Pulumi vs Crossplane: Which Infrastructure Tool to Use in 2026?

// TypeScript example
import * as aws from "@pulumi/aws";
 
const bucket = new aws.s3.Bucket("my-bucket", {
    acl: "private",
    versioning: { enabled: true },
    tags: { Environment: "production" }
});
 
const distribution = new aws.cloudfront.Distribution("cdn", {
    origins: [{
        domainName: bucket.bucketRegionalDomainName,
        originId: bucket.id,
    }],
    enabled: true,
    // ...
});
 
export const bucketName = bucket.id;
export const cdnUrl = distribution.domainName;

# Crossplane example — provision an RDS database
apiVersion: database.aws.upbound.io/v1beta1
kind: RDSInstance
metadata:
  name: my-database
spec:
  forProvider:
    region: ap-south-1
    instanceClass: db.t3.medium
    engine: postgres
    engineVersion: "15"
    allocatedStorage: 20
    dbName: myapp
    username: admin
    passwordSecretRef:
      name: db-password
      namespace: default
      key: password
  writeConnectionSecretToRef:
    namespace: default
    name: my-database-conn

// Build a reusable VPC + EKS cluster component
class EksCluster extends pulumi.ComponentResource {
    public readonly kubeconfig: pulumi.Output<string>;
 
    constructor(name: string, args: EksArgs, opts?: pulumi.ResourceOptions) {
        super("myorg:index:EksCluster", name, {}, opts);
 
        const vpc = new awsx.ec2.Vpc(`${name}-vpc`, {
            numberOfAvailabilityZones: 2,
        }, { parent: this });
 
        const cluster = new eks.Cluster(`${name}-cluster`, {
            vpcId: vpc.vpcId,
            subnetIds: vpc.privateSubnetIds,
            instanceType: args.instanceType ?? "t3.medium",
            desiredCapacity: args.nodeCount ?? 2,
        }, { parent: this });
 
        this.kubeconfig = cluster.kubeconfig;
    }
}
 
// Use it:
const prod = new EksCluster("production", { nodeCount: 5 });
const staging = new EksCluster("staging", { nodeCount: 2 });

# Define a composite resource (abstract)
apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1
kind: CompositeResourceDefinition
metadata:
  name: xclusters.platform.example.com
spec:
  group: platform.example.com
  names:
    kind: XCluster
    plural: xclusters
  claimNames:
    kind: Cluster
    plural: clusters
  versions:
  - name: v1alpha1
    served: true
    referenceable: true
    schema:
      openAPIV3Schema:
        type: object
        properties:
          spec:
            type: object
            properties:
              region:
                type: string
              nodeCount:
                type: integer
---
# Composition: how XCluster maps to real resources
apiVersion: apiextensions.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Composition
metadata:
  name: cluster-aws
spec:
  compositeTypeRef:
    apiVersion: platform.example.com/v1alpha1
    kind: XCluster
  resources:
  - name: eks-cluster
    base:
      apiVersion: eks.aws.upbound.io/v1beta1
      kind: Cluster
      # ... EKS config
  - name: node-group
    base:
      apiVersion: eks.aws.upbound.io/v1beta1
      kind: NodeGroup
      # ... node group config

# Developer applies this (they don't know about VPCs, node groups, etc.)
apiVersion: platform.example.com/v1alpha1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: my-team-cluster
  namespace: team-alpha
spec:
  region: ap-south-1
  nodeCount: 3

# team-alpha can create Clusters but not modify production infra
kind: Role
rules:
- apiGroups: ["platform.example.com"]
  resources: ["clusters"]
  verbs: ["get", "list", "create", "delete"]