tenv will replace the others

When using Terraform, it’s common to rely on a version manager to easily switch between different versions across projects or environments. For years, tfenv has been the go-to solution in the community. But with the tool seeing little to no active development lately, it might be time to consider more modern alternatives.

Two other tools worth evaluating are tfswitch, a popular option with a user-friendly interactive mode, and the newer tenv, which is quickly gaining traction—especially for teams also adopting OpenTofu, the open-source Terraform fork.

Developed as part of the Tofuutils project, tenv is a Terraform and OpenTofu version manager that was created with today’s infrastructure workflows in mind. It provides the same core functionality you’d expect—installing, switching, and managing versions—but with native support for both Terraform and OpenTofu.

As HashiCorp’s licensing change prompted a surge of interest in OpenTofu, having a version manager that treats both tools as first-class citizens is a major advantage.

Feature comparison

Feature tfenv tfswitch tenv
Active development ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Terraform support ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
OpenTofu support ⚠️ Workaround only ❌ Not supported ✅ Native support
Install specific version ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Use .terraform-version ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Interactive version selector ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Cross-platform support ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Shell integration (bash/zsh) ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Custom install directory ✅ Yes ❌ No ✅ Yes
Multi-runtime support ❌ Terraform only ❌ Terraform only ✅ Terraform & OpenTofu