What Is Terraform GUI? Top 5 Visual Tools Compared

Terraform is CLI-driven by default, which can be challenging for teams managing large-scale infrastructure or enforcing organizational policies. 

A Terraform GUI is a graphical user interface that simplifies managing Terraform configurations, infrastructure state, and workflows without requiring command-line interaction. It also helps teams that want to collaborate on infrastructure changes without needing deep CLI experience.

Instead of writing and applying Terraform commands in the CLI, users can:

• View, edit, and apply Terraform plans and state changes via dashboards
• Manage workspaces, modules, and variables visually
• Monitor drift, approvals, and runs without terminal access

Why are Terraform GUIs useful?

Terraform GUIs offer enhanced usability, improved visualization, and workflow automation for managing infrastructure as code:

1. Visual state and plan diffing – GUIs present state files, plan outputs, and diffs in a more readable, structured format than the CLI. This helps reduce misconfigurations and makes it easier to audit infrastructure changes.
2. Collaboration and RBAC – Most GUIs, like Spacelift, Scalr, or Terraform Cloud, support role-based access control (RBAC), team scopes, and policy enforcement. These are critical in organizations with multiple engineers managing infrastructure.
3. Policy-as-code integration – GUIs often integrate with OPA or Sentinel to enforce custom policies before applying changes. This guards against unsafe deployments by catching violations early in the pipeline.
4. Workflow automation – They enable trigger-based automation such as Git push -> Plan -> Approval -> Apply, reducing manual effort and enabling consistent infrastructure lifecycle management.
5. Multi-stack and multi-provider management – GUIs simplify managing many Terraform stacks or modules across cloud providers, with better traceability and dependency mapping.

A Terraform GUI tool provides a visual interface to manage, plan, and apply Terraform configurations without using the CLI. These tools help visualize infrastructure changes, track state, and simplify workflows for teams.

The top Terraform GUI tools include:

1. Terraform GUI
2. Gaia
3. Spacelift
4. Semaphore
5. Terraform Cloud

Note: Terraform GUI and Gaia have not received official feature updates or active development since 2022. As a result, they may no longer align with the latest Terraform features, integrations, or security best practices.

Terraform GUI is an open-source web interface that provides a graphical layer over Terraform. It allows users to visually manage Terraform configurations, run plans and applies, and interact with state and logs through an intuitive browser-based interface.

It is especially useful for teams or individual users who prefer a UI to inspect Terraform plans, manage variable inputs, and avoid error-prone manual CLI interactions. While it is simpler than enterprise platforms like Spacelift or Terraform Cloud, it offers a practical and clean interface for small-to-medium teams or personal projects.

Key features of Terraform GUI

1. Plan & Apply execution from the UI – Run Terraform commands directly via the web dashboard
2. Visual plan diff viewer – Compare infrastructure changes in a clear and structured format
3. Variable management – Enter, store, and reuse variable inputs per environment
4. State inspection – View and download the Terraform state file from the interface
5. Multi-environment support – Manage multiple projects and environments via folders
   

Website: https://github.com/Terraform-GUI/terraform-gui 

Gaia is an open-source Terraform web UI designed to streamline infrastructure automation by providing a centralized, user-friendly interface for running and managing Terraform pipelines. Though originally built for Terraform workflows, Gaia is a general-purpose CI/CD system and may require custom configuration to support Terraform natively.

It enables teams to trigger plans and applies, manage secrets securely, monitor job output, and organize Terraform projects with fine-grained control. Gaia is particularly well-suited for organizations looking to standardize Terraform usage across teams while enforcing governance and auditability.

Key features of Gaia

1. Pipeline-based workflow – Define and run Terraform plans as repeatable pipelines
2. Role-based access control (RBAC) – Secure access to pipelines and resources
3. Integrated secret management – Store and use credentials without exposing them in configs
4. Job logging and monitoring – Track execution output and history for each run
5. Web interface and REST API – Manage infrastructure interactively or programmatically

Website: https://gaia-pipeline.io/

Spacelift is a specialized CI/CD platform for Infrastructure as Code (IaC), offering a powerful Terraform GUI alongside policy-driven automation and collaboration features. It provides a comprehensive interface for managing Terraform runs, policies, and state, helping teams automate infrastructure provisioning while maintaining control and compliance. 

