How Flightdeck compares
Flightdeck isn't a PaaS, isn't a CI/CD tool, and isn't a Terraform wrapper. Here's how it compares to the alternatives.
Flightdeck vs. hiring a DevOps engineer
The most common alternative for funded startups.
| DevOps Engineer | Flightdeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $200,000+ | $5,988 |
| Time to start | 3–6 months | 5 minutes |
| Available 24/7 | No | Yes |
| Scales infinitely | No (1 person) | Yes |
| Generates auditable IaC | Sometimes | Always |
| Takes vacation | Yes | No |
| Risk of quitting | Yes | No |
Flightdeck vs. PaaS (Vercel / Railway / Render)
Great for prototypes. Not for production infrastructure you need to own.
| PaaS | Flightdeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on your cloud | Their infrastructure | Your AWS/GCP/Azure |
| You own the IaC | Proprietary config | Standard Terraform |
| Vendor lock-in | High | Zero |
| Compliance (SOC 2/HIPAA) | Limited | Built-in templates |
| Cost at scale | Expensive (markup) | You pay cloud directly |
| Custom networking | Limited | Full VPC control |
Flightdeck vs. IaC tools (Terraform / Pulumi / Spacelift)
Flightdeck generates the Terraform. You don't have to write it.
| IaC Tools | Flightdeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires IaC expertise | Yes | No |
| Writes the Terraform for you | No (you write it) | Yes (AI generates it) |
| Deploys autonomously | No (you run it) | Yes |
| Monitors and maintains | Partial | Full |
| Learning curve | Steep (weeks/months) | None (one command) |
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