HCP Terraform Free vs Trial Credit: A Complete Guide to the New Pricing Model

In 2023, HashiCorp—now part of IBM—overhauled HCP Terraform's pricing model (formerly Terraform Cloud). The key change: moving from per-user fees to a Resources Under Management (RUM) model. In December 2025, they announced the legacy Free plan would end on March 31, 2026. Today, two often-confused options exist: the enhanced Free plan and a $500 Trial Credit. This guide clarifies both.

The New Context: RUM Pricing Model

The RUM model charges based on the number of managed resources you track, regardless of team size. This shift simplifies scaling and aligns costs with infrastructure complexity. Understanding RUM is essential before comparing the Free plan and Trial Credit.

The Free Plan: Features and Limitations

The Free plan is a permanent entry-level option with no expiration date and no credit card required. It's ideal for small projects, learning, or personal use.

What's Included

• Up to 500 managed resources (RUM)
• Unlimited users
• 1 concurrent run
• Integration with VCS providers (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, etc.)
• Private Module Registry
• Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Up to 5 policies (Sentinel + OPA combined)
• 1 run task integration (supports up to 10 workspace run tasks)
• HCP Terraform Agents
• Terraform Stacks

What's Not Included

• Drift Detection
• Audit Logging
• Ephemeral Workspaces
• Unlimited policies
• Multiple concurrent runs

Important note about the 500 RUM limit: A single EKS cluster with its network, IAM roles, security groups, and add-ons can easily consume those 500 resources. If your infrastructure grows quickly, the Free plan may become insufficient sooner than expected.

The $500 Trial Credit: What You Get

The Trial Credit is not a separate plan—it's a $500 USD credit automatically applied when you activate a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) account. It operates similarly to welcome credits from AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Included Benefits

• $500 credit usable across the entire HCP platform (Terraform, Vault, Consul, Boundary, etc.)
• Access to Essentials, Standard, and Premium tiers
• Unlimited resources while the credit lasts
• Multiple concurrent runs
• Drift Detection (on Standard tier or higher)
• Audit Logging (on Standard tier or higher)
• Ephemeral Workspaces (on Standard tier or higher)
• Unlimited policies
• Unlimited run tasks

Key limitation: Once the credit is exhausted, you begin paying according to the selected tier's rates.

Detailed Comparison

*Resources consumed at the tier's rate.

Understanding RUM Billing

RUM (Resources Under Management) counts each distinct resource you manage with Terraform—for example, a single AWS EC2 instance or an IAM role. The number of resources in your state files determines your usage. In the Free plan, you're capped at 500 RUM. In the Trial Credit, you can exceed that limit, but the credit dollars are deducted based on the tier's per-resource rate.

For instance, under the Standard tier, each resource might cost a fraction of a cent per hour. The $500 credit covers those charges until exhausted. After that, you pay the standard PAYG rate. This model encourages efficient resource management, as more resources directly increase costs.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choosing between the Free plan and the Trial Credit depends on your needs and timeline:

• Start with Free if you're experimenting, have fewer than 500 resources, or want a permanent zero-cost option. It's perfect for learning, personal projects, or small teams.
• Opt for the Trial Credit if you need advanced features like Drift Detection, Audit Logging, or multiple concurrent runs. It's also ideal for evaluating HCP Terraform at production scale for up to 90 days or until the credit runs out.

Many users start with Free and later upgrade to PAYG to claim the Trial Credit when ready to scale. Remember that the legacy Free plan ends March 31, 2026, so all users will need to migrate to the new model by then. For a deep dive into RUM pricing, see Understanding RUM Billing.

Both the Free plan and the $500 Trial Credit offer substantial value. The Free plan is a solid foundation for learning and small deployments, while the Trial Credit provides a risk-free way to explore HCP Terraform's full capabilities. By understanding these options, you can confidently choose the right path for your infrastructure management journey.