Brainboard
Cloud platform as a service (PaaS) software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$99 per user per month
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What is Brainboard
Brainboard is a cloud infrastructure design and documentation platform focused on AWS architectures. It provides a visual canvas to model cloud components, generate infrastructure-as-code (IaC) artifacts, and support reviews and collaboration around cloud designs. It is used by cloud architects, DevOps/Platform teams, and engineering teams to plan, communicate, and standardize cloud deployments. The product emphasizes diagram-driven workflows that connect architecture diagrams with deployable templates and documentation.
Diagram-to-IaC workflow
Brainboard links visual architecture diagrams to infrastructure-as-code generation, reducing manual translation between design and deployment artifacts. This supports earlier validation of cloud designs and helps teams keep diagrams and IaC closer in sync. It is particularly relevant for teams that standardize on IaC but still need diagram-based reviews and stakeholder communication.
AWS-focused architecture modeling
The product centers on AWS services and common cloud patterns, which can speed up modeling for AWS-centric organizations. AWS-specific components and relationships make it easier to represent real deployment topologies than generic diagram tools. This focus can be useful for teams that primarily deploy on AWS and want consistent reference architectures.
Collaboration for architecture reviews
Brainboard supports collaborative design work, enabling teams to review, iterate, and document architectures in a shared workspace. This helps align security, operations, and engineering stakeholders before implementation. It also provides a structured alternative to ad hoc diagram files that are hard to govern and version.
Not a runtime PaaS
Despite being adjacent to PaaS workflows, Brainboard does not function as an application hosting or execution platform. Teams still need separate services to run workloads, manage deployments, and operate production environments. Organizations expecting a full PaaS experience (build, deploy, run) may find the scope narrower.
Cloud coverage constraints
The product is primarily oriented around AWS, which can limit usefulness for multi-cloud or non-AWS-first strategies. Teams operating across multiple hyperscalers may need additional tools to model and generate IaC consistently. This can introduce fragmentation in architecture documentation and automation practices.
IaC output fit varies
Generated IaC often requires review and adaptation to match internal modules, naming standards, security controls, and CI/CD conventions. Complex environments (shared VPCs, custom networking, policy-as-code, and organization-wide guardrails) may not map cleanly to generated templates. As a result, some teams may treat outputs as a starting point rather than production-ready code.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 forever | Unlimited cloud architectures; Unlimited Terraform code generation; Access to AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI; Access to public templates; Support for public & private Terraform modules; No credit card required to get started. |
| Pro | $99 per user / month (monthly) or $999 per user / year (annual) | All Free features plus: Unlimited members & teams; Native architecture versioning; Git integrations (GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab); Embedded & visual CI/CD engine; Remote backend; RBAC; Unlimited deployments; Priority support options; "Start free trial" CTA present on pricing page. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing (contact sales) | All Pro features plus: Private self-hosted runner; SSO; Private registry; Import from Azure & AWS (note: import from cloud providers may incur a separate fee per resource); Ability to edit generated code (listed as Beta); Self-hosted or single-tenant hosting; Audit logs; Guaranteed SLA; Dedicated onboarding and support. |
