OpenTofu
The open-source Terraform fork — MPL 2.0 infrastructure as code under the Linux Foundation.
About
OpenTofu is the community fork of Terraform, created in August 2023 after HashiCorp relicensed Terraform under the Business Source License. Governed by the Linux Foundation and a CNCF sandbox project since April 2025, it stays truly open source under MPL 2.0 with a roadmap set by committee rather than a single vendor.
For most teams the tofu binary is a drop-in replacement for terraform: same HCL syntax, same provider ecosystem (the OpenTofu Registry mirrors the Terraform Registry with thousands of providers), and the same state format. It has also pulled ahead of Terraform's open binary in places, shipping native state encryption, early variable evaluation, provider for_each, and OCI registry support first. Stable releases are at v1.12.x as of mid-2026, with 10M+ downloads and migrations like Fidelity's 50,000+ state files. Newer Terraform-only features (ephemeral resources, HCP Terraform backends) are the main compatibility gaps to check before switching.
What it can do
- Drop-in Terraform-compatible IaC with identical HCL and state format
- Native state encryption and provider for_each ahead of Terraform
- OpenTofu Registry with thousands of providers, OCI registry support
- MPL 2.0 license with Linux Foundation/CNCF governance
Setup
Install the tofu binary from get.opentofu.org or your OS package manager, then use it exactly like the terraform CLI against your existing .tf files.
Prerequisites
Existing Terraform HCL configurations (or new ones); a state backend (local, S3, or similar).
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 9/10
Scored 9/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Verified via vendor site/docs/GitHub and reputable coverage, wave 65; Trending score 87/100 from researcher assessment.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.