HCP Terraform Free Tier Ending: OpenTofu Migration Guide

HCP Terraform Free Tier Ending: What Changes HashiCorp announced the discontinuation of HCP Terraform Free tier effective March 31, 2026. Existing free users must transition to paid plans or find alternatives. This decision marks the second major shift following the 2023 BSL license transition, creating another inflection point in the Infrastructure as Code ecosystem. Terraform vs OpenTofu: 2026 Status Comparison As of March 2026, Terraform has reached version 1.14.x while OpenTofu stands at 1.9.x. The OpenTofu registry now mirrors over 2,000 providers, with 34% of infrastructure teams completing full migration from Terraform to OpenTofu, and 28% in partial migration. Item Terraform 1.14 OpenTofu 1.9 License BSL (Business Source License) MPL 2.0 (Open Source) Governance HashiCorp/IBM exclusive Linux Foundation community-driven State Encryption Requires paid plan Native support (free) Provider Count 3,000+ 2,000+ (mirrored) AI Integration HCP Terraform AI Community-driven extensions Clo