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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Pulumi

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Pulumi logo

Pulumi

Cloud

Modern infrastructure as code using programming languages

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.; Pulumi the free Individual plan allows one user and one concurrent stack update
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Pulumi covers Multi-language support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Pulumi actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Pulumi differ
AttributeFormancePulumi
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APILinux, Windows, Mac, Api
CategoryAPIsCloud
FoundedUnknown2017

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

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 Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

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.

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot Pulumi
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Pulumi
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Pulumi
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Pulumi

Pulumi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

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

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

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 Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance 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 Formance or Pulumi better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance 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, Formance or Pulumi?
Formance starts at Free and Pulumi at Free.
Does Formance or Pulumi run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Pulumi runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
Can I use Formance for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Formance best used for?
Formance is most often used for a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable, a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit, a payments team that wants one normalised model across several psps so reconciliation is not written separately for each, a company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappears. Of those, a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable and a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit are not what Pulumi is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Pulumi cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Pulumi covers Multi-language support, Multi-cloud, State management, Secrets management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

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
Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

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
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

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
Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

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
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