Terraform vs Azure Bicep: An Honest Comparison

Should you use Terraform or Bicep? This is the most common question in Azure DevOps today.

Terraform Wins When…

• Multi-Cloud: You need to deploy to AWS, Azure, and Datadog in the same pipeline.
• State Management: You need complex state manipulation (importing existing resources).

Bicep Wins When…

• Azure Native: You only use Azure. Day 0 support for new features. (Terraform providers often lag by weeks).
• Simplicity: No state file to manage (`terraform.tfstate`). State is Azure itself.
• Integration: Native integration with Azure Policy and Blueprints.

My verdict: If you are 100% Azure, use Bicep. If you are hybrid, Terraform is non-negotiable.