Best Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools in 2026
Updated
Infrastructure policy as code tools help teams define and apply rules across infrastructure workflows. Compared on IaC formats and policy language, the entries also cover CI/CD integration, admission control, and runtime enforcement—useful distinctions when deciding where policies should be checked. Policy testing and reporting show additional dimensions to assess, while free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add cost context. Open Policy Agent, Terraform, and Google Config Sync are among the tools shown. Consider how your team authors and validates rules, where enforcement needs to happen, and which reporting capabilities fit the way you manage infrastructure.
Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools, one module each.A lit port is something its maker publishes; 9 of 9 with a known API signal have a public API.
- 01 Open Policy Agent API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4Free
- 02 Terraform API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4$0.10/mo
- 03 Google Config Sync API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 04 AWS CloudFormation API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 05 Google Cloud Organization Policy API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 06 Kyverno API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 07 Chef Infra API yesDOCS 6.9$4.92/mo
- 08 HashiCorp Nomad API yesDOCS 6.9
- 09 Firefly API yesFREE noDOCS 6.7$2,499/mo
- 10 Google Cloud Terraform Policy Validation FREE yesDOCS 6.0Free
- 11 Cloud Custodian FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 12 Conftest FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 13 Fairwinds Polaris FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 14 KICS FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 15 KubeLinter FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 16 terraform-compliance FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 17 Tirith FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 18 cfn-lint FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 19 Checkov FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 20 Open Policy Agent Gatekeeper FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 21 PolicyForge FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 22 Kubewarden DOCS 5.6
- 23 Terraform Test Framework DOCS 5.5
- 24 Nirmata Enterprise for Kyverno FREE noDOCS 5.3$1233.33/mo
- 25 Azure Policy DOCS 5.2
Compare all 25 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Free plan | Paid from | Policy language | IaC formats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open Policy Agent | 7.4 | Free plan | Free | Rego | Terraform plan JSON, JSON, YAML | ||
| 2 | Terraform | 7.4 | Free plan | $0.10/mo | Yes | |||
| 3 | Google Config Sync | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Rego | Kubernetes YAML manifests and Custom Resources | |
| 4 | AWS CloudFormation | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 5 | Google Cloud Organization Policy | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | YAML and JSON | ||
| 6 | Kyverno | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | ||||
| 7 | Chef Infra | 6.9 | $4.92/mo | Ruby DSL | Servers, containers, cloud APIs | |||
| 8 | HashiCorp Nomad | 6.9 | Sentinel | Terraform configurations, states, and plans | ||||
| 9 | Firefly | 6.7 | No | $2,499/mo | No | 2,499 /mo | ||
| 10 | Google Cloud Terraform Policy Validation | 6.0 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Rego | Terraform plan JSON | |
| 11 | Cloud Custodian | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | YAML | Terraform | |
| 12 | Conftest | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 13 | Fairwinds Polaris | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 14 | KICS | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | OPA Rego | Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, Helm, Google Deployment Manager, AWS SAM, Microsoft ARM, Azure Blueprints, OpenAPI, Pulumi, Crossplane, Knative, Serverless Framework | |
| 15 | KubeLinter | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | YAML configuration; CEL expressions | Kubernetes YAML, Helm, Kustomize | |
| 16 | terraform-compliance | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | BDD-style feature files | Terraform plan and state output | |
| 17 | Tirith | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | JSON | Terraform plans, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Infracost, JSON | |
| 18 | cfn-lint | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | AWS CloudFormation Guard DSL | CloudFormation templates and change sets; Terraform JSON; Kubernetes configurations | ||
| 19 | Checkov | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 20 | Open Policy Agent Gatekeeper | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 21 | PolicyForge | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | OPA/Rego | Terraform, Bicep, Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts | ||
| 22 | Kubewarden | 5.6 | Yes | WebAssembly-compatible languages including Rust, Go, CEL, and Rego | Kubernetes resources and admission requests in YAML/JSON | |||
| 23 | Terraform Test Framework | 5.5 | Python | Terraform | ||||
| 24 | Nirmata Enterprise for Kyverno | 5.3 | No | $1233.33/mo | No | Kubernetes-native YAML and CEL | Kubernetes manifests, Terraform plans, OpenTofu plans, Dockerfiles, AWS CDK, CloudFormation templates, Ansible playbooks | |
| 25 | Azure Policy | 5.2 | Yes | JSON | ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored, and a sponsored row is labelled as paid.