Spacelift also supports OpenTofu, making it a flexible choice for teams avoiding Terraform’s new licensing model.

With native support for Terraform, Open Policy Agent (OPA), and GitOps workflows, Spacelift enables teams to visualize, approve, and audit infrastructure changes at scale. Its flexible integrations and access controls make it well-suited for complex, multi-team environments.

Key Features of Spacelift

1. Visual run management – Inspect plans, applies, and outputs through a rich web interface
2. OPA-based policy enforcement – Apply custom policies for governance and compliance
3. GitOps integration – Trigger runs automatically based on Git events and pull requests
4. State and secrets management – Securely handle Terraform state and sensitive variables
5. Role-based access and approvals – Control who can view, approve, or execute infrastructure changes

Website: https://spacelift.io

Semaphore is a CI/CD platform that offers a visual interface for automating Terraform workflows within a continuous delivery pipeline. Rather than being a standalone Terraform GUI, it integrates Terraform into structured pipelines, allowing users to plan, apply, and validate infrastructure changes alongside application deployments. It does not include advanced Terraform-native state or policy features.

The platform supports dynamic pipeline configuration, approval gates, and environment-specific workflows, which can be useful for teams looking to enforce deployment policies and maintain visibility over infrastructure changes as code evolves.

Key features of Semaphore

1. Pipeline automation – Define Terraform steps within CI/CD pipelines using YAML or UI
2. Change review and approvals – Add manual approvals before applying changes
3. Secrets management – Securely inject Terraform variables and credentials
4. Environment visualization – Monitor deployments and infrastructure states across branches
5. Terraform CLI integration – Run native Terraform commands in each job stage

Website: https://semaphore.io/

Terraform Cloud is HashiCorp’s official SaaS platform for managing Terraform at scale, offering a full-featured web interface for executing, observing, and securing infrastructure workflows. It centralizes state management, provides collaboration features, and supports VCS integrations to enable GitOps-style provisioning.

The platform automates runs through version control triggers, includes detailed run visualization, and enforces workflows with policy checks and approval gates. It is ideal for teams seeking a secure, collaborative, and governed environment for Infrastructure as Code using native Terraform support.

Key features of Terraform Cloud

1. Remote state management – Secure, centralized storage of Terraform state with locking and history
2. Run workflows with UI – Visualize plan and apply steps with output and approval tracking
3. VCS integration – Connect GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure Repos for automated execution
   
4. Sentinel policy enforcement – Apply fine-grained controls to prevent risky infrastructure changes
5. Team management and RBAC – Manage user permissions and workspace access across teams

Website: https://www.hashicorp.com/en/products/terraform

The ideal solution should align with your level of Terraform expertise, team size, and need for automation or oversight. Evaluate based on:

• VCS and CI/CD integration support
• Policy enforcement and RBAC
• Drift detection and audit logging
• Pricing model and scalability needs
• Support for OpenTofu or latest Terraform licensing preferences

To help you out with the decision, here’s the comparison table between the tools we mentioned in this article:

Terraform GUIs simplify infrastructure management by offering visual workflows on top of Terraform’s code-driven engine. Tools like Gaia, Spacelift, and Terraform Cloud provide collaboration, policy enforcement, drift detection, and automated deployments. These platforms cater to teams needing control, visibility, and governance without manually handling CLI-based workflows.

If you want to discover how flexible Spacelift platform is, you can start a free trial or book a demo with one of our engineers.

Note: New versions of Terraform are placed under the BUSL license, but everything created before version 1.5.x stays open-source. OpenTofu is an open-source version of Terraform that expands on Terraform’s existing concepts and offerings. It is a viable alternative to HashiCorp’s Terraform, being forked from Terraform version 1.5.6.