Hey everyone! I'm coming from a background with Terraform and Terragrunt, where I really appreciated the principles of DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) in my infrastructure setups. Now, my new job requires me to use CloudFormation to build everything from the ground up due to some compliance and auditing needs. I've done some research, and it seems like a lot of people aren't too fond of CloudFormation these days. I've dabbled with it in the past, but mostly in playful scenarios and not in production. I've also heard about the Cloud Development Kit (CDK) and I'm considering that over traditional CloudFormation. Any suggestions or insights on how to tackle this transition?
5 Answers
Many believe CloudFormation is mainly about vendor lock-in rather than being a user-friendly tool. The horror stories often come from people trying to use it beyond its intended scope. It might be helpful to push back against the exclusive use of CloudFormation and suggest looking into other IaC tools that promote better practices.
I’ve used CloudFormation, Terraform, and Terragrunt. CloudFormation can be limiting, especially without looping. You end up doing a lot of tedious copy-pasting. It's true that with Terraform, you can maintain state and manage resources much more efficiently. While CF has some benefits, a lot depends on how critical support is to your organization—AWS supports it, which can be a factor.
I honestly think it’s strange that you'd be pushed to use CloudFormation in 2026. Many people consider it obsolete, and there are better tools out there. If you feel it's going to hinder your career, definitely let your management know you have concerns!
That’s what I’m worried about! I’m really enjoying using Terragrunt, and I don't want to feel stuck. I've shared my concerns, but they seem set on using CF.
Before diving headfirst into CloudFormation, I’d recommend looking into the compliance and auditing aspects a bit more. Sometimes companies stick with native services for specific reasons, and it might be worth understanding what they have in place already before jumping to conclusions.
Absolutely go for CDK! Writing CloudFormation by hand can be a painful experience. With CDK, you can use a proper programming language, which makes everything more manageable and enjoyable. Plus, it gives you type safety if you choose TypeScript, which is a big bonus!
100% agree! Manual CloudFormation is just a no-go. Stick with CDK and you'll save yourself a lot of pain.
Good point! And remember, AWS support does also cover Terraform.