Is Buildah or Pulumi better?

Neither clearly leads. Buildah starts at Free and Pulumi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Buildah or Pulumi?

Buildah starts at Free and Pulumi at Free.

Does Buildah or Pulumi run on more platforms?

Buildah runs on Linux. Pulumi runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.

Can I use Buildah for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Buildah best used for?

Buildah is most often used for building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon, producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives, scripted image assembly where a dockerfile is the wrong abstraction. Of those, building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon and producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives are not what Pulumi is typically brought in for.

What can Buildah do that Pulumi cannot?

Buildah covers Daemonless builds, Rootless, Dockerfile compatible, Scriptable builds. Pulumi covers Multi-language support, Multi-cloud, State management, Secrets management.

Cloud · head to head

Buildah vs Pulumi

Buildah

Cloud

Build OCI container images without a daemon or a Dockerfile

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Pulumi

Cloud

Modern infrastructure as code using programming languages

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Buildah linux only, with no native macOS or Windows support; Pulumi the free Individual plan allows one user and one concurrent stack update
They diverge on capability: Buildah covers Daemonless builds, Pulumi covers Multi-language support.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Buildah and Pulumi actually diverge.

Attributes where Buildah and Pulumi differ
Attribute	Buildah	Pulumi
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	subscription
Platforms	Linux	Linux, Windows, Mac, Api
Founded	Unknown	2017

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Buildah

Daemonless builds
Rootless
Dockerfile compatible
Scriptable builds

Only in Pulumi

Multi-language support
Multi-cloud
State management
Secrets management
RBAC
Stacks
Automation API
Policy as Code

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Buildah

Building images in CI without a privileged Docker daemonnot Pulumi
Producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a Dockerfile givesnot Pulumi
Scripted image assembly where a Dockerfile is the wrong abstractionnot Pulumi

Pulumi

Infrastructure as codenot Buildah
Cloud resource provisioningnot Buildah
DevOps automationnot Buildah
Multi-cloud managementnot Buildah

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Buildah

Linux only, with no native macOS or Windows support
Scriptable builds are powerful but less portable and less familiar than a Dockerfile
Narrow by design: it builds images and does not run them, so it needs Podman or another runtime alongside

Pulumi

The free Individual plan allows one user and one concurrent stack update
The Team plan is $40 per month base including 40 credits, and caps the organisation at 10 users
SAML/SSO, RBAC, audit logs and drift detection require the Enterprise plan at $400 per month base
The per-resource rate rises from $0.1825 per resource per month on Team to $0.365 on Enterprise, so upgrading raises the unit price as well as the base fee
Managed secrets are billed separately at $0.50 per secret per month on Team and $0.75 on Enterprise
Self-hosting, SCIM user sync, audit log export and 24x7 support are only in Business Critical, which is custom priced with no published rate
Team includes up to 500 resources and Enterprise up to 2,000, with everything beyond billed on demand as credits

Pricing, plan by plan

Buildah

Free

BuildahFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Pulumi

Free

IndividualFree
- 1 user
- Unlimited projects/stacks
- 500 workflow minutes monthly
Team$40/month
- Up to 10 users
- Secure collaboration
- CI/CD integration
Enterprise$400/month
- Unlimited users
- SAML/SSO
- RBAC
Business Critical$null/custom
- Self-hosting
- Advanced compliance
- SCIM integration

Which should you pick?

Choose Buildah if

You need daemonless builds.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux.
You also want rootless.

Buildah review

Choose Pulumi if

You need multi-language support.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
You also want multi-cloud.

Pulumi review

Questions people ask

Is Buildah or Pulumi better?: Neither clearly leads. Buildah starts at Free and Pulumi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Buildah or Pulumi?: Buildah starts at Free and Pulumi at Free.
Does Buildah or Pulumi run on more platforms?: Buildah runs on Linux. Pulumi runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
Can I use Buildah for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Buildah best used for?: Buildah is most often used for building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon, producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives, scripted image assembly where a dockerfile is the wrong abstraction. Of those, building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon and producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives are not what Pulumi is typically brought in for.
What can Buildah do that Pulumi cannot?: Buildah covers Daemonless builds, Rootless, Dockerfile compatible, Scriptable builds. Pulumi covers Multi-language support, Multi-cloud, State management, Secrets management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Buildah: Is Buildah free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

Pulumi: How much does Pulumi cost?

Pulumi offers a free Individual tier forever, Team plan at $40/month with 40 credits, and Enterprise at $400/month with 400 credits. Credit usage varies by resource type and workflow needs.

Source

Buildah: Do I still need a Dockerfile?

No. Buildah reads Dockerfiles if you have them, but images can be built entirely from shell commands instead.

Pulumi: What is included in the Pulumi free tier?

The free Individual tier includes 1 user, unlimited projects/stacks, 500 workflow minutes monthly, and 5 million Neo tokens free.

Source

Buildah: How is Buildah different from Podman?

Buildah builds images; Podman runs them. Podman actually embeds Buildah for its build command, and the two are designed to be used together.

Pulumi: How are Pulumi credits charged?

1 Pulumi Credit equals $1 USD. Credits are drawn from a shared pool. IaC resources cost $0.1825/month per resource on Team and $0.365 on Enterprise; ESC secrets cost $0.50-$0.75/month; workflow minutes cost $0.01 each.

Source

Pulumi: Does Pulumi offer volume discounts?

Yes, the Enterprise tier ($400/month) includes volume discounts and is designed for approximately 2,000 IaC resources.

Source

Buildah vs Pulumi

Buildah

Pulumi

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Buildah

Only in Pulumi

What people use each for

Buildah

Pulumi

Where each one falls short

Buildah

Pulumi

Pricing, plan by plan

Buildah

Pulumi

Which should you pick?

Choose Buildah if

Choose Pulumi if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Buildah

More on Pulumi

Keep looking

Other head to heads