Hashicorp Sentinel vs Terraform: What are the differences?

Introduction:

1. Integration with Terraform: HashiCorp Sentinel allows you to add policy as code enforcement to your Terraform plans and deployments, ensuring compliance and security at every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle. This integration helps in making sure that only compliant infrastructure configurations are applied.

2. Policy as Code vs. Infrastructure as Code: While Terraform focuses on defining and managing infrastructure as code, Sentinel focuses on defining and enforcing policy as code. This means that Terraform creates and manages infrastructure, while Sentinel ensures that the defined policies are adhered to during the provisioning process.

3. Granular Control: Sentinel provides more granular control over policies by enabling conditional checks, parameterized policies, and the ability to define policies based on specific criteria. This level of control allows organizations to tailor policies to their specific requirements and enforce them effectively.

4. Real-Time Observability: Sentinel offers real-time observability by providing detailed insights into policy evaluation, allowing users to track and monitor policy compliance during Terraform execution. This feature helps in identifying and addressing policy violations promptly, enhancing the security and compliance of the infrastructure.

5. Customization and Extensibility: Sentinel allows users to create custom functions, imports, and data sources to extend the capabilities of policy enforcement. This customization enables organizations to implement unique policies and integrations to meet their specific infrastructure requirements effectively.

6. Compliance Automation: HashiCorp Sentinel streamlines compliance automation by integrating with various compliance standards and frameworks, allowing organizations to automate policy enforcement and compliance checking seamlessly within their Terraform workflows.

In Summary, HashiCorp Sentinel and Terraform differ in their focus on policy as code enforcement, granular control, real-time observability, customization, and compliance automation within the infrastructure lifecycle.