizational model still maps closely to what you know from TFC:

• A Scalr workspace is the equivalent to the TFC workspace.
• A Scalr environment is the parent of a workspace, which is a similar concept to a TFC organization.
• Scalr has the addition of the account scope, where many of the differentiators come into play.

Operations

Scalr supports the same workspace options as TFC:

• VCS: Integrate your Scalr workspace with a VCS provider of your choice to enable PR automation.
• Terraform CLI: Use the native Terraform CLI to execute runs in your workspace.
• No Code Provisioning: Deploy workspaces directly through the Scalr module registry to make it easier for your novice users to adopt Terraform. Scalr allows you to upgrade module versions in a workspace without redeploying.

In addition, Scalr also has a private module registry, the main difference being that you can maintain the registry at the account or environment scope.

Security

• Self-Hosted Agents: Scalr also has the concept of a self-hosted agent which allows you to execute runs on your own infrastructure, but we don't limit the number of agents you can use.
• Policy as Code: Scalr has always integrated with Open Policy Agent as the tool of choice for policy as code. TFC has recently adopted this, but Scalr takes it to the next level with the policy impact analysis features.
• Provider Credentials: Both products support OIDC authentication for all major cloud providers. Scalr gives some more flexibility in where the credentials can be managed and assigned.

These are a few of the ways that Scalr and TFC are similar. Be sure to check how the two products are different, if you haven't done so already.

Interested in seeing how easy it is to migrate? Try it out today on the free tier.

Resources to help with a migration:

• Learn how other companies migrated
• Use our Terraform module to automatically migrate from TFC to Scalr
• Use the following script to figure out how many runs you executed in TFC
• Understand how Scalr is a better option than TFC