| Management and Scheduling: In Ansible, instantaneous deployments are possible because the server pushes configurations to the nodes. When it comes to scheduling, Ansible Tower, the enterprise version, has the capabilities while it is absent in the free version. | Management and Scheduling: In Terraform, resource schedulers work similarly as providers enabling it to request resources from them. Thus, it is just not limited to physical providers such as AWS, allowing its use in layers. Terraform can be used to provision onto the scheduled grid, as well as setting up the physical infrastructure running the schedulers. |
| Ease of Setup and Use: Ansible is simpler to install and use. It has a master without agents, running on the client machines. The fact that it is agentless contributes significantly to its simplicity. Ansible uses YAML syntax, written in the Python language, that comes built-in most Linux and Unix deployments. | Ease of Setup and Use: Terraform is also simpler to understand when it comes to its setup as well as usage. It even allows users to use a proxy server if required to run the installer. |
| Availability: Ansible has a secondary node in case an active node falls. | Availability: Not Applicable in Terraform’s case. |
| Scalability: Scalability is easier to achieve. | Scalability: Scalability is comparatively easily achieved. |
| Modules: Ansible’s repository or library is called Ansible Galaxy. It does not have separate sorting capabilities and requires manual intervention. | Modules: In Terraform’s case, modules allow users to abstract away any reusable parts. These parts can be configured once and can be used everywhere. It thus enables users to group resources, as well as defining input and output variables. |
| GUI: Less developed is Ansible’s GUI, first introduced as a command-line only tool. Even though the enterprise version offers a UI, it still falls short of expectations suffering from syncing issues with the command-line. | GUI: Only third party GUIs are available for Terraform. For example, Codeherent’s Terraform GUI. |
| Support: Ansible also includes two levels of professional support for its enterprise version. Additionally, AnsibleFest, which is a big gathering of users and contributors, is held annually. The community behind it is smaller when compared to Puppet. | Support: Terraform provides direct access to HashiCorp’s support channel through a web portal. |